Ships
- USS Stack (DD-406) Captain, 24 August 1943 – 5 February 1944
Philip Kingsland Sherman, Jr., was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on 13 October 1909, and Richmond, Virginia, was his home. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1933 and was commissioned in the United States Navy. He became a lieutenant (junior grade) on 29 August 1938 and a lieutenant on 1 January 1942. On 1 May 1943 he was advanced to temporary lieutenant commander, the rank he held when he later took his wartime command.
His ship was the Benham-class destroyer USS Stack (DD-406). He served first as her executive officer under Roy Arthur Newton. On the night of 6–7 August 1943, in the Vella Gulf off New Georgia, the destroyer fought a surface action of about an hour in confined water, with poor visibility and passing rain. Sherman received the Silver Star for the counsel he gave his commanding officer in that fight and for the steadiness he helped keep in the crew. The American destroyers sank three Japanese destroyers in the battle.
Sherman assumed command of USS Stack (DD-406) on 24 August 1943 and remained her captain until 5 February 1944. That autumn the ship operated with the forces committed to the Gilbert Islands. On 11 November 1943 she screened carriers that struck the Japanese base at Rabaul and took part in beating off the air attack that followed. In late January 1944, while he was still in command, she joined the Marshall Islands landings. Robert Edward Wheeler relieved him on 5 February 1944.
Isaiah Olch had commissioned USS Stack (DD-406) in November 1939. Alvord John Greenacre commanded her from August 1940 until February 1943, and Newton held the ship from then until Sherman relieved him. After Wheeler’s tour, Sam Johnston Caldwell commanded her from March 1945 until she was decommissioned in 1946.
Sherman was promoted to temporary commander on 1 March 1944, soon after leaving the destroyer. He became a captain on 1 July 1954 and retired from the Navy as a captain.