Halsey, Admiral William (‘Bull’)

Halsey, Admiral William (‘Bull’) (1882–1959),US naval officer who graduated from the Naval Academy in 1900 after an indifferent career as a student. Between the wars he became a qualified pilot and by 1940 he was a vice-admiral and the most senior carrier admiral in the Pacific. His carriers were away from Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked and as an advocate for taking the offensive as quickly as possible—which earned him the permanent loyalty of Nimitz, his C-in-C—he led his carrier task force on an acclaimed series of daring raids against Japanese-held Pacific islands during the first two months of 1942. He stayed in the public eye for the rest of the war.

Promoted Commander of Carriers, Pacific Fleet in April 1942 he launched the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, but missed the Midway battle through sickness. His combat aggressiveness brought him command of the South Pacific Force in October 1942 at a critical time in the Guadalcanal campaign, and his forces there engaged the Japanese in key naval actions that eventually secured the island for the Americans. He was promoted admiral in November 1942 and throughout 1943 and early 1944 continued as South Pacific Area commander directing the American offensive in the Solomons (see Map 83).

In September 1944 he took up sea command of Third Fleet (Fifth Fleet when commanded by Spruance) which covered the American landings on Leyte the following month (seePhilippines campaigns). The Japanese, playing on Halsey's pugnacious, impulsive temperament, nearly accomplished their goal of destroying the landings by luring him north to attack Ozawa's decoy carrier fleet, and in the battle of Leyte Gulf which followed only the efforts of the much smaller Seventh Fleet averted disaster. His judgement was also questioned when he took his fleet into two typhoons in one of which three destroyers were lost. But it was aboard his flagship, the battleship Missouri, that the Japanese surrender ceremony took place on 2 September 1945 in Tokyo Bay and that December he was promoted Fleet Admiral.

Appropriately nicknamed ‘Bull’, Halsey's rugged appearance underlined his toughness and readiness to fight. He was universally liked and admired, but his natural aggressiveness worked against him at Leyte Gulf and a large question mark remains over his abilities as a planner and an administrator.

Bibliography

Halsey, W., and and Bryan, J. , Admiral Halsey's Story (New York, 1947).
Potter, E. B. , Bull Halsey (Annapolis, Md., 1985).