Ships
- USS Lexington (CV-16) Commanding officer from 10 April 1944 · Relieved on 30 January 1945
Partly source-limited. His years of command are well documented. His early life is not.
Ernest Wheeler Litch was born on 22 November 1897. Hall of Valor ties him to South Weymouth, Massachusetts. He graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1920 and became a naval aviator. He was promoted to commander on 1 July 1939 and to temporary captain on 18 June 1942.
On 10 April 1944 he relieved Felix Stump as captain of the carrier Lexington (CV-16), then flagship of Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58. The ship's 1946 cruise book described him as "a slight, dark man with swift, darting eyes" who took over "with an easy, practiced hand" and "proved that he had the fire, ability and personality to take up where Admiral Stump had left off." Within days of taking command he was in the strikes covering the Hollandia and Aitape landings in New Guinea and the raids on Truk, Satawan and Ponape that followed.
On the evening of 15 June 1944, while Lexington was supporting the landings on Saipan, Japanese torpedo planes attacked her at dusk. The cruise book records that Litch, "with exceptional skill dodged two torpedoes and flicked the stern of the Lex out of the way of a flaming attacker which had just been set afire by Lexington guns." Four days later Lexington, still Mitscher's flagship, fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Litch kept her through the autumn campaigns against the Philippines and Formosa. The cruise book called him "a master seaman and a cool operator in emergencies."
He was promoted to rear admiral on 30 January 1945 (uboat.net records a temporary rear admiral date of 9 October 1943) and turned Lexington over to Captain Thomas H. Robbins Jr. He then commanded an escort-carrier division with the Seventh Fleet and was in action with it during the Okinawa campaign. He received several Legions of Merit, one for his Lexington command, which Hall of Valor dates from 30 November 1944, and one for Okinawa.
He retired in 1954 and died in 1967.
Date flags:
His rear admiral date: the cruise book gives 30 January 1945, uboat.net gives temporary rank on 9 October 1943.
Place and exact date of death, and family details, are not confirmed. These need a Find a Grave or obituary lookup.
Sources
Lexington (CV-16) Cruise Book, 1946, p. 17 (e-yearbook.com).
uboat.net, Allied Warship Commanders: Ernest Wheeler Litch (born 22 Nov 1897; USNA 1920; TF 58 operations, April 1944).
Military Times Hall of Valor: Ernest Litch (Legion of Merit awards).
Wikipedia, "List of United States Navy tombstone vice admirals" (1897–1967; retired 1954).
Wikipedia, "USS Lexington (CV-16)" (Philippine Sea and autumn 1944 operations).