Adm. Ulysses Sharp Dies; Pacific Fleet Commander
 Admiral U.S.G. Sharp, USN Commander & Chief Pacific (1967-69) Commanding Officer USS BOYD DD-544 (1942-44) |
Ulysses Grant Sharp, Jr., 95, a retired Navy four-star admiral who had commanded the Pacific Fleet and then U.S. forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War, died Dec. 12 at his home in San Diego. He had been in poor health since a fall in October.
Adm. Sharp was named fleet commander in 1963, then in 1964 became commander-in-chief of the Pacific Command, a post he held until retiring from active duty in 1968. His Pacific Command forces covered nearly half the globe and included about 450 ships and more than 1 million men.
It fell to him to organize the response following a 1964 clash between North Vietnam naval forces and two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
A watershed in the history of the war in Southeast Asia, the clash resulted in the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, in which Congress gave unprecedented authority to President Lyndon B. Johnson to respond to what was perceived as North Vietnamese aggression.
Adm. Sharp was a proponent of a massive military response to the North Vietnamese, while the Johnson administration opted for a gradual buildup of forces.
In retirement, Adm. Sharp was a critic of U.S. policy in the war and lectured widely on geopolitical affairs and contributed articles to newspapers. In 1969, he wrote an article in Reader's Digest titled, "We Could Have Won in Vietnam Long Ago." In 1978, he published the book "Strategy for Defeat:Vietnam in Retrospect."
Adm. Sharp, a Montana native, was named for the former U.S. president, who had married his father's aunt. Adm. Sharp was a 1927 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis and a 1950 graduate of the Naval War College.
He received two Silver Stars while commanding the destroyer Boyd in the Pacific during World War II. During the Korean War, he commanded a destroyer squadron and helped plan the classic amphibious operation known as the Inchon Landing. In the early 1960's, he served as deputy chief of naval operations for policy and planning.
His first wife, Patricia, whom he married in 1930, died in 1986.
Survivors include his wife, the former Nina Blake, whom he married in 1987 and who lives in San Diego; two children from his first marriage, retired Navy Rear Adm. Grant Alexander Sharp of Alexandria and Patricia Ann Milham of Woodland Hills, Calif.; two stepsons; a sister; four grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and two step-great-grandchildren.
From News Services 15 DEC 2001
----------------------------------------------------------------
Special thanks to Capt. Robert N. Adrian for sending along Adm. Ulysses Sharp's obituary.
Return to the USS Boyd DD-544 Document Archive