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Notable Graduates

Forrest P. Sherman

Forrest P. Sherman

Chief of Naval Operations

Class of 1918
  • Chief of Naval Operations, 1949-1951

Profile

 

Forrest Percival Sherman was born in Merrimack, New Hampshire, on 30 October 1896. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1914, graduating in June 1917 with the Class of 1918. During and shortly after World War I, he served in European waters as an officer of the gunboat Nashville and destroyer Murray. In 1919-21, Following duty as Flag Lieutenant to Commander Control Force, Atlantic Fleet, he received flight training at Pensacola, Florida. Study at the Naval War College was followed in 1927 by service in the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga. While in the latter ship, he commanded Scouting Squadron TWO and was Flag Secretary to Commander Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet.

In 1941-42, he served with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and was a member of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense, Canada-United States. In May 1942, after reaching the rank of Captain, Sherman took command of the carrier Wasp, taking her through the first month of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Following a short tour as a carrier division commander, in December 1945 Vice Admiral Sherman became Deputy Chief of Naval Operations.

Sherman was recalled to Washington, D.C., at the end of October 1949 to become Chief of Naval Operations, with the rank of Admiral. During the next sixteen months, he helped the Navy recover from a period of intense political controversy and oversaw its responses to the twin challenges of a hot war in Korea and an intensifying cold war elsewhere in the World. On 22 July 1951, while on a military and diplomatic trip to Europe, Admiral Forrest Sherman died in Naples, Italy, following a sudden series of heart attacks.

USS Forrest Sherman (DD-931), 1955-1992, was named in honor of Admiral Sherman.

 
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