John F. Shafroth Jr.

John Franklin Shafroth Jr. (March 31, 1887 – September 1, 1967) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral. He distinguished himself as Commander of destroyer USS Terry during World War I and received the Navy Cross, the United States Navy second-highest decoration awarded for valor in combat.

When he finally got his own "sea command" in June 1935, Shafroth was ordered to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he was appointed commanding officer of USS Reina Mercedes, a former Spanish Navy unprotected cruiser captured in 1898 during Spanish–American War, a vessel now used as a receiving ship. While in this capacity, he was promoted to Captain on July 1, 1936.

World War II Panama and Hawaii Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Shafroth was promoted to the temporary rank of Rear admiral and assumed temporary command of Cruiser Division 3 as substitute for his classmate, Abel T. Bidwell. His command consisted of the old cruisers Richmond and Trenton, and was originally designated as a Task Force for reinforcing of the garrison on Samoa. Before Shafroth could embark and lead his command to the South Pacific, he was replaced with the experienced Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in early January 1942.

Although his area of responsibility was huge and the force assigned to his command tiny, given the geographical area covered, it proved to be more than sufficient, due to a lack of Japanese activity. Shafroth focused on the escorting of convoys and helped transport 4,500 men to Bora Bora in French Polynesia and another 20,000 troops to New Caledonia as well as Kanton Island.

Philippines, Okinawa and Japan Admirals during Okinawa campaign on Ulithi Atoll in May 1945. Left to right: Whitting, Clark, Big Jack Shafroth, Wiltse, and Tommy Sprague. On December 26, 1944, Shafroth was appointed Commander, Battleship Division 8 (BatDiv 8), built around the fast battleships Massachusetts and Alabama. His battleships then operated with the aircraft carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force under Vice admiral Marc Mitscher, which made a series of raids on Formosa and Okinawa, to support the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in the northern Philippines.

Shafroth's Division was reorganized at the end of January 1945 and expanded to become the battleships Indiana, Massachusetts and South Dakota (his flagship). During the next four months, BatDiv 8 engaged in operations in support of amphibious operations at Iwo Jima in February that year; and conducted bombardment of the southeastern coast of Okinawa on March 24, 1945, the latter done in order to provide cover for minesweeping operations preparatory to the landing on Okinawa.

Shafroth was appointed Commander of Task Unit 34.8.1 of the Third Fleet under Admiral William F. Halsey on July 14, 1945. His command consisted of the battleships , and , the heavy cruisers and , along with nine destroyers. He was tasked to attack the ironworks at Kamaishi in northern Honshu. At the time the city had a population of 40,000 and the ironworks was among the largest in Japan. However, due to shortages of coking coal and other raw materials, the ironworks was running at less than half its capacity. It was the first naval bombardment of mainland Japan during World War II.

A few nights later Shafroth led his command during another bombardment, this time on the city of Hamamatsu. Industrial and railroad targets were destroyed, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy, without any casualties to the U.S. and British warships present. For his leadership of the Task Unit during these bombardments of Japan, Shafroth received his third and fourth Legion of Merit.

Retirement

Following his retirement from the Navy, Shafroth resided in Washington, D.C., and was active in the Naval Historical Foundation. He was elected President of the Foundation in 1961 and remained in that assignment until his death from a stroke on September 1, 1967, aged 80. Vice admiral John F. Shafroth Jr. was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, together with his wife, Helena Marshall Fischer (1882–1975). They had one daughter.

Decorations

Here is the ribbon bar of Vice Admiral Shafroth: