This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Sharp, Ulysses S Grant, Jr., ADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Chinook, MT
Last Address San Diego, CA
Date of Passing Dec 12, 2001
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Our air power did not fail us; it was the decision makers. And if I am unsurprisingly critical of those decision makers, I offer no apology. My conscience and professional record both stand clear.
–Adm. U.S. Grant Sharp
After his retirement in 1968, Admiral Sharp lectured widely. His chief message reflected his continuing frustration over Vietnam.
''That lesson is that we should never commit the armed forces of the United States to combat unless we have decided at the same time to use the nonnuclear power we have available to win in the shortest possible time,''
Other Comments:
Admiral Sharp was CINCPACFLT during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Admiral Sharp was CINCPAC during the Pueblo Incident
FOREIGN AWARDS:
Taiwan - Order of Cloud and Banner with Grand Cordan
Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)/Battle of Philippine Sea
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
June / 1944
Description The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The battle was the last of five major "carrier-versus-carrier" engagements between American and Japanese naval forces, and pitted elements of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet against ships and aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mobile Fleet and nearby island garrisons.
The aerial part of the battle was nicknamed the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot by American aviators for the severely disproportional loss ratio inflicted upon Japanese aircraft by American pilots and anti-aircraft gunners. During a debriefing after the first two air battles a pilot from USS Lexington remarked "Why, hell, it was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home!" The outcome is generally attributed to American improvements in pilot and crew training and tactics, technology (including the top-secret anti-aircraft proximity fuze), and ship and aircraft design. Although at the time the battle appeared to be a missed opportunity to destroy the Japanese fleet, the Imperial Japanese Navy had lost the bulk of its carrier air strength and would never recover. During the course of the battle, American submarines torpedoed and sank two of the largest Japanese fleet carriers taking part in the battle.
This was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle in history.