World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseWilliam Frederick Halsey, Jr. was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States, to Master William F. Halsey, Sr. of the US Navy. Growing up hearing his father's stories, he attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated 43 out of 62. During his early career he served aboard battleships and torpedo craft.

ww2dbaseDuring WW1, Halsey was a lieutenant commander who commanded the USS Shaw in 1918 and also saw action as the commander of Atlantic Fleet's Torpedo Flotilla; he earned a Navy Cross before the end of WW1. In the interwar years, Halsey served as Naval Attaché to Germany, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. After several sea-going commands, he attended Naval War College and then learned to pilot an aircraft in 1935, which changed the direction of his career. He went on to command the carrier USS Saratoga and then commanded the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida, United States. He trained pilots who were destined to fill squadrons for the modern carriers Enterprise and Yorktown. In 1938, when the war had already broken out in Asia, Halsey was promoted to the rank of rear admiral and commanded carrier divisions. In 1940 he was promoted vice admiral.

ww2dbaseVice Admiral Halsey was at sea in his flagship USS Enterprise when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. He was overseeing a mission to deliver Marine Corps fighters to bases in the Pacific, and luckily evaded the devastating Japanese raid. His carrier task force took parts in raids to deter further Japanese advance in the early stages of the Pacific War, as well as transporting James Doolittle's raiders on their famous raid on Tokyo. Halsey was absent from the major battle at Midway due to skin disease, which built up his later aggressiveness to hunt down Japanese carriers to avenge the deaths of so many American lives at the hands of Japanese naval pilots. Promoted to admiral in Nov 1942, Halsey was instrumental in both King and Nimitz's island hopping campaign and MacArthur's "hit 'em where they ain't" campaign. During the Guadalcanal Campaign, Halsey's forces were credited with sinking two Japanese battleships, two destroyers, and six transports at the loss of two cruisers and four destroyers.

ww2dbaseHalsey led a raid to Taiwan with the target being the land-based aircraft that might be used by the enemy during the subsequent Allied invasion of the Philippines. During an engagement that the Japanese lost 312 fighters, the exaggeration of damage inflicted on Halsey's fleet soared as high as eleven carriers and two battleships sunk. Halsey, upon hearing enemy propaganda based on the exaggerations, being true to himself sent Nimitz the sarcastic radio message "the Third Fleet's sunken and damaged ships have been salvaged and are retiring at high speed toward the enemy.

ww2dbaseFrom Sep 1944 to Jan 1945, Halsey led the US Third Fleet to assist Douglas MacArthur reclaim the Philippines. His fleet participated in the campaigns to take Palau Islands for staging the Philippines invasion, and then the Philippines campaign itself. During the Leyte Gulf Campaign, after launching a successful air strike that sank the battleship Musashi, Halsey's aggressiveness and personal ambition to sink Japanese carriers was taken advantage upon by Japanese admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, who baited Halsey with a decoy force successfully, allowing Takeo Kurita's Center Force of heavy surface ships to attack American Task Force 34 consisted of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers. Task Force 34's message "Where is [repeat] where is Task Force 34" became a motto for those who criticized Halsey's over-aggressiveness that cost American lives unnecessarily. Despite heroic efforts by American destroyers, the Japanese fleet overwhelmed the outgunned American ships, though Kurita's over-carefulness in withdrawing the attack earlier than necessary saved the doom of entire American task forces. Halsey's subsequent run-in with typhoons, which resulted in loss of ships and lives, again put him in scrutiny.

ww2dbaseHalsey was aboard USS Missouri, his flagship, when the Japanese delegation signed the surrender document in Tokyo Bay.

ww2dbaseIn MacArthur's Reminiscences, the general wrote

ww2dbaseMacArthur regarded Halsey very highly for his aggressive style, ranking him among one of the very few naval personnel that he trusted.

ww2dbaseHalsey retired from the US Navy in Mar 1947 and became director of several large corporations. He passed away in Pasadena, California in 1959 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.

Famous Quote(s)

• "Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell."
      » On the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, 8 Dec 1941

William Halsey Interactive Map

Photographs

William Halsey Timeline

Visitor Submitted Comments

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8.  David Stubblebine says:
25 Jul 2016 04:26:39 PM

I know it has been several years since the earlier comments were posted, but two of them still require a response.

Comment #1 (picuri):
You are correct that “there is no mention of Halsey relieving Spruance at Okinawa because of heavy ship losses to Japanese kamikazes” because this never happened. Starting in mid-1944 Halsey and Spruance traded off commanding the carrier fleet and their changes of command were well scheduled. Additionally, many would consider Spruance the better commander. When Nimitz hedged his bets by not bringing any of his large carriers into Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremony in case the whole thing turned out to be a Japanese trap, who did he leave in command of the carriers waiting just off shore? Spruance, not Halsey.

Comment #3 (Anonymous):
I cannot imagine what your sources could be. First off, if Nimitz had an issue with his flag not being flown, his staff would have taken it up with the ship’s captain, not Halsey. Second off, the Missouri’s captain at the time, Stuart S Murray, wrote a very detailed description of the preparations that took place aboard ship before and during the surrender ceremony and part of that was the story of the very careful juggling of hoisting Nimitz’ blue Fleet Admiral flag and MacArthur’s red General of the Army flag. During the time both were aboard, both flags were flying – something that is normally outside Navy guidelines. They paid close attention to this.
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