Ships
- USS Cushing (DD-797) Captain from 15 September 1945
John Wyatt was a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve, born on 8 November 1920. He was commissioned an ensign on 12 December 1940, promoted to lieutenant on 1 December 1942, and advanced to lieutenant commander on 20 July 1945, a little less than two months before he received a destroyer command.
On 15 September 1945 he became captain of USS Cushing (DD-797), a Fletcher-class destroyer built by Bethlehem Steel at Staten Island and commissioned on 17 January 1944. He relieved William D. Adams, who had commanded the ship since 18 May 1945. The first commanding officer, Louis Frank Volk, had taken Cushing from commissioning through her first year and a half at sea.
Under those earlier captains the destroyer worked with the fast carriers across the western Pacific. She took part in the Marianas and Palau operations, the Philippines campaign, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, screened carriers for the strikes that opened the approaches to Iwo Jima and Okinawa, stood radar-picket duty off Okinawa, and closed the fighting on strikes toward the Tokyo area. Wyatt's own time in command began after that campaign had ended.
When he assumed command, Cushing was at anchor in Sagami Wan, where she had arrived on 27 August 1945 to control the harbor entrance for occupation shipping. He remained captain until 10 October 1945, when Robert Klink Irvine relieved him. The destroyer reached Bremerton, Washington, on 20 November 1945, and on 3 February 1947 she was placed out of commission in reserve at Long Beach.