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William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
October 30, 1882 – August 20, 1959
Nickname	"Bull" "Bill"
Place of birth	Elizabeth, New Jersey
Allegiance	U.S. Navy
Years of service	1904–1947
Rank	Fleet Admiral
Commands	USS Shaw USS Wickes 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

Fleet Admiral William Frederick "Bull" Halsey, Jr., GBE USN (October 30, 1882 – August 16, 1959) was a U.S. naval officer and the commander of the U.S. Third Fleet during much of the Pacific War against Japan.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Inter-war years 3 World War II 3.1 Leyte Gulf 3.2 Typhoon 4 Post-war 5 Dates of rank 6 Awards and decorations 7 References in popular culture 8 External links

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. 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[1] and, for the rest of his life, he carried the fraternity's emblem on his watch chain. He 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 distinguished to earn a Navy Cross.

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.

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 a very severe attack of psoriasis just before the June 1942 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 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.

In October 1944 amphibious forces of the US 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 the Seventh Fleet's 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 US 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 Northern Force - the decoy 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, 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 - off 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.

As a result, when Kurita's very 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 which followed Kurita's ships destroyed one of the tiny 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 1000 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, Commander of the Pacific Fleet and Halsey's immediate superior, referring to the battleship force that was 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 1115, but he then delayed for a further two-and-a-half hours while refuelling the accompanying destroyers. It was then too late for Task Force 34 either to assist the Seventh Fleet's escort carrier groups or prevent Kurita's force from making its escape.

This bizarre succession of blunders on Halsey's part during 24 and 25 October is thought to have irreparably damaged his reputation - both in Third Fleet and throughout the US Navy.

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 passed command of his fleet to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (whereupon the fleet's designation changed to 'Fifth Fleet') Halsey resumed command of 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.

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. Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey died on August 20, 1959 and was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Frances Grandy Halsey (1887-1968), is buried with him.

Two ships have (CG-23)|USS Halsey (CG-23)]] and a modern destroyer USS Halsey (DDG-97).

• 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 that 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 a Two-Star Admiral.

• 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

• 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: "I know this book. Your conclusions were all wrong, Ryan. 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.
• In the Axis of Time trilogy of books by John Birmingham, both Halsey and Admiral Nimitz appear as minor characters.
• 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 has a small role in Harry Turtledove's Drive to the East novel. 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 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 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 Halsey
• The Elizabeth High School in New Jersey has a complex named for Halsey. (Halsey House).
• Halsey was one of the four main characters in a history of the Battle of Leyte Gulf Sea of Thunder.
• Elretta Sudsbury's semi-official 1967 History of North Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, Ca. "Jackrabbits to Jets", the airfield itself, as opposed to the air station as a whole, was dedicated in honor of Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey on 20 October, 1960, during a celebration of 50 years of naval aviation (1911-1961).

• New York Times article: "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship" by Robert Drury and Tom Clavin - NY Times, 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, Special Military Funeral for Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., August 16-20, 1959 by B.C. Mossman and M.W. Stark