Edward Lull Cochrane was born in Mare Island, California, on March 18, 1892. Son of Brigadier General Henry Clay Cochrane, USMC Retired and Mrs. Elizabeth Ferguson Lull Cochrane. He attended Chester, (Pennsylvania) High School and the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, prior to entering the U.S. Naval Academy.

He entered the U, S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, in 1910. Graduating with distinction, he was commissioned an Ensign on June 6, 1914. He served in the Navy line until transferred to Construction Corps of the Navy on 1917. Periodic promotion saw him advanced temporary Lieutenant at the end of World War I to the rank of Vice Admiral to date from 3 April 1945. Postgraduate education in preparation for his transfer to the construction corps began in January 1916, was interrupted by service in the Philadelphia Navy Yard during World War 1, and was completed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 1920, when he was awarded the degree of Master of Science in Naval Architecture. Significant subsequent assignments included service as Technical Advisor to the United States Delegation to the Conference on Safety at Sea in London, duty in connection with submarine design and construction in shipyards and the Bureau of Construction and Repair; and a tour as Force Constructor on the staff of the Commander Scouting Forces, U. S. Fleet.

In September 1940 he was ordered to London, as Assistant Naval Attaché at the American Embassy. From January 1941 to November 1942 he was Assistant Head of the Design Division of the Bureau of Ships.

Appointed Chief of the Bureau of ships, with the rank of Rear Admiral, on November 1, 1942, he directed the navy's shipbuilding and maintenance program during the reminder of the war. On April 3, 1945, he was promoted to vice Admiral. In November of 1946 he became Chief of the Material Division in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In March 1947, he was appointed a member of the President's Advisory Committee on the Merchant Marine. He retired on November 1, 1947. Admiral Cochrane died November 14, 1959.

He is survived by his wife, the former Charlotte Osgood Wilson, of Chester, Pennsylvania, and two sons, Captain Richard Lull Cochrane, USN, (Naval Academy Class of 1940) and Commander Edward Lull Cochrane, USN, (Naval Academy class of 1945).