DC Tom Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 I read this book last summer and just loved it. http://www.largeprintreviews.com/seathunder.html I thought he did a wonderful job telling the story of this incredible battle. Halsey crying on the bridge of the New Jersey when he found out he had made a mistake was wierd. The Darter and the Dace adventure. The men that went into the water with sharks all around them. Halsey was crying not so much because he made a mistake, but because of that wire he got from Pearl ("Where is, rpt, were is TF34, the world wonders?") It was a truly awful message to receive...and interestingly, never should have been sent. It was practically an accident. I mean, he did make a mistake. A pretty big one. Halsey was simply out of his depth in that battle - he was singuarly able to focus on a single goal to excellent effect (as he proved in the South Pacific), but couldn't keep track of a complex situation like Leyte (unlike Spruance at the Marianas). But he'd made mistakes before (e.g. Munda), just never been insulted for it like he was at Letye (albiet accidentally). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Halsey was crying not so much because he made a mistake, but because of that wire he got from Pearl ("Where is, rpt, were is TF34, the world wonders?") It was a truly awful message to receive...and interestingly, never should have been sent. It was practically an accident. I mean, he did make a mistake. A pretty big one. Halsey was simply out of his depth in that battle - he was singuarly able to focus on a single goal to excellent effect (as he proved in the South Pacific), but couldn't keep track of a complex situation like Leyte (unlike Spruance at the Marianas). But he'd made mistakes before (e.g. Munda), just never been insulted for it like he was at Letye (albiet accidentally). Ya, the message was a big screw up. They decoded it wrong. The part, "the world wonders" was not suppose to be part of the message, but just the nonesense part sent to confuse the Japs. Halsey hadn't been sleeping very much at the time either and was in a somewhat hysterical state of mind. Evans explained that at the Turkey Shoot Sprunce had not gone after the Jap fleet for the same reason Halsey should have stayed at San Barnidino straight, thinking another fleet might be waiting, but there wasn't. Sprunce took heat for this. Was made a joke of actually, the worst thing possible. Halsey didn't want the same thing to happen to him. Though, should have known better, but there were communications problems also. Was TF 34 with the battleships left left behind as many thought? Oops, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Ya, the message was a big screw up. They decoded it wrong. The part, "the world wonders" was not suppose to be part of the message, but just the nonesense part sent to confuse the Japs. Halsey hadn't been sleeping very much at the time either and was in a somewhat hysterical state of mind. Evans explained that at the Turkey Shoot Sprunce had not gone after the Jap fleet for the same reason Halsey should have stayed at San Barnidino straight, thinking another fleet might be waiting, but there wasn't. Sprunce took heat for this. Was made a joke of actually, the worst thing possible. Halsey didn't want the same thing to happen to him. Though, should have known better, but there were communications problems also. Was TF 34 with the battleships left left behind as many thought? Oops, no. Also, the repetition of "Where is" was added by the communications officer at Pearl, on his own initiative. The trailing pad was unforgivable...basic cryptography says you don't make the pad grammatically part of the message (the leading pad, BTW, was "Turkey trots to water"...little meaningless trivia). Whoever decoded it on the New Jersey is far less to blame than the bozo at Pearl who formatted the message in the first place. Spruance did take a lot of heat at the Marianas...all of it unwarranted. He did his job and covered the invasion fleet. People who criticized him (or still criticize him) for a lack of aggression need to remember that Mitscher's evening strike on the Mobile Fleet - ordered by Spruance - wasn't just aggressive but recklessly aggressive. Having said that...in Halsey's defense, he wasn't exactly in charge of the invasion of Leyte. Command was basically split between him, Turner, and Ohlendorf, with Nimitz in overall command at long-distance from Pearl. With all the combat power available to the US Navy at Leyte, covering San Bernadino should have been no problem even while Halsey went rattle-assing off after Ozawa...but it was Nimitz's responsibility to coordinate it, and he didn't. A better commander (like Spruance) would have seen the problem in leaving San Bernadinao uncovered...but Halsey acted well within his orders and responsibilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steely Dan Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 2500. I always wanted to write a book about the battleships that survived Pearl Harbor. Most people don't know...but five of the six (West Virginia, California, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Maryland) fought in Surigao Straits at Leyte Gulf, and destroyed part of the Japanese fleet in the last battleship action ever. I always thought it would be an interesting narrative to trace their histories from Pearl Harbor to Surigao. I was going by this part in Cincy's article: He and his men jumped onto a truck and took off to their positions at Fort Kamehameha near Hickam Field. More than 3,500 Americans were killed or injured during the two-hour attack. I should have said dead or injured. My bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts