Ships
- USS Lexington (CV-2) Captain from 13 June 1940 · Relieved on 8 May 1942
Frederick Carl Sherman was born in Port Huron, Michigan, on 27 May 1888, into a newspaper family. His grandfather Loren Sherman edited and published Port Huron's Daily Times, and his father later ran the Daily Independent in Santa Barbara. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1910 and commanded the submarines H-2 and O-7 during World War I.
He became a naval aviator, served as executive officer of Saratoga in 1937 and of NAS San Diego, and in June 1940 took command of Lexington. He led her into the war's first carrier battle at the Coral Sea, where she was fatally hit on 8 May 1942, and he was the last man to leave the sinking ship. The family cocker spaniel, Wags, had sailed with him, and his wife later told the dog's story in the book Admiral Wags.
As a rear admiral he served as an assistant chief of staff to Admiral King, then fought through the Central Pacific with the Fast Carrier Task Force as commander of Carrier Division 2 (1943) and Task Group 38.3 (1944–45). He won the Navy Cross three times. Promoted to vice admiral in 1945, he stood on the bridge of Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the surrender, which he later called his greatest thrill, and went on to command the Fifth Fleet. He retired in 1947 and was advanced to admiral.
His history of the Pacific war, Combat Command, appeared in 1950. That same year he went on Groucho Marx's You Bet Your Life. He died in San Diego on 27 July 1957. Frederick C. Sherman Field on San Clemente Island was dedicated to him in 1961.