William Halsey, Jr.

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William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
October 30, 1882 – August 20, 1959
Nickname	"Bull"
Place of birth	Elizabeth, New Jersey
Allegiance	U.S. Navy
Years of service	1904–1947
Rank	Fleet Admiral
Commands	USS Shaw USS Dale USS Saratoga NAS Pensacola South Pacific Area U.S. 3rd Fleet
Battles/wars	World War I World War II **Pacific War
Awards	Navy Cross Navy Distinguished Service Medal Army Distinguished Service Medal

William Frederick "Bull" Halsey, Jr. (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was the United States Navy Fleet Admiral who commanded the U.S. Third Fleet during much of the Pacific War against Japan.

Halsey was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on October 30, 1882, the son of Captain William F. Halsey, Sr. USN. He attended the Pingry School as a boy and later graduated in 1904 from the United States Naval Academy with several athletic honors. He 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 distinctive to earn a Navy Cross.

Contents 1 Inter-war years 2 World War II 2.1 Leyte Gulf 3 Post-war 4 Awards and decorations 5 References in popular culture 6 External links

[edit] 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. He 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.

[edit] World War II

Vice Admiral Halsey was at sea in his flagship, USS Enterprise, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. 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 that Halsey had hanging on the bulkhead of his flag quarters that said "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 acquired the nickname "Bull," after his slogan, "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often". Beached by an attack of psoriasis just before the June 1942 Battle of Midway, he lent his brilliant chief of staff, Captain Miles Browning, to his hand-picked successor, Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, who under the overall command of Vice Admiral Fletcher led the American carrier forces to a brilliant victory against the superior 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 Third Fleet during campaigns to take the Palaus, Leyte and Luzon, and on many raids on Japanese bases.

[edit] Leyte Gulf

In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, he took the Third Fleet in pursuit of a force of Japanese carriers, leaving the Japanese surface fleet to engage a task force of destroyer escorts and light carriers. The Battle of Leyte Gulf was a complicated affair, in part because portions of the American fleet were uninformed about the other's areas of responsibility. (The mish-mash of signals is covered in detail in the novel War and Remembrance, by Herman Wouk.)

Despite aerial reconnaissance reports on the night of 24–25 October, Halsey or his staff failed to take note of the approaching Japanese center force via San Bernardino Strait. When the crisis erupted off Samar the next morning, the 3rd Fleet striking arm was headed north to engage Japanese carriers off Cape Engaño. In his absence, the Seventh Fleet lost an escort carrier and three destroyers (totaling 660 men) to Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's battleships and cruisers.

A message from Admiral Chester Nimitz asking for the location of Task Force 34 ("Turkey trots to water. Where is repeat where is Task Force 34? The world wonders"), the battleships that should have been covering the approaches to Leyte, led to ill-feeling due to a misunderstood piece of security padding (see "the world wonders"). Halsey recovered, though, by winning the battle though without the hammer-blow victory for which he had hoped.

After the Leyte Gulf engagement, the 3rd Fleet was confronted with another powerful enemy: "Halsey's Typhoon" in mid December. While conducting operations off the Philippines, the force remained on station rather than avoiding a major storm that 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 the fleet a month later.

In January 1945, Halsey was routinely relieved by Admiral Raymond A. Spruance in command of the fleet (during this time called Fifth Fleet). Halsey resumed command of the Third Fleet from late May 1945 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.

[edit] Post-war

Despite his record at Leyte and failure to avoid two typhoons, Halsey was promoted to Fleet Admiral in December 1945, and retired from active duty in March 1947. Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey died on August 20, 1959 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Two ships have been named after Halsey, a decommissioned guided missile frigate (later cruiser) USS Halsey (CG-23) and a modern destroyer USS Halsey (DDG-97), see USS Halsey for further details.

[edit] Awards and decorations

• Navy Cross
• Navy Distinguished Service Medal with three gold stars
• Army Distinguished Service Medal
• 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
• American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp
• National Defense Service Medal
• Philippine Liberation Medal
• Knight of the British Empire

[edit] References in popular culture

• 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.
• Halsey is mentioned in a derogatory sentence by Sean Connery's character in the film The Hunt for Red October - "Halsey acted stupidly". In both the book and the film Jack Ryan, played by Alec Baldwin in the film, is the author of a biography of Halsey entitled Fighting Sailor.
• Halsey is mentioned in Tom Clancy's novel Red Rabbit as subject of main character's Jack Ryan's study and biography he works on.
• Halsey was portrayed by James Cagney in the 1960 film, The Gallant Hours.
• Halsey was portrayed by James Whitmore in the 1970 film, Tora! Tora! Tora!.
• Halsey was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the 1976 film, The Battle of Midway.
• A street, Halsey Court, is named after him in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• At least two American colleges have buildings named after him: Halsey Hall at the University of Virginia and the Halsey Fieldhouse at the United States Naval Academy.
• Jonathan Dayton High School in Springfield, New Jersey, renamed its auditorium after
• The Elizabeth NJ High school, (EHS), has a complex named for Halsey. (Halsey House).

[edit] External links

• [1] New York Times article: "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship" by Robert Drury and Tom Clavin -- Op-Ed, Thursday, December 28, 2006.
• William Halsey, Jr. biography on Official US Navy website
• Naval Historical Center photos
• Arlington Cemetery Page; also gives nickname "Bull"
• The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921-1969, CHAPTER XVIII, Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Special Military Funeral, 16-20 August 1959 by B. C. Mossman and M. W. Stark