William Halsey Jr.

William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
Nickname(s)	"Bull" and "Bill"
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1904–1947 (44 Years)
Rank	5 Star Fleet Admiral
Commands held	USS Shaw USS Wickes USS Dale USS Saratoga NAS Pensacola South Pacific Area United States Third Fleet
Battles/wars	World War I World War II **Pacific War
Awards	Navy Cross Navy Distinguished Service Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal

Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., GBE, USN, (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) (commonly known as "Bull" Halsey, but not to his face), was a U.S. Naval officer and the commander of the United States Third Fleet during much of the Pacific War against Japan.

Early years

Halsey was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 30 1882, the son of Captain William F. Halsey, Sr. USN, and attended the Pingry School as a boy. After waiting two years for an appointment to the US Naval Academy, Halsey decided to study medicine at the University of Virginia and get into the Navy as a doctor. He chose the university because his best friend, Karl Osterhause, was there. Years later, Halsey admitted that he didn't learn much during his one and only year at UVA, but he had a wonderful time. He became a member of St. Anthony Hall and, for the rest of his life, he carried the fraternity's emblem on his watch chain.

Halsey graduated in 1904 from the United States Naval Academy with several athletic honors, and spent his early service years in battleships and torpedo craft. The United States Navy was expanding at that time, and the Navy was short on officers; Halsey was one of the few who were promoted directly from Ensign to full Lieutenant, skipping the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade). Torpedoes and torpedo craft became a specialty for him, and he commanded the First Group of the Atlantic Fleet's Torpedo Flotilla in 1912 through 1913, and several torpedo boats and destroyers during the 1910s and 1920s. Lieutenant Commander Halsey's World War I service, including command of USS Shaw in 1918, was sufficiently distinguished to earn a Navy Cross.

Inter-war years

From 1922 through 1925, Halsey served as Naval Attache in Berlin, Germany, and commanded USS Dale during a European cruise. During 1930–1932, Captain Halsey led two destroyer squadrons, then studied at the Naval War College in the mid-1930s. Prior to assuming command of an aircraft carrier, he received aviation instruction, taking the more difficult Naval Aviator rather than Aviation Observer program. He insisted on taking the full twelve week course, and was the last one of his class to graduate. He then commanded the carrier USS Saratoga and the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida. Halsey was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1938, commanding Carrier Divisions for the next three years, and, as a Vice Admiral, also serving as Commander Aircraft Battle Force.

World War II

Vice Admiral Halsey was at sea in his flagship, USS Enterprise, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon learning of the Japanese attack, he was overheard remarking that after this war the Japanese language would only be spoken in hell. Halsey's contempt for the Japanese was well-displayed throughout the war to the officers and sailors under his command in very successful campaigns to boost morale. One such example was a sign Halsey hung on the bulkhead of his flag quarters, "Kill Japs, Kill Japs, Kill More Japs!". During the first six months of the war, his carrier task force took part in raids on enemy-held islands and in the Doolittle Raid on Japan. By this time he had adopted the slogan, "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often".

Beached by a very severe attack of psoriasis just before the Battle of Midway, he lent his chief of staff, Captain Miles Browning, to his hand-picked successor, Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, who, under the overall command of Vice Admiral Fletcher, and despite difficulties from Browning, led the American carrier forces to a victory against the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Halsey took command in the South Pacific Area in mid-October 1942, at a critical stage of the Guadalcanal Campaign. After Guadalcanal was secured in February 1943, Admiral Halsey's forces spent the rest of the year battling up the Solomon Islands Chain to Bougainville, then isolated the Japanese fortress at Rabaul by capturing positions in the Bismarck Archipelago.

Admiral Halsey left the South Pacific in May 1944, as the war surged toward the Philippines and Japan. From September 1944 to January 1945, he led the U.S. Third Fleet during campaigns to take the Palaus, Leyte and Luzon, and on many raids on Japanese bases.

Leyte Gulf

File:Halsey.JPG

Halsey

In October 1944, amphibious forces of the U.S. Seventh Fleet carried out major landings on the island of Leyte in the Central Philippines. Halsey's Third Fleet was assigned to cover and support Seventh Fleet operations around Leyte. In response to the invasion, the Japanese launched a vast operation (known as 'Sho-Go') involving almost all their surviving fleet, and aimed at destroying the invasion shipping in Leyte Gulf. A force built around a relatively weak group of Japanese aircraft carriers (Admiral Ozawa's 'Northern Force') was meant to lure the covering U.S. forces away from the Gulf while two other forces (the 'Southern' and 'Center' Forces) built around a total of 7 battleships and 16 cruisers broke through to the beachhead and attacked the invasion shipping. This operation was to bring about the Battle for Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the largest naval battle in history.

The Center Force commanded by Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita was located and attacked by American picket submarines on 23 October, and on 24 October, in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, Third Fleet's aircraft attacked it, sinking the giant battleship Musashi and damaging other ships. Kurita turned westwards, towards his base, but later reversed course and headed again for San Bernardino Strait through which he was intended to pass to reach Leyte Gulf. By this stage, the carriers of Ozawa's decoy Northern Force had been located by Halsey's aircraft. Halsey made the momentous decision to take all his available strength northwards on the night of 24–25 October to strike the Japanese carrier force on the following morning. He resolved to leave San Bernadino Strait entirely unguarded. As C. Vann Woodward wrote, "not so much as a picket destroyer was left."

Halsey had swallowed the bait. He also failed to advise Admiral Kinkaid and Seventh Fleet of his decision. However, the Seventh Fleet intercepted a message from Halsey to his own task group commanders, which led Kinkaid and his staff to believe that Halsey was taking his three available carrier groups northwards, but would be leaving Task Force 34 — a powerful battleship force — guarding San Bernardino Strait.

Despite ominous aerial reconnaissance reports on the night of 24–25 October, Halsey continued to assume that the approaching Japanese Center Force had been neutralised, and continued to take his entire available strength northwards, away from San Bernadino Strait and Leyte Gulf.

Halsey with VAdm. John S. McCain, Sr.

As a result, when Kurita's powerful Center Force emerged from San Bernadino on the morning of the 25 October, they found not one Allied ship to oppose them. Advancing down the coast of the island of Samar towards their objective — the invasion shipping in Leyte Gulf — they took Seventh Fleet's escort carriers and their screening ships entirely by surprise. In the desperate and unequal Battle off Samar which followed, Kurita's ships destroyed one of the minuscule escort carriers and three ships of the carriers' screen, but the heroic resistance of the escort carrier groups took a heavy toll of Kurita's ships, and he eventually withdrew towards San Bernadino Strait without achieving anything further.

When the Seventh Fleet's escort carriers found themselves under attack from the Center Force, Halsey began to receive a succession of desperate calls from Kinkaid asking for immediate assistance off Samar. For over two hours Halsey turned a deaf ear to these calls. Eventually, at 10:00 hours, an anxious message was received — "Turkey trots to water. Where is repeat where is Task Force 34? The world wonders" — from Admiral Chester Nimitz, CINCPAC</small, Halsey's immediate superior, referring to the battleship force thought to have been covering San Bernadino Strait and therefore Seventh Fleet's northern flank. This message helped finally to persuade Halsey to turn his battleships and their escorts southwards, which he did at 11:15, but he then delayed for a further two-and-a-half hours while refuelling the accompanying destroyers. By then, it was too late for Task Force 34 either to assist the Seventh Fleet's escort carrier groups or to prevent Kurita's force from making its escape.

This succession of actions on Halsey's part during 24 and 25 October is thought to have irreparably damaged his reputation — both in Third Fleet and throughout the U.S. Navy.

Typhoon

After the Leyte Gulf engagement, Third Fleet was confronted with another powerful enemy in mid-December — Typhoon Cobra (also known as "Halsey's Typhoon"). While conducting operations off the Philippines, the force remained on station rather than avoiding a major storm, which sank three destroyers and inflicted damage on many other ships. Some 800 men were lost, in addition to 146 aircraft. The storm is the central scene in Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny (and Halsey is an off-stage presence for much of the book). A smaller typhoon assailed Third Fleet a month later.

In January 1945, Halsey passed command of his fleet to Admiral Spruance (whereupon its designation changed to 'Fifth Fleet'). Halsey resumed command of Third Fleet in late-May 1945 and retained it until the end of the war. He was present when Japan formally surrendered on the deck of his flagship, USS Missouri, on September 2, 1945.

Post-war

Despite his having committed at the Battle for Leyte Gulf what is considered to have been one of the greatest blunders in naval history, and despite his subsequent failure to avoid two destructive typhoons, Halsey was promoted to Fleet Admiral in December 1945, and retired from active duty in March 1947. Halsey died on August 20, 1959 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Frances Grandy Halsey (1887-1968), is buried with him.

Dates of rank

• Midshipman - Class of 1904

Ensign	Lieutenant, Junior Grade	Lieutenant	Lieutenant Commander	Commander	Captain
O-1	O-2	O-3	O-4	O-5	O-6
February 2, 1906	February 2, 1909	February 2, 1909	August 29, 1916	February 1, 1918	February 10, 1927

Rear Admiral	Rear Admiral	Vice Admiral	Admiral	Fleet Admiral
O-7	O-8	O-9	O-10	O-11
Never Held	March 1, 1938	June 13, 1940	November 18, 1942	December 11, 1945

Halsey never held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, as he was appointed a full Lieutenant after three years of service as an Ensign. For administrative reasons, Halsey's naval record states he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (junior grade) and Lieutenant on the same day.

At the time of Halsey's promotion to Rear Admiral, the United States Navy did not maintain a one-star rank. Halsey was thus promoted directly from a captain to two-star admiral.

Awards and decorations

File:Navycross1.jpg

Navy Cross

	Navy Cross
	Navy Distinguished Service Medal with three gold stars
	Army Distinguished Service Medal
File:NavyPres.gif	Presidential Unit Citation (US)
	World War I Victory Medal with Destroyer Clasp
	American Defense Service Medal
	American Campaign Medal
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
	World War II Victory Medal
	Mexican Service Medal
	National Defense Service Medal
	Philippine Liberation Medal
	Knight of the British Empire

Honors

• Two ships have have been named for Admiral Halsey: USS Halsey (CG-23), a Leahy-class guided missile cruiser, and USS Halsey (DDG-97), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.
• The airfield at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California was dedicated in honor of Halsey on 20 October 1960, during a celebration of 50 years of naval aviation (1911-1961).
• At least two American colleges have buildings named after Halsey: Halsey Hall at the University of Virginia and the Halsey Fieldhouse at the United States Naval Academy.
• A street, Halsey Court, is named after him in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey has a complex – Halsey House – named for Halsey, and Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, New Jersey, renamed its auditorium after him.

In popular culture

File:Cagney-TheGallantHours.jpg

From The Gallant Hours, Dennis Weaver and James Cagney as Admiral Halsey (left to right)

• Halsey was portrayed by James Cagney in the 1960 bio-pic, The Gallant Hours; by James Whitmore in the 1970 film, Tora! Tora! Tora!; and by Robert Mitchum in the 1976 film, Midway.
• Halsey makes a brief appearance in Herman Wouk's novel The Winds of War, and has a more substantial supporting role in the sequel War and Remembrance. Halsey was portrayed in the 1983 television miniseries adaptation of The Winds of War by Richard X. Slattery, and in the 1988 miniseries adaptation of War and Remembrance by Pat Hingle.
• Halsey has been portrayed in a number of other films and TV miniseries, played by Glenn Morshower (Pearl Harbor, 2001), Kenneth Tobey (MacArthur, 1977), Jack Diamond (Battle Stations, 1956), John Maxwell, (The Eternal Sea, 1955) and Morris Ankrum (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, 1944).
• Halsey was one of the four main characters in Sea of Thunder, a history of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
• In the Axis of Time trilogy of books by John Birmingham, both Halsey and Admiral Nimitz appear as minor characters.
• Halsey is mentioned in the film The Hunt for Red October, based on the book by Tom Clancy. Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst (played by Alec Baldwin) is the author of a biography of Halsey entitled Fighting Sailor. When Sean Connery's character, a Russian submarine commander, learns this, he responds: "I know this book. Your conclusions were all wrong, Ryan. Halsey acted stupidly." Halsey is also mentioned in another Tom Clancy novel, Red Rabbit, as the subject of Ryan's biography.
• Halsey has a small role in Harry Turtledove's novel Drive to the East. While the United States face off with the Confederacy as part of World War II, Halsey is involved in an operation aimed at forcing a crossing of the Rappahannock River in Virginia, in order to bring Union troops closer to Richmond.
• Halsey is mentioned in the Paul and Linda McCartney song "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", a hit in 1971 and a staple of oldies/classic rock radio.
• The official U.S. Navy picture of Adm. Halsey, hangs in the office of fictious Navy Judge Advocate General, A. J. Chegwidden, on the television show JAG.
• On March 4, 1951 Halsey appeared as a mystery guest on episode #40 of the game show, What's My Line, where the panel correctly guessed his identity.

See also

• Pacific War
• List of military figures by nickname

Notes

References

• "Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr". Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. June 2, 1996.
• "William Frederick Halsey, Jr., Fleet Admiral, United States Navy". ArlingtonCemetery.net.
• Mossman, B.C. and M.W. Stark (1991). The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921-1969. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |Chapter= ignored (|chapter= suggested) (help)
• Drury, Robert and Tom Clavin (December 28, 2006). "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |acccessdate= (help)

Further reading

• Thomas, Evan (2006). Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743252217.

External links

• "Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., USN, (1882-1959)". Online Library of Selected Images: People — United States. Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy.