Lee was born on May 11, 1888, in Owen County.
In 1904, he entered the US Naval Academy. He
earned a position on the Navy Rifle Team and
eventually the National Rifle Team. Lee
graduated in 1908 and served as an inspector of
ordnance. While representing the Navy, he
competed for the US Rifle Team in the 1920
Olympics in Belgium, where he won five gold
medals for marksmanship. He was a commanding
officer of three destroyers during the 1920s.
During the 1930s and early 1940s, Lee was assigned to the Fleet Training Division and commanded the light cruiser Concord. In August 1942, he was sent to the Pacific to command a battleship division. On November 14-15, Lee and his crew on the USS Washington sunk five Japanese ships in the battle at Guadalcanal, a turning point for the Allied Forces, for which he earned the Navy Cross. He suffered a heart attack and died on August 25, 1945, while serving in the Atlantic.
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