[1] His classmates included Arthur L. Bristol, William L. Calhoun, William A. Glassford, Charles C. Hartigan, Aubrey W. Fitch, Robert L. Ghormley, Isaac C. Kidd, John S. McCain Sr., Leigh Noyes, Ferdinand L. Reichmuth, John H. Towers, Russell Willson, and Thomas Withers.

After a year in the yacht-turned-gunboat Eagle on special service, he reported to the battleship Maine, of the Atlantic Fleet, in December 1908.

In August 1909, he was assigned to the screw frigate Franklin, his duty drafting men for the Pacific Fleet and transporting them on board the armored cruiser Tennessee to Cavite in the Philippines.

In April 1914, he was aboard Florida, the flagship of his uncle Frank Friday Fletcher, during the occupation of Veracruz, Mexico.

[1] Following the outbreak of World War I, he served as gunnery officer of the battleship Kearsarge until September 1917, after which he assumed command of yacht-turned-patrol vessel Margaret.

He took command of the destroyer Benham in May 1918, receiving the Navy Cross for leading her through "important, exacting and hazardous duty".

Returning to Washington, he was head of the Detail Section, Enlisted Personnel Division in the Bureau of Navigation until September 1922.

Returning to the United States, he served at the Washington Navy Yards from March 1925 to 1927; became executive officer of the battleship Colorado; and completed the Senior Course at the Naval War College, Newport in 1929–30, followed immediately by the Army War College in Washington, D.C., 1930–31, in preparation for strategic leadership responsibilities.

[2] RAdm Fletcher was serving as Commander Cruiser Division Six and at sea when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Admiral Kimmel, Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinC PAC), thought enough of Fletcher to put his name third on a short list of potential successors, if necessary.

A day after Pearl Harbor, reports were received from Wake Island of a Japanese bombardment and subsequent invasion attempt.

On December 15, Kimmel placed Fletcher in command of Task Force (TF) 14 for the relief of Wake, which consisted of the fleet carrier Saratoga, the fleet oiler Neches, the seaplane tender Tangier, three heavy cruisers (Astoria, Minneapolis, San Francisco), and eight destroyers: (Selfridge, Mugford, Jarvis, Patterson, Ralph Talbot, Henley, Blue, Helm).

[4] Fletcher commanded the task force from the cruiser Astoria, while Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch sailed aboard Saratoga.

Pye brought in personnel from his staff (he commanded the Pacific Fleet battleships), and debates began regarding the intelligence information being provided, primarily whether the Japanese Navy had moved aircraft carriers to Wake in support of their invasion.

Given the new assault and a lack of understanding regarding the disposition of Japanese naval forces in the area, Pye ordered TF 14 to return to Pearl Harbor on December 22, abandoning the relief effort.

His combat pilots sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōhō, escorting the enemy troop ships—"Scratch one flat top."

That same day, Japanese carrier planes of Rear Admiral Chuichi Hara found the American tanker Neosho.

Fitch had greater experience in handling air operations, and Fletcher delegated him that function, as he was to do again later with Noyes at Guadalcanal.

Fletcher's scouts found the fourth enemy carrier, Hiryū, and Enterprise, with Yorktown planes, then sank it.

As the United States took the offensive in August 1942, Vice Admiral Fletcher commanded Task Force 61 during the invasion of Tulagi and Guadalcanal by the 1st Marine Division.

Fletcher requested permission from Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, the overall commander, to withdraw his carriers from the dangerous waters when they were no longer needed, claiming that his aircraft losses and fuel state due to maneuvering required him to leave.

[citation needed] Fletcher chose to withdraw on the evening of August 8, leaving light forces and many transport ships unprotected from the inevitable Japanese counterattack.

He had to withdraw the transports on the evening of August 9, after Fletcher left and most of his cruisers were sunk,[6] over the strenuous objections of the ground commander, Marine General Alexander Vandegrift.

The Navy's withdrawal left the Marines ashore initially completely unprotected against Japanese land-based air raids from Rabaul and from nightly shelling by Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers and battleships that came down the "Slot" from their large naval and air base at Rabaul.

Fletcher fought a superior Japanese fleet intent on counter-invasion in the aircraft carrier Battle of the Eastern Solomons.

Fletcher was criticized by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Ernest King, for not pursuing the Combined Fleet as it withdrew.

[citation needed] This criticism may have affected the decision to not return Fletcher to his command after his flagship carrier, Saratoga, was torpedoed and damaged by a Japanese submarine on August 31, 1942.

On May 1, 1946, as Senior Member of that Board he became Chairman, and continued to serve in that capacity until relieved of all active duty for his retirement on May 1, 1947,[1] with the rank of full admiral.

He declined to reconstruct them from Pentagon archives or to be interviewed by Samuel Eliot Morison, who was writing the History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.

It was greatly due to his efforts in establishing friendly relations with the Mexican soldiers that so many refugees succeeded in reaching Vera Cruz from the interior.For distinguished service [in WWI] as Commanding Officer of the USS Benham engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity.