Wilson Brown

Wilson Brown (1882-1959) was a U.S. Navy admiral, specializing in surface warshis, who was one of the oldest combat commanders at the start of World War Two in the Pacific, but whose declining health took him ashore, and then into retirement. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1902, been naval aide to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Superintendent of the Naval Academy, and an amphibious warfare planner for the Pacific.

At the start of the war, he commanded the Scouting Forces of the Pacific Fleet: its heavy cruisers, submarines, and maritime patrol aircraft. He commanded the carrier task force centered around the USS Lexington (CV-2) in the attempted relief of Wake Island, and carrier raids on Japanese bases, especially the Lae-Salamaua raid across the Owen Stanley Mountains of New Guinea. As his health became worse, he went to a shore job at Pearl Harbor, commanding the Pacific Fleet amphibious force.

Further deterioration of his health brought him back to the U.S. as commandant of the First Naval District, then a naval adviser to the President, and then into retirement.