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{{short description|United States Navy admiral (1882–1959)}}
{{redirect|William Halsey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| width_style   = person
| image         = W Halsey.jpg
| image_size    = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = Official portrait, {{circa}} 1945
| nickname      = "Bull" Halsey (in the press)
| birth_name    = William Frederick Halsey Jr.
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1882|10|30|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1959|8|16|1882|10|30|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Fishers Island, New York]], U.S.
| placeofburial = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| allegiance    = United States
| branch        = [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears  = 1904–1959{{NoteTag|U.S. officers holding five-star rank never retire; they draw full active duty pay for life.<ref>{{cite book |last = Tucker |first = Spencer C. |title = The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww-KsC |year = 2011 |publisher = ABC-CLIO |isbn = 978-1-85109-961-0 |pages =[https://books.google.com/books?id=qh5lffww–KsC&pg=PA1685 1685] }}</ref>}}
| rank          = [[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = {{plainlist|
* [[United States Third Fleet]]
* [[South Pacific Area]]
* [[Task Force 16]]
* [[Carrier Strike Group 2|Carrier Division 2]]
* [[Naval Air Station Pensacola|NAS Pensacola]]
* {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|6}}
* {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}}
* {{USS|Dale|DD-290|6}}
* {{USS|Wickes|DD-75|6}}
* {{USS|Shaw|DD-68|6}}
* {{USS|Flusser|DD-20|6}}
}}
| battles       = {{Tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
** [[First Battle of the Atlantic]]
* [[World War II]]
** [[Marshalls–Gilberts raids]]
** [[Doolittle Raid]]
** [[Guadalcanal campaign]]
** [[Solomon Islands Campaign]]
** [[Operation Cartwheel]]
*** [[New Georgia Campaign]]
*** [[Bougainville Campaign]]
** [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]]
{{Tree list/end}}
| awards        = {{plainlist|
* [[File:Navy Cross ribbon.svg|35 px]] [[Navy Cross]]
* [[File:Navy Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|35 px]] [[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]] (4)
* [[File:Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|35 px]] [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]]
}}
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = 
}}

'''William Frederick''' "'''Bull'''" '''Halsey Jr.''' (30 October 1882 – 16 August 1959) was an American [[United States Navy|Navy]] [[admiral]] during [[World War II]]. He is one of four officers to have attained the rank of five-star [[Fleet admiral (United States)|fleet admiral]] of the United States Navy, the others being [[William D. Leahy|William Leahy]], [[Ernest J. King]], and [[Chester W. Nimitz]].

Born in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], Halsey graduated from the [[United States Naval Academy]] in 1904. He served in the [[Great White Fleet]] and, during [[World War I]], commanded the [[destroyer]] {{USS|Shaw|DD-68|6}}. He took command of the [[aircraft carrier]] {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|6}} in 1935 after completing a course in naval aviation, and was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in 1938. At the start of the [[Pacific War|War in the Pacific]] (1941–1945), Halsey commanded the task force centered on the carrier {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} in a series of raids against Japanese-held targets.

Halsey was made commander of the [[South Pacific Area]], and led the Allied forces over the course of the [[Guadalcanal campaign|Battle for Guadalcanal]] (1942–1943) and the [[Solomon Islands campaign|fighting up the Solomon chain]] (1942–1945).{{sfn|Morison|1958|p=183}}  In 1943 he was made commander of the [[United States Third Fleet|Third Fleet]], the post he held through the rest of the war.{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=112}}  He took part in the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]], the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the [[largest naval battle in history]]. He was promoted to fleet admiral in December 1945 and retired from active service in March 1947.

==Early life==
Halsey was born in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]], on 30 October 1882, the son of Anna Masters (Brewster) and [[United States Navy]] Captain [[William F. Halsey Sr.|William F. Halsey]].

Halsey was of [[English American|English]] ancestry. All of his ancestors came to America from England and all of them emigrated from England to [[New England]] in the early 1600s. He felt a "kinship" with his ancestors, including [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] John Halsey of [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|colonial Massachusetts]] who served in the [[Royal Navy]] in [[Queen Anne's War]] from 1702 to 1713 where he [[Privateer|raided]] [[Kingdom of France|French]] [[Merchant ship|shipping]].{{sfn|Wukovits|2010|pp=1–2}}{{sfn|Hughes|2016|p=16}}  Through his father he was a descendant of Senator [[Rufus King]], who was an American lawyer, politician, diplomat, and [[Federalist Party (United States)|Federalist]]. Halsey attended the [[Pingry School]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Meyer |url = https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0916FC3D5B10738DDDA10894D9415B8588F1D3 |title=Home Town Roars Salute to Halsey; The Commander of the Third Fleet Returns to His Hometown in New Jersey |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=November 8, 1945 |access-date=February 11, 2011 }}</ref>

After waiting two years to receive an appointment to the [[United States Naval Academy]], Halsey decided to study medicine at the [[University of Virginia]] and then join the Navy as a physician. He chose Virginia because his best friend, Karl Osterhause, was there. While there, Halsey joined the [[Delta Psi]] fraternity and was also a member of the secretive [[Seven Society]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Bill |title=Seven Society's Secret Still Secret |newspaper=Washington Post |page=C8 |date=1965-02-15}}</ref> After his first year, Halsey received his appointment to the [[United States Naval Academy]] at Annapolis from President [[William McKinley]],<ref name=EleanorRoosevelt>{{cite web|accessdate=21 May 2025|url=https://erpapers.columbian.gwu.edu/william-f-halsey-jr-1882-1959|title=William F. Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959)|work=[[Eleanor Roosevelt]] Papers Project|publisher=Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, [[George Washington University]]}}</ref> and entered the academy in the fall of 1900. While attending the academy he [[Varsity letter|lettered]] in football as a fullback and earned several [[Navy Midshipmen|athletic]] honors. For some time while at the academy his roommate was [[William Alexander Ancrum]].<ref>Brunson, Charlotte Boykin Salmond. (1978). Kershaw County Cousins. United States: (p. 104).</ref> Halsey graduated from the Naval Academy on 2 February 1904.{{sfn|Wukovits|2010|p=9}}<ref>{{Cite book |editor=B.K. Johnson |url=http://archive.org/details/luckybag1904unse |title=Lucky Bag |date=1904 |publisher=Published by First Class, United States Naval Academy |others=Art Editor R.R. Riggs. Associate Editors W.F. Halsey, C.A. Harrington, R.B. Hilliard, H.S. Howard, C.C. Soule, F.G. Tupper. }}</ref>

==Early military service, World War I ==
Following his graduation in 1904, Halsey spent his early service years on [[battleship]]s, and sailed with the main battle fleet aboard the battleship {{USS|Kansas|BB-21|6}} as [[Theodore Roosevelt|Roosevelt's]] [[Great White Fleet]] [[circumnavigation|circumnavigated]] the globe from 1907 to 1909. Halsey was on the bridge of the battleship {{USS|Missouri|BB-11|6}} on Wednesday, 13 April 1904, when a flareback from the port gun in her aft turret ignited a powder charge and set off two others. No explosion occurred, but the rapid burning of the powder burned and suffocated to death 31 officers and enlisted sailors. This resulted in Halsey dreading the 13th of every month, especially when it fell on a Wednesday.{{sfn|Borneman|2012|p=47}}

After his service on the ''Missouri'', Halsey served aboard torpedo boats, beginning with the {{USS|Du Pont|TB-7|6}} in 1909. Halsey was one of the few officers who was promoted directly from [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] to full [[Lieutenant (navy)|lieutenant]], skipping the rank of [[Lieutenant, junior grade|lieutenant (junior grade)]]. It is for this reason that his dates of rank for both Lieutenant JG and full Lieutenant are identified as the same day, 02 Fab 1909. {{sfn|Wukovits|2010|page=17}} Torpedoes and torpedo boats became his specialties, and he commanded the First Group of the Atlantic Fleet's Torpedo Flotilla in 1912 through 1913. 
 
Halsey commanded a number of torpedo boats and [[destroyer]]s during the 1910s and 1920s. During World War I, he commanded destroyers that escorted convoys across the Atlantic Ocean, providing protection against German U-boats.<ref name=EleanorRoosevelt/> At that time, the destroyer and the torpedo boat, through extremely hazardous delivery methods, were the most effective way to bring the torpedo into combat against [[capital ship|capital ships]]. Then-[[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] Halsey's World War I service, including command of {{USS|Shaw|DD-68|6}} in 1918, earned him the [[Navy Cross]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Halsey, William Frederick |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-h/halsey-william-f.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=public1.nhhcaws.local |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Interwar years ==
In October 1922, he was the [[Naval Attaché]] at the American Embassy in [[Berlin]], Germany.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Personnel |first=United States Bureau of Naval |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bxf2lWUhW9wC&dq=William+Halsey+Jr.+naval+attache+berlin&pg=RA1-PA31 |title=Navy Directory |date=1923 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |pages=31 |language=en}}</ref> One year later, he was given additional duty as naval attaché at the American Embassies in [[Oslo|Christiania]], Norway; [[Copenhagen]], Denmark; and [[Stockholm]], Sweden. He then returned to sea duty, again in destroyers in European waters, in command of {{USS|Dale|DD-290|6}} and {{USS|Osborne|DD-295|6}}. Upon his return to the U.S. in 1927, he served one year as executive officer of the battleship {{USS|Wyoming|BB-32|6}}, and then for three years in command of {{USS|Reina Mercedes|IX-25|6}}, the station ship at the Naval Academy. Then-[[Captain (naval)|Captain]] Halsey continued his destroyer duty on his next two-year stint at sea, starting in 1930 as the Commander of Destroyer Division Three of the Scouting Force, before returning to study at the [[Naval War College]] in Newport, Rhode Island.{{sfn|NHHC Halsey|2019}}

In 1934, the chief of the [[Bureau of Aeronautics]], Navy Rear Admiral [[Ernest King]], offered Halsey command of the aircraft carrier {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|6}}, subject to completion of the course of an air observer. Halsey elected to enroll as a cadet for the full 12-week [[United States Naval Aviator|Naval Aviator]] course rather than the simpler Naval Aviation Observer program. "I thought it better to be able to fly the aircraft itself than to just sit back and be at the mercy of the pilot", said Halsey at the time. Halsey earned his Naval Aviator's Wings on 15 May 1935, at the age of 52, the oldest person to do so in the history of the U.S. Navy. While he had approval from his wife to train as an observer, she learned from a letter after the fact that he had changed to pilot training, and she told her daughter, "What do you think the old fool is doing now? He's learning to fly!"{{sfn|Borneman|2012|p=157}}  He went on to command the USS ''Saratoga'', and later the [[Naval Air Station Pensacola]] at [[Pensacola, Florida]]. Halsey considered airpower an important part of the future navy, commenting, "The naval officer in the next war had better know his aviation, and good". Halsey was promoted to [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] in 1938. During this time he commanded carrier divisions and served as the overall commander of the Aircraft Battle Force.

==World War II==
Traditional naval doctrine envisioned naval combat [[Line of battle|fought between opposing battleship gun lines]]. This view was challenged in World War I, when [[United States Army Air Corps |US Army Air Corps]] Colonel [[Billy Mitchell]] demonstrated the capability of aircraft to substantially damage and sink even the most heavily armored naval vessel. In the interwar debate that followed, some saw the carrier as defensive in nature, providing air cover to protect the battle group from shore-based aircraft. Carrier-based aircraft were lighter in design and had not been shown to be as lethal. The adage "Capital ships cannot withstand land-based air power" was well known.{{sfn|Morison|1948|p=190}}  Aviation proponents, however, imagined bringing the fight to the enemy with the use of air power.{{sfn|Wildenberg|2005|ps=. Wildenberg quotes Browning's thesis: "Every carrier we have knows what it means to be 'bopped' with all planes on deck, because her hands were tied by uncertainty as to her next move..."}} Halsey was a firm believer in the aircraft carrier as the primary naval offensive weapon system. When he testified at [[Husband E. Kimmel|Admiral Husband Kimmel's]] hearing after the devastating [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], he summed up American carrier tactics being to "get to the other fellow with everything you have as fast as you can and to dump it on him". Halsey testified he would never hesitate to use the carrier as an offensive weapon.

In April 1940, Halsey's ships, as part of Battle Fleet, moved to Hawaii, and in June 1940, he was promoted to vice admiral (temporary rank), and was appointed commander of Carrier Division 2 and commander of the Aircraft Battle Force.{{sfn|Wukovits|2010}}

With tensions high and war on the Pacific front imminent, U.S. Naval intelligence indicated [[Wake Island]] would be the target of a Japanese surprise attack. In response, on 28 November 1941 Admiral Kimmel ordered Halsey to take {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} to ferry aircraft to Wake Island to reinforce the Marines there. Kimmel had given Halsey "a free hand" to attack and destroy any Japanese military forces encountered.{{sfn|Wukovits|2010}} The planes flew off her deck on 2 December. Highly concerned about being spotted and then attacked by the Japanese carrier force, Halsey gave orders to "sink any shipping sighted, shoot down any plane encountered". His operations officer protested, "Goddammit, Admiral, you can't start a private war of your own! Who's going to take the responsibility?" Halsey replied, "I'll take it! If anything gets in my way, we'll shoot first and argue afterwards".<ref name="Books: The General and the Admiral">{{cite magazine |author=<!--staff writers; no byline--> |url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793941,00.html#ixzz1aL8AA1Tz |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828033133/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,793941,00.html |archive-date=August 28, 2013 |title = Books: The General and the Admiral |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=November 10, 1947 }}</ref>

A storm delayed ''Enterprise'' on her return voyage to Hawaii. Instead of returning on 6 December as planned, she was still {{convert|200|mi}} out at sea, when she received word that the anticipated surprise attack was not at Wake Island, but at [[attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]] itself. News of the attack came in the form of overhearing desperate radio transmissions from one of her aircraft, which had been sent forward to Pearl Harbor, attempting to identify itself as American.{{sfn|Millis|1947|p=357}} The plane was shot down, and her pilot and crew were lost. In the immediate wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor,  Admiral Kimmel named Halsey "commander of all the ships at sea".{{sfn|Wukovits|2010}} ''Enterprise'' searched south and west of the [[Hawaiian Islands]] for the Japanese attackers, but did not locate the six Japanese fleet carriers that were retiring to the north and west.

===Early Pacific carrier raids===
[[File:Douglas SBD flies over USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Saratoga (CV-3) on 19 December 1942.jpg|thumb|right|An SBD Dauntless flies anti-submarine patrol over ''Enterprise'' and ''Saratoga'']]

Halsey and ''Enterprise'' slipped back into Pearl Harbor on the evening of 8 December. Surveying the wreckage of the Pacific Fleet, he remarked, "Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in [[Hell]]".{{sfn|Halsey|Bryan|1947|pp=75–76}}  Halsey was an aggressive commander. Above all else, he was an energetic and demanding leader.  In the early months of the war, as the nation was rocked by the fall of one western bastion after another, Halsey looked to take the fight to the enemy. Serving as commander of [[Carrier Strike Group 2|Carrier Division 2]], aboard his flagship ''Enterprise'', Halsey led a series of hit-and-run raids against the Japanese, striking the [[Marshalls–Gilberts raids|Gilbert and Marshall]] islands in February, Wake Island in March, and carrying out the [[Doolittle Raid]] in April 1942 against the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Japan's largest and most populous island [[Honshu]], the first air raid to strike the [[Japanese archipelago|Japanese Home Islands]], providing an important boost to American [[morale]]. Halsey's slogan, "Hit hard, hit fast, hit often", soon became a byword for the Navy.

On 26 May 1942, Halsey returned to Pearl Harbor from his last raid in poor health due to the extremely serious and stressful conditions at hand. He had spent nearly all of the previous six months on the bridge of the carrier ''Enterprise,'' directing the Navy's counterstrikes. [[Psoriasis]] covered much of his body and caused unbearable itching, making it nearly impossible for him to sleep. Gaunt and having lost {{convert|20|lb|kg}}, he was medically ordered to the hospital in Hawaii where he received treatment.

Meanwhile, U.S. Naval intelligence, due to code-breaking efforts, ascertained that the Japanese were planning an [[Battle of Midway|attack on the central Pacific island of Midway]]. Admiral [[Chester Nimitz]], [[Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet]], was determined to take the opportunity to engage them. Losing Midway would have been a very serious threat because the Japanese then could easily take Hawaii and threaten the west coast of the United States. The loss of his most aggressive and combat-experienced carrier admiral, Halsey, on the eve of this crisis was a severe blow to Nimitz.{{sfn|Potter|1976|p=85}}  Nimitz met with Halsey, who recommended his cruiser division commander, Rear Admiral [[Raymond A. Spruance|Raymond Spruance]], to take command for the upcoming [[Battle of Midway|Midway]] operation.{{sfn|Potter|1976|p=84}}  Nimitz considered the move, but it would mean stepping over Rear Admiral [[Frank Jack Fletcher|Frank Fletcher]] of [[Task Force 17]], who was the senior of the two men. After interviewing Fletcher and reviewing his reports from the [[Battle of the Coral Sea|Coral Sea]] engagement, Nimitz was convinced that Fletcher's performance was sound, and he was given the responsibility of command in the defense of Midway.{{sfn|Potter|1976|p=86}}  Acting upon Halsey's recommendations, Nimitz then made Rear Admiral Spruance the commander of Halsey's Task Force 16, comprising the carriers ''Enterprise'' and ''Hornet''. To aid Spruance, who had no experience as the commander of a carrier force, Halsey sent along his irascible chief of staff, Captain [[Miles Browning]].

Halsey's skin condition was so serious that he was sent on the light cruiser {{USS|Detroit|CL-8|6}} to San Francisco, where he was met by a leading allergist for specialized treatment.  The skin condition soon receded but Halsey was ordered to stand down for the next six weeks and relax. While detached stateside during his convalescence, he visited family and traveled to Washington D.C. In late August, he accepted a speaking engagement at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. Prior to the discussion of his raids against the Japanese positions in the Marshall Islands, Halsey informed the midshipmen before him, "Missing the Battle of Midway has been the greatest disappointment of my career, but I am going back to the Pacific where I intend personally to have a crack at those yellow-bellied sons of bitches and their carriers", which was received with loud applause.{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=150}}

At the completion of his convalescence in September 1942, Admiral Nimitz reassigned Halsey to Commander, Air Force, Pacific Fleet.

===Commander, South Pacific Area===
[[File:Admiral William F Halsey.jpg|thumb|upright|Halsey in the South Pacific, May 1944]]
After being medically approved to return to duty, Halsey was named to command a carrier task force in the [[South Pacific Area]]. Since ''Enterprise'' was still laid up in Pearl Harbor undergoing repairs following the [[Battle of the Eastern Solomons]], and the other ships of Task Force 16 were still being readied, he began a familiarization trip to the south Pacific on 15 October 1942, arriving at area headquarters at [[Nouméa]] in [[New Caledonia]] on 18 October. The [[Guadalcanal campaign]] was at a critical juncture, with the 1st Marine Division, 11,000 men, under the command of Marine Major General [[Alexander Vandegrift]] holding on by a thread around [[Henderson Field (Guadalcanal)|Henderson Field]]. The Marines did receive additional support from the U.S. Army's [[164th Infantry Regiment (United States)|164th Infantry Regiment]] with a complement of 2,800 soldiers on 13 October. This addition only helped to fill some of the serious holes and was insufficient to sustain the battle of itself.

During this critical juncture, naval support was tenuous due to Vice Admiral [[Robert L. Ghormley]]'s reticence, malaise and lackluster performance.{{sfn|Wukovits|2010}} Pacific Fleet commander Chester Nimitz had concluded that Ghormley had become dispirited and exhausted.{{sfn|Morison|1958|pp=199–207}}{{sfn|Frank|1990|pp=368–378}}{{sfn|Dull|1978|pp=235–237}}  Nimitz made his decision to change the South Pacific Area commander while Halsey was en route. As Halsey's aircraft came to rest in Nouméa, a whaleboat came alongside carrying Ghormley's flag lieutenant. Meeting him before he could board the flagship, the lieutenant handed over a sealed envelope containing a message from Nimitz: "You will take command of the South Pacific Area and South Pacific forces immediately".{{sfn|Morison|1958|p=183}}

The order came as an awkward surprise to Halsey. Ghormley was a long time personal friend, and had been since their days as teammates on the football team back at Annapolis. Awkward or not, the two men carried out their directives. Halsey's command now included all ground, sea, and air forces in the South Pacific area. News of the change flashed and produced an immediate boost to morale with the beleaguered Marines, energizing his command. He was widely considered the U.S. Navy's most aggressive admiral, and with good reason. He set about assessing the situation to determine what actions were needed. Ghormley had been unsure of his command's ability to maintain the Marine toehold on Guadalcanal, and had been mindful of leaving them trapped there for a repeat of the [[Bataan Death March|Bataan Peninsula]] disaster. Halsey punctiliously made it clear he did not plan to withdraw the Marines. He not only intended to counter the Japanese efforts to dislodge them, he intended to secure the island. Above all else, he wanted to regain the initiative and take the fight to the Japanese. It was two days after Halsey had taken command in October 1942 that he gave an order that all naval officers in the South Pacific would dispense with wearing neckties with their tropical uniforms. As Richard Frank commented in his account of the Battle for Guadalcanal:
{{Blockquote |Halsey said he gave this order to conform to Army practice and for comfort. To his command it viscerally evoked the image of a brawler stripping for action and symbolized a casting off of effete elegance no more appropriate to the tropics than to war.{{sfn|Frank|1990|pp=335-336}} }}

Halsey led the South Pacific command through what was for the U.S. Navy the most tenuous phase of the war. Halsey committed his limited naval forces through a series of naval battles around Guadalcanal, including the carrier engagements of the [[Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands]] and the [[Naval Battle of Guadalcanal]]. These engagements checked the Japanese advance and drained their naval forces of carrier aircraft and pilots.

For his conduct, "can-do" leadership style, and increasing number of forces under his command, Halsey was promoted to four-star admiral in October 1942. The promotion put Halsey into sustained public spotlight for the first time, appearing on the cover of ''Time'' magazine's November 1942 issue<ref name="Halsey, TIME Magazine">{{cite magazine |title=Admiral William Halsey |date=November 30, 1942 |url=http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19421130,00.html.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19450723,00.html |at=cover |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |access-date=1 March 2021}}{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> which quoted Halsey from his superior Nimitz as "professionally competent and militarily aggressive without being recklessly foolhardy" and that his promotion by the President was something "he richly deserves". Halsey's four-star insignia were welded together from two-star rear admiral's insignia; his vice admiral's stars were sent to the widows of Rear Admirals [[Daniel J. Callaghan]] and [[Norman Scott (admiral)|Norman Scott]], both of whom had been killed in action.{{sfn|Borneman|2012|p=640}}{{sfn|Halsey|Bryan|1947|p=132}}

[[File:Nimitz and Halsey 1943.jpg|thumb|Admirals Nimitz and Halsey discuss South Pacific strategy in early 1943]]
In November, Halsey's willingness to place at risk his command's two fast battleships in the confined waters around Guadalcanal for a night engagement paid off, with the U.S. Navy winning the battle. The last naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign was decisive, dooming the Japanese garrison and enabling U.S. forces to finally wrest control of the island from the Japanese.

Japanese naval aviation proved to be formidable during the Solomon campaign.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seal |first1=Jon |last2=Ahn |first2=Michael |date=March 2000 |url=http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_foss.asp |title=An Interview with Joseph Jacob 'Joe' Foss. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209105228/http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_foss.asp |archive-date=February 9, 2006 |publisher=[[Microsoft Games Studios]] |access-date=August 3, 2011}}</ref> In April 1943, Halsey assigned Rear Admiral [[Marc Mitscher]] to become [[AirSols|Commander Air, Solomon Islands]], where he directed a mixed bag of army, navy, marine and New Zealand aircraft in the airwar over Guadalcanal and up the Solomons chain. Said Halsey: "I knew we'd probably catch hell from the Japs in the air. That's why I sent Pete Mitscher up there. Pete was a fighting fool and I knew it".{{sfn|Taylor|1991|p=145}}

Typical for the period was an exchange that occurred between Halsey and one of his staff officers in June 1943. The South Pacific Area was expecting the arrival of an additional air group to support their next offensive. As a part of the long view of winning the war taken by Nimitz, upon its arrival at Fiji the group was given new orders to return stateside and be broken up, its pilots to be used as instructors for pilot training. Halsey's headquarters had been counting on the air group for their operations up the Solomons chain. The staff officer who brought the dispatch to Halsey remarked "If they do that to us we will have to go on the defensive". The admiral turned to the speaker and replied: "As long as I have one plane and one pilot, I will stay on the offensive".{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=221}}

Halsey's forces spent the rest of the year [[Solomon Islands campaign|battling up the Solomon Islands]] chain to [[Bougainville Island|Bougainville]]. At Bougainville the Japanese had two airfields in the southern tip of the island, and another at the northernmost peninsula, with a fourth on Buki just across the northern passage. Here, instead of landing near the Japanese airfields and taking them away against the bulk of the Japanese defenders, Halsey landed his invasion force of 14,000 Marines in [[Empress Augusta Bay]], about halfway up the west coast of Bougainville. There he had the Seabees clear and build their own airfield. Two days after the landing, a large cruiser force was sent down from Japan to Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against Halsey's screening force and supply ships in Empress Augusta Bay. The Japanese had been conserving their naval forces over the past year, but now committed a force of seven heavy cruisers, along with one light cruiser and four destroyers. At [[Rabaul]] the force refueled in preparation for the coming night battle. Halsey had no surface forces anywhere near equivalent strength to oppose them. Battleships {{USS|Washington|BB-56|2}}, {{USS|South Dakota|BB-57|2}}, and assorted cruisers had been transferred to the Central Pacific to support the upcoming invasion of Tarawa. Other than the destroyer screen, the only force Halsey had available were the carrier air groups on {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|2}} and {{USS|Princeton|CVL-23|2}}.

Rabaul was a heavily fortified port, with five airfields and extensive anti-aircraft batteries. Other than the surprise raid at Pearl Harbor, no mission against such a target had ever been accomplished with carrier aircraft. It was highly dangerous to the aircrews, and to the carriers as well. With the landing in the balance, Halsey sent his two carriers to steam north through the night to get into range of Rabaul, then launch a [[Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943)|daybreak raid on the base]]. Aircraft from recently captured [[Vella Lavella]] were sent over to provide a combat air patrol over the carriers. All available aircraft from the two carriers were committed to the raid itself. The mission was a stunning success, so damaging the cruiser force at Rabaul as to make them no longer a threat. Aircraft losses in the raid were light. Halsey later described the threat to the landings as "the most desperate emergency that confronted me in my entire term as ComSoPac".{{sfn|Potter|2005|pp=98–99}}

Following the successful Bougainville operation, he then isolated and neutralized the Japanese naval stronghold at Rabaul by capturing surrounding positions in the [[Bismarck Archipelago]] in a series of amphibious landings known as [[Operation Cartwheel]]. This enabled the continuation of the drive north without the heavy fighting that would have been necessary to capture the base itself. With the neutralization of Rabaul, major operations in the South Pacific Area came to a close. With his determination and grit, Halsey had bolstered his command's resolve and seized the initiative from the Japanese until ships, aircraft and crews produced and trained in the States could arrive in 1943 and 1944 to tip the scales of the war in favor of the allies.{{sfn|Parshall|Tully|2005|pp=416–430}}

===Battles of the Central Pacific===
[[File:VAdm John S. McCain and Adm William F. Halsey aboard USS New Jersey (BB-62), December 1944.jpg|thumb|right|Halsey (''right'') confers with Task Force 38 commander and fellow 'dirty trickster' Adm. [[John S. McCain Sr.]] on board Halsey's flagship, {{USS|New Jersey|BB-62|6}}, in December 1944]]As the war progressed it moved out of the South Pacific and into the Central Pacific. Halsey's command shifted with it, and in May 1944 he was promoted to commanding officer of the newly formed [[U.S. Third Fleet|Third Fleet]]. He commanded actions from the [[Philippines]] to Japan. From September 1944 to January 1945, he led the campaigns to take the [[Palaus]], [[Leyte (island)|Leyte]] and [[Luzon]], and on many raids on Japanese bases, including off the shores of Formosa, China, and Vietnam.

By this point in the conflict the U.S. Navy was doing things the Japanese high command had not thought possible. The [[Fast Carrier Task Force]] was able to bring to battle enough air power to overpower land based aircraft and dominate whatever area the fleet was operating in. Moreover, the Navy's ability to establish [[USS Cascade (AD-16)#Service Squadron 4 and Service Squadron 10|forward operating ports]] as they did at [[Majuro#History|Majuro]], [[Enewetak Atoll#History|Enewetak]] and [[Naval Base Ulithi|Ulithi]], and their ability to convoy supplies out to the combat task forces, allowed the fleet to operate for extended periods of time far out to sea in the central and western Pacific. The Japanese Navy conserved itself in port and would sortie in force to engage the enemy. The U.S. Navy remained at sea and on station, dominating whatever region it entered. The size of the Pacific Ocean, which Japanese planners had thought would limit the U.S. Navy's ability to operate in the western Pacific, would not be adequate to protect Japan.

Command of the "big blue fleet" was alternated with [[Raymond Spruance]].{{NoteTag|The "Big Blue Fleet" was the name given to the main fleet of the U.S. Navy in the Pacific.  The term stems from pre-war planning, called the color plans because each nation included was given a color code name. In these potential plans the British navy was red, the German navy black, and so forth. The Imperial Japanese Navy was termed the "Orange Fleet".  The U.S. fleet was the "Blue Fleet".  The "Big Blue Fleet" was the massive fleet that the U.S. Navy anticipated they would win the war with.  It was thought this fleet would largely come into being by late 1943, early 1944.{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=112}}{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=221}}}} Under Spruance the fleet designation was the [[U.S. Fifth Fleet|Fifth Fleet]] and the Fast Carrier Task Force was designated "Task Force 58". Under Halsey the fleet was designated Third Fleet and the Fast Carrier Task Force was designated "Task Force 38".{{sfn|Potter|1985|p=112}} The split command structure was intended to confuse the Japanese and created a higher tempo of operations. While Spruance was at sea operating the fleet, Halsey and his staff, self-dubbed the "Department of Dirty Tricks", would be planning the next series of operations.{{sfn|Cutler|1994|p=209}} The two admirals were a contrast in styles. Halsey was aggressive and a risk taker. Spruance was calculating, professional, and cautious. Most higher-ranking officers preferred to serve under Spruance; most common sailors were proud to serve under Halsey.{{sfn|Tuohy|2007|p=323}}

====Leyte Gulf====
{{Main|Battle of Leyte Gulf}}
[[File:Halsey messing with crew.jpg|thumb|right|Halsey dines with crew of USS ''New Jersey'', November 1944]]
In October 1944, amphibious forces of the U.S. [[United States Seventh Fleet|Seventh Fleet]] carried out [[Douglas MacArthur|General Douglas MacArthur's]] major landings on the island of [[Leyte (island)|Leyte]] in the Central Philippines. Halsey's Third Fleet was assigned to cover and support Seventh Fleet operations around Leyte. Halsey's plans assumed the Japanese fleet or a major portion of it would challenge the effort, creating an opportunity to engage it decisively. Halsey directed that the Third Fleet "will seek the enemy and attempt to bring about a decisive engagement if he undertakes operations beyond support of superior land based air forces".{{sfn|Hone|2013|p=71}}

In response to the invasion, the Japanese launched their final major naval effort, an operation known as 'Sho-Go', involving almost all their surviving fleet. It was aimed at destroying the invasion shipping in [[Leyte Gulf]]. The Northern Force of Admiral [[Jisaburō Ozawa]] was built around the remaining Japanese aircraft carriers, now weakened by the heavy loss of trained pilots. The Northern Force was meant to lure the covering U.S. forces away from the Gulf while two surface battle-groups, the Center Force and the Southern Force, were to break through to the beachhead and attack the invasion shipping. These forces were built around the remaining strength of the Japanese Navy, and comprised a total of 7 battleships and 16 cruisers. The operation brought about the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf|Battle for Leyte Gulf]], the largest naval battle of the Second World War and, by some criteria, the [[largest naval battle in history]].

On 23 October, the Center Force commanded by Vice Admiral [[Takeo Kurita]] was located coming through the [[Palawan Passage]] by two American submarines, which [[Battle of Leyte Gulf#The submarine action in Palawan Passage (23 October)|attacked the force]], sinking two heavy cruisers and damaging a third. The following day, Third Fleet's aircraft carriers launched strikes against Kurita's Center Force, [[Battle of the Sibuyan Sea|sinking]] the battleship {{ship|Japanese battleship|Musashi||2}} and damaging the heavy cruiser {{ship|Japanese cruiser|Myōkō||2}}, causing the force to turn westward back towards its base. Kurita appeared to be retiring but he later reversed course and headed back into the [[San Bernardino Strait]]. At this point, Ozawa's Northern Force was located by Third Fleet scout aircraft. Halsey made the momentous decision to take all available strength northwards to destroy the Japanese carrier forces, planning to strike them at dawn of 25 October. He considered leaving a battle group behind to guard the strait, and made tentative plans to do so, but he felt he would also have to leave one of his three carrier groups to provide air cover, weakening his chance to crush the remaining Japanese carrier forces. The entire Third Fleet steamed northward. San Bernardino Strait was effectively left unguarded by any major surface fleet.

====Battle off Samar====
{{Main|Battle off Samar}}
In moving Third Fleet northwards, Halsey failed to advise Admiral [[Thomas C. Kinkaid|Thomas Kinkaid]] of Seventh Fleet of his decision. Seventh Fleet intercepts of organizational messages from Halsey to his own task group commanders seemed to indicate that Halsey had formed a task force and detached it to protect the San Bernardino Strait, but this was not the case. Kinkaid and his staff failed to confirm this with Halsey, and neither had confirmed this with Nimitz.

Despite aerial reconnaissance reports on the night of 24–25 October of Kurita's Center Force in the San Bernardino Strait, Halsey continued to take Third Fleet northwards, away from Leyte Gulf.

[[File:Halsey Mccain.jpg|thumb|225px|Halsey with Vice Admiral [[John S. McCain Sr.]]]]

When Kurita's Center Force emerged from the San Bernardino Strait on the morning of 25 October, there was nothing to oppose them except a small force of escort carriers and screening destroyers and [[destroyer escort]]s, Task Unit 77.4.3 "Taffy 3", which had been tasked and armed to attack troops on land and guard against submarines, not oppose the largest enemy surface fleet since the battle of Midway, led by the largest battleship in the world. Advancing down the coast of the island of Samar towards the troop transports and support ships of the Leyte Gulf landing, they took Seventh Fleet's escort carriers and their screening ships entirely by surprise.

In the desperate [[Battle off Samar]] which followed, Kurita's ships destroyed one of the escort carriers and three ships of the carriers' screen, and damaged a number of other ships as well. The remarkable resistance of the screening ships of Taffy 3 against Kurita's battle-group remains one of the most heroic feats in the history of the U.S. Navy. Their efforts and those of the several hundred aircraft that the escort carriers could put up, many of whom, however could not be armed with the most effective ordnance to deal with heavy surface ships in time, took a heavy toll on Kurita's ships and convinced him that he was facing a stronger force than was the case. Mistaking the escort carriers for Halsey's fleet carriers, and fearing entrapment from the six battleships of the Third Fleet battleship group, he decided to withdraw back through the San Bernardino Strait and to the west without achieving his objective of disrupting the Leyte landing.

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. Then, shortly after 10:00 hours,{{sfn|Willmott|2005|pp=192–197}} a message was received from Admiral Nimitz: "Where is repeat where is Task Force 34? The world wonders". The tail end of this message, [[The world wonders]], was intended as padding designed to confuse enemy decoders, but was mistakenly left in the message when it was handed to Halsey. The urgent inquiry had seemingly become a stinging rebuke. The fiery Halsey threw his hat on the deck of the bridge and began cursing.{{sfn|Willmott|2005|pp=192–197}}  Finally Halsey's Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral [[Robert Carney|Robert "Mick" Carney]], confronted him, telling Halsey "Stop it! What the hell's the matter with you? Pull yourself together".<ref name="Books: The General and the Admiral"/>

Halsey cooled but continued to steam Third Fleet northward to close on Ozawa's Northern Force for a full hour after receiving the signal from Nimitz.{{sfn|Willmott|2005|pp=192–197}}  Then, Halsey ordered Task Force 34 south. As Task Force 34 proceeded south they were further delayed when the battle force had to slow to 12 knots so that the battleships could refuel their escorting destroyers. The refueling cost a two and a half-hour further delay.{{sfn|Willmott|2005|pp=192–197}}  By the time Task Force 34 arrived at the scene it was too late to assist the Seventh Fleet's escort carrier groups. Kurita had already decided to retire and had left the area. A single straggling destroyer was caught by Halsey's advance cruisers and destroyers, but the rest of Kurita's force was able to escape.

Meanwhile, the major part of Third Fleet continued to close on Ozawa's Northern Force, which included one fleet carrier (the last surviving Japanese carrier of the six that had attacked Pearl Harbor) and three light carriers. The [[Battle off Cape Engaño]] resulted in Halsey's Third Fleet sinking all four of Ozawa's carriers.

The same attributes that made Halsey an invaluable leader in the desperate early months of the war, his desire to bring the fight to the enemy, his willingness to take on a gamble, worked against him in the later stages of the war. Halsey received much criticism for his decisions during the battle, with naval historian [[Samuel Eliot Morison|Samuel Morison]] terming the Third Fleet run to the north "Halsey's Blunder".{{sfn|Potter|1985|pp=376–380}}  However, the destruction of the Japanese carriers had been an important goal up to that point, and the Leyte landings were still successful despite Halsey falling for the Japanese Navy's decoy.

=== Halsey's Typhoon ===
{{Main|Typhoon Cobra}}

[[File:USS Langley (CVL-27) during Typhoon Cobra, December 1944.jpg|thumb|right|{{USS|Langley|CVL-27|6}} struggles in Typhoon Cobra]]

After the Leyte Gulf engagement, December found the Third Fleet confronted with another powerful enemy in the form of [[Typhoon Cobra]], which was dubbed "Halsey's Typhoon" by many.

While conducting operations off the Philippines, the fleet had to discontinue refueling due to a Pacific storm. Rather than move Third Fleet away, Halsey chose to remain on station for another day. In fairness, he received conflicting information from Pearl Harbor and his own staff. The Hawaiian weathermen predicted a northerly path for the storm, which would have cleared Task Force 38 by some {{convert|200|mi|km|spell=in}}. Eventually his own staff provided a prediction regarding the direction of the storm that was far closer to the mark with a westerly direction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/william-bull-halsey-legendary-world-war-ii-admiral.htm |title=William Bull Halsey: Legendary World War II Admiral |last=Tillman |first=Barrett |work=historynet.com |date=July 2007 |access-date=8 November 2020}}</ref>

However, Halsey played the odds, declining to cancel planned operations and requiring the ships of Third Fleet to hold formation. On the evening of 17 December, Third Fleet was unable to land its combat air patrol due to the pitching and rolling decks of the carriers. All the aircraft were ditched in the ocean and lost, but the pilots were all saved by accompanying destroyers. By 10:00&nbsp;a.m. the next morning the barometer on the flagship was noted to be dropping precipitously. With increasingly heavy seas the fleet still attempted to maintain stations. The threat was greatest to the fleet's destroyers, which did not have the fuel reserves of the larger ships and were running dangerously low. Finally, at 11:49&nbsp;am, Halsey issued the order for the ships of the fleet to take the most comfortable course available to them. Many of the smaller ships had already been forced to do so.

Between 11:00&nbsp;a.m. and 2:00&nbsp;pm, the typhoon did its worst damage, tossing the ships in {{convert|70|ft|m|adj=on|0}} waves. The barometer continued to drop and the wind roared at {{convert|83|kn|kph|lk=in|0}} with gusts well over {{convert|100|kn|kph|0}}. At 1:45&nbsp;pm. Halsey issued a typhoon warning to Fleet Weather Central. By this time Third Fleet had lost three of its destroyers. By the time the storm had cleared the next day a great many ships in the fleet had been damaged, three destroyers were sunk, 146 aircraft were destroyed and 802 seamen had been lost. For the next three days Third Fleet conducted search and rescue operations, finally retiring to [[Ulithi]] on 22 December 1944.

Following the typhoon a Navy court of inquiry was convened on board {{USS|Cascade|AD-16|6}} in the [[Naval Base Ulithi]]. Admiral Nimitz, CINCPAC, was in attendance at the court, Vice Admiral [[John H. Hoover]] presided over the Court, with admirals [[George D. Murray]] and [[Glenn B. Davis]] as associate judges. Forty-three-year-old Captain Herbert K. Gates, of ''Cascade'', was the Judge Advocate.{{sfn|Drury|Clavin|2007|p=270}} The inquiry found that though Halsey had committed an error of judgement in sailing the Third Fleet into the heart of the typhoon, it stopped short of unambiguously recommending sanction.{{sfnm|1a1=Drury|1a2=Clavin|1y=2007|1pp=15, 272|2a1=Melton|2y=2007|2p=244}} The events surrounding Typhoon Cobra were similar to those the Japanese navy had faced some nine years earlier in what they termed "[[4th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)#The Fourth Fleet incident|The Fourth Fleet Incident]]".{{sfnm|1a1=Drury|1a2=Clavin|1y=2007|1p=15|2a1=Evans|2a2=Peattie|2y=1997|2p=243}}

===End of the war===
[[File:Admiral Chester Nimitz signs as Supreme Allied Commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS Missouri.jpg|thumb|Fleet Admiral Nimitz signing the documents of surrender on board USS ''Missouri''. Behind him stand Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Rear Adm. Forrest Sherman, and Halsey (''middle'')]]
During January 1945 the Third Fleet attacked Formosa and Luzon, and [[South China Sea raid|raided the South China Sea]] in support of the landing of U.S. Army forces on Luzon. At the conclusion of this operation, Halsey passed command of the ships that made up Third Fleet to Admiral Spruance on 26 January, whereupon its designation changed to [[United States Fifth Fleet#History|Fifth Fleet]]. Returning home Halsey was asked about General MacArthur, who was not the easiest man to work with, and vied with the Navy over the conduct and management of the war in the Pacific.{{sfn|Willmott|1984|pp=178–181}} Halsey had worked well with MacArthur and did not mind saying so. When a reporter asked Halsey if he thought MacArthur's fleet (7th Fleet) would get to Tokyo first, the admiral grinned and answered "We're going there together".  Then seriously he added "He's a very fine man. I have worked under him for over two years and have the greatest admiration and respect for him".<ref>''Utica Daily Press'', February 20, 1945.</ref>{{Incomplete short citation|date=October 2020}}

Spruance held command of Fifth Fleet until May, when command returned to Halsey. In early June 1945 the Third Fleet again sailed through the path of a typhoon, [[Typhoon Connie]]. On this occasion, six men were swept overboard and lost, along with 75 airplanes lost or destroyed, with another 70 badly damaged. Though some ships sustained significant damage, none were lost. A Navy court of inquiry was again convened, this time recommending that Halsey be reassigned, but Admiral Nimitz declined to abide by this recommendation, citing Halsey's prior service record, despite that record including a previous instance of negligently sailing his fleet through a typhoon.{{sfn|Melton|2007|p=270}}

Halsey led Third Fleet through the final stages of the war, striking targets on the Japanese homeland itself. Third Fleet aircraft conducted attacks upon Tokyo, the [[Bombing of Kure (July 1945)|naval base at Kure]] and the northern Japanese island of [[Hokkaido]], and Third Fleet battleships engaged in the [[Allied naval bombardments of Japan during World War II|bombardment of a number of Japanese coastal cities]] in preparation for an invasion of Japan, which ultimately never had to be undertaken.

After the cessation of hostilities, Halsey, still aggressively cautious of Japanese kamikaze attacks, ordered Third Fleet to maintain a protective air cover with the following communiqué: {{Blockquote |Cessation of hostilities.<br />War is over. <br />If any Japanese airplanes appear, shoot them down in a friendly way.{{sfn|Tolley|1983|p=245}}}}
He was present when [[Surrender of Japan|Japan formally surrendered]] on the deck of his [[flagship]], {{USS|Missouri|BB-63|6}}, on 2 September 1945.

==Postwar years==
[[File:Admiral William F. Halsey, United States Navy.JPG|thumb|right|150px|A small portrait of Halsey]]
Immediately after the surrender of Japan, 54 ships of the Third Fleet returned to the United States, with Halsey's four-star flag flying from USS ''South Dakota'', for the annual Navy Day Celebrations in San Francisco on 27 October 1945. He hauled down his flag on 22 November 1945, and was assigned special duty in the [[Office of the Secretary of the Navy]]. On 11 December 1945, he took the oath as [[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet Admiral]], becoming the fourth and still the most recent naval officer awarded that rank.{{sfn|Buell|1974|pp=435–436}}  Halsey made a goodwill flying trip, passing by [[Central America|Central]] and South America, covering nearly {{convert|28000|mi}} and 11 nations. He retired from active service in March 1947, but as a Fleet Admiral, he was not taken off active duty status.

Halsey was asked about the weapons used to win the war and he answered:
{{Blockquote |If I had to give credit to the instruments and machines that won us the war in the Pacific, I would rate them in this order: submarines first, radar second, planes third, bulldozers fourth.{{sfn|Halsey|Bryan|1947|p=69}}}}

Halsey joined the New Jersey Society of the [[Sons of the American Revolution]] in 1946. Upon retirement, he joined the board of two subsidiaries of the [[International Telephone and Telegraph Company]], including the [[American Cable and Radio Corporation]], and served until 1957. He maintained an office near the top of the ITT Building at 67 Broad Street, New York City in the late 1950s. He was involved in a number of efforts to preserve his former flagship {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} as a memorial in [[New York Harbor]]. They proved fruitless, as it was not possible to secure sufficient funding to preserve the ship.

==Personal life==
While at the University of Virginia he met Frances Cooke Grandy (1887–1968) of Norfolk, Virginia, whom Halsey called "Fan". After his return from the [[Great White Fleet]]'s [[circumnavigation]] of the globe and upon his promotion to the rank of full lieutenant he was able to persuade her to marry him.{{sfn|Borneman|2012|pp=73–74}} They married on 1 December 1909, at Christ Church in Norfolk. Among the ushers were Halsey's friends [[Thomas C. Hart]] and [[Husband E. Kimmel]]. Fan developed manic depression in the late 1930s and eventually had to live apart from Halsey.{{sfn|Borneman|2012|pp=344}}  The couple had two children, Margaret Bradford (10 October 1910 – 15 December 1979) and William Frederick Halsey III (8 September 1915 – 23 September 2003).{{sfn|Borneman|2012|pp=74, 90}}<ref>{{cite web |url = http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20030929-9999_1m29halsey.html |department = Obituaries |title = William F. Halsey III, 88 |access-date = July 18, 2014 |archive-date = May 14, 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150514045646/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20030929-9999_1m29halsey.html }}</ref> Halsey is also the great-uncle of actor Charles Oliver Hand, known professionally as [[Brett Halsey]], who chose his stage name as a reference to him.<ref>Weaver, Tom. "Brett Halsey Interview", ''Eye on Science Fiction: 20 Interviews with Classic SF and Horror Filmmakers'', McFarland, 2007.<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

==Death==
[[File:Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr. (19351365942).jpg|thumb|Halsey's grave at Arlington National Cemetery]]
While vacationing on [[Fishers Island, New York]], Halsey died of a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]] at age 76 on 16 August 1959.{{sfn|NHHC Halsey|2019}}<ref name=DearAdm>{{cite journal|accessdate=21 May 2025|url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2016/april/dear-admiral-halsey
|title='Dear Admiral Halsey'|first=John |last=Wukovits
|quote=Captivated by outspoken ‘Bull’ Halsey’s ability to back his tough talk with bold action, average Americans—from schoolchildren to grieving mothers—deluged the admiral with rousing and heartfelt letters during World War II.|date=April 2016 |journal=Naval History |volume=30|number=2|publisher=[[U.S. Naval Institute]]}}</ref>

<ref name=thdobt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O5ErAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5HEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1309%2C1608629 |work=The Day |location=New London, Connecticut |agency=Associated Press |title=Adm. Halsey dies at Fishers Island |date=August 17, 1959 |page=1}}</ref><!-- <ref name=mjapobt>{{cite news |url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c9cjAAAAIBAJ&pg=7080%2C3200658 |work=Milwaukee Journal |agency=Associated Press |title=Admiral Halsey dies; beat Japanese fleet |date=August 17, 1959 |page=4, part 1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.kxmb.com/News/418118.asp |title = Following Advance for Use Sunday, Aug. 16 |website = KXNet.com North Dakota News }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>--> After lying in state in the [[Washington National Cathedral]], he was interred on 20 August, near his parents in [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name=bhisbu>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xJwzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y-cDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5574%2C1859649 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=Spokane, Washington |agency=Associated Press |title='Bull' Halsey is buried |date=August 21, 1959 |page=2}}</ref> His wife, Frances Grandy Halsey, is buried with him.

Asked about his contribution in the Pacific and the role he played in defending the United States, Halsey said merely:
{{Blockquote |There are no great men, just great challenges which ordinary men, out of necessity, are forced by circumstances to meet.<ref>{{cite book|title=Flags of Our Fathers|first=James |last=Brady |publisher=Bantom Books |year=2000 |page=579 |isbn=978-0-553-11133-0}}</ref>}}

== Dates of rank ==
: [[File:Navyacademylogo.jpg|50px]] [[United States Naval Academy]] [[Midshipman]]—Class of 1904

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; width:100%;"
|-
![[Ensign (rank)#United States|Ensign]]
![[Lieutenant, junior grade]]
![[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]]
![[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant commander]]
![[Commander (United States)|Commander]]
![[Captain (United States O-6)|Captain]]
|-
!O-1
!O-2
!O-3
!O-4
!O-5
!O-6
|-
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O1 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O2 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O3 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O4 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O5 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O6 insignia.svg|60px]]
|-
!2 February 1906
!2 February 1909
!2 February 1909
!29 August 1916
!1 February 1918
!10 February 1927
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; width:100%;"
|-
![[Commodore (United States)|Commodore]]
![[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear admiral]]
![[Vice admiral (United States)|Vice admiral]]
![[Admiral (United States)|Admiral]]
![[Fleet admiral (United States)|Fleet admiral]]
|-
!O-7
!O-8
!O-9
!O-10
!Special Grade
|-
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O7 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O8 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O9 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O10 insignia.svg|60px]]
|  style="text-align:center; width:16%;"| [[File:US Navy O11 insignia.svg|60px]]
|-
!Never held
!1 March 1938
!13 June 1940
!18 November 1942
!11 December 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 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) and lieutenant on the same day.{{sfn|Wukovits|2010}}

At the time of Halsey's promotion to rear admiral, both rear admirals lower half (O-7) and rear admirals upper half (O-8) wore two stars. This was the case until 1942.  During World War II and up until 1950, the Navy used the one star commodore rank for certain staff specialties. Before rising to fame in the Pacific, he had been considered a mediocre student at the Naval Academy, standing 43rd in a class of 62.

==Awards and decorations==
{|
|-
|[[File:Naval Aviator Badge.jpg|110px]]
|[[Naval Aviator insignia]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Navy_Cross_ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[Navy Cross]]
|-
||{{Ribbon devices|number=3|type=award-star|ribbon=Navy Distinguished Service ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[Navy Distinguished Service Medal]] with three [[award star|gold stars]] in lieu of fourth award
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Distinguished Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Army Distinguished Service Medal]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=United States Navy Presidential Unit Citation ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[Presidential Unit Citation (United States)|Presidential Unit Citation]] with bronze star in lieu of second award
|-
|[[File:Mexican Service Medal ribbon.svg|80px]]
|[[Mexican Service Medal]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=World War I Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[World War I Victory Medal (United States)|World War I Victory Medal]] with Destroyer clasp
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=American Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[American Defense Service Medal]] with Fleet clasp
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[American Campaign Medal]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=12|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=80}}
|[[Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal]] with twelve [[battle stars]]
|-
|[[File:World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|80px]]
|[[World War II Victory Medal]]
|-
|[[File:National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|80px]]
|[[National Defense Service Medal]]
|}

===Foreign awards===
{|
|-
|{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Order of Naval Merit (Argentina) - ribbon bar.png|width=80}}
|[[Argentina]] – [[Order of May]] of Naval Merit, Grand Cross (1 March 1947)
|-
|{{ribbon devices|ribbon=BRA - Order of the Southern Cross - Grand Cross BAR.svg|width=80}}
|Brazil – [[Order of the Southern Cross]], Grand Cross{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=CHL Order of Merit of Chile - Grand Cross BAR.svg|width=80}}
|Chile – [[Grand Cross of Order of Merit of Chile]]
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Order of Boyacá - Extraordinary Grand Cross (Colombia) - ribbon bar.png|width=80}}
|[[Colombia]] – [[Order of Boyaca|Grand Cross of Boyaca]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|ribbon=PAN Order of Vasco Nunez de Balboa - Grand Cross BAR.png|width=80}}
|[[Panama]] – [[Orden Vasco Núñez de Balboa]], Grand Cross
|-
|[[File:Order of the Quetzal - Grand Cross (Guatemala) - ribbon bar.png|80px]]
|[[Guatemala]] made him a Supreme Chief in the [[Order of the Quetzal]].
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Order of Abdon Calderon First Class.svg|width=80}}
|[[Ecuador]] – [[Order of Abdon Calderón]], 1st Class
|-
|[[File:Order of the British Empire (Military) Ribbon.png|80px]]
|United Kingdom – [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (KBE)
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Noribbon.svg|width=80}}
|Chile – [[Al Merito, First Class]], Insignia and Diploma
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Order of Naval Merit (Cuba) - ribbon bar.png|width=80}}
|[[Cuba]] – [[Order of Naval Merit (Cuba)|Order of Naval Merit]]
|-
|[[File:Order of the Redeemer Ribbon bar.svg|80px]]
|[[Greece]] – [[Order of the Redeemer]]
|-
||{{ribbon devices|ribbon=Military Order of Ayacucho (Peru) - ribbon bar.png|width=80}}
|[[Peru]] – [[Order of Ayacucho]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|ribbon=VEN Order of the Liberator - Knight BAR.png|width=80}}
|[[Venezuela]] – [[Order of the Liberator]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Presidential Unit Citation (Philippines).svg|width=80}}
|[[Philippines]] – [[Philippine Presidential Unit Citation]]
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=2|type=service-star|ribbon=Phliber rib.svg|width=80}}
|[[Philippines]] – [[Philippine Liberation Medal]] with two stars
|}{{sfn|NHHC Halsey|2019}}<ref>{{cite web |url= https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/10313 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120902225359/https://www.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards/recipient.php?recipientid=10313 |archive-date= 2012-09-02 |title = William Frederick Halsey, Jr. |url-status= live |website= Military Times Hall of Valor }}</ref>

== Honors ==
* [[Halsey Field]], NAS North Island in Coronado, California, dedicated 20 October 1960, celebrating 50 years of Naval Aviation (1911–1961).<ref>{{cite book |last = Sudsbury |first = Elretta |title = Jackrabbits to Jets: The History of North Island, San Diego, California |year = 1967 |publisher = Neyenesch Printers, Inc. }}</ref>
* Halsey Society, student Naval ROTC organization at [[Texas A&M University]]<ref>{{cite web |url = http://studentactivities.tamu.edu/online/organization/OTQ0NTgw/profile |title = Halsey Society }}</ref>

=== Buildings ===
* [[Admiral William Halsey Leadership Academy|Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Leadership Academy]] & William F. Halsey House, Elizabeth High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elizabeth.k12.nj.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=7397& |title=Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. Leadership Academy |access-date=August 8, 2011 |archive-date=March 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324033703/http://www.elizabeth.k12.nj.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=7397&  }}</ref>
* [[Halsey Field House]], United States Naval Academy
* Halsey Gym, the main physical fitness center at [[Naval Air Facility Atsugi]], [[Ayase, Kanagawa]] Prefecture, [[Japan]]
* Halsey Hall, [[University of Virginia]]
* Halsey Terrace, U.S. Navy housing in [[Honolulu]], Hawaii<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.fcnavyhawaii.com/Apartments/module/website_documents/website_document%5Bid%5D/27275 |title = Halsey Terrace }}</ref>
* Halsey Hall, [[Jonathan Dayton High School]]
* USS Halsey (BEQ-439), a Junior Enlisted Barracks for students going through initial training in Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois
* W. F. Halsey Elementary School, RAF Edzell, Scotland, UK.  DOD school closed in 1997 when the base closed.

=== Ships ===
* {{USS|Halsey|CG-23}}, a ''Leahy''-class guided-missile cruiser
* {{USS|Halsey|DDG-97}}, an ''Arleigh Burke''-class guided-missile destroyer

=== Streets ===
[[File:Halsey Street sign, Alexandria, LA IMG 1161 7.JPG|125px|right|thumb|Halsey Street sign in [[Alexandria, Louisiana]]]]
[[File:Nouméa street sign for Côte Amiral Halsey.png|thumb|125px|Admiral Halsey Slope sign in [[Nouméa, New Caledonia]]]]
* Commodore Drive, [[Lynfield, New Zealand]]<ref name="Roskill">{{cite Q|Q116775081|page=153}}</ref>
* William F. Halsey Avenue, [[Bakersfield, California]]
* Halsey Street, [[Chula Vista, California]]
* Halsey Boulevard, [[Foster City, California]]
* Halsey Street, [[San Leandro, California]]
* Halsey Avenue, [[Yuba City, California]]
* Halsey Street, [[East Hartford, Connecticut]]
* Halsey Road, [[Dover, Delaware]]
* Admiral Halsey Avenue, [[Daytona Beach, Florida]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nieworld.com/special/floridaquest/quest2010/fqabc6i.htm |title=Special Projects – The Florida Quest (Places, Names and Road Trip Games) – NIE WORLD |author=Alynia Rule |access-date=August 8, 2011 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305101525/http://www.nieworld.com/special/floridaquest/quest2010/fqabc6i.htm }}</ref>
* Halsey Roadd, [[Jacksonville, Florida]]
* Halsey Road, [[Milton, Florida]]
* Halsey Street, [[Pensacola, Florida]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Purdue University]], West Lafayette, Indiana
* Halsey Street, [[Colonel Bud Day Field]], Sioux City, Iowa
* Halsey Street, [[Alexandria, Louisiana]]
* Halsey Road, [[Annapolis, Maryland]]
* Halsey Place, [[Baltimore, Maryland]]
* Halsey Street, [[Kensington, Maryland]]<ref>[https://rockcreekwoods.org/the-development/ History of Rock Creek Woods.] Retrieved 5 November 2022.</ref>
* Halsey Way, [[Natick, Massachusetts]]
* Admiral Halsey Road, [[Plymouth, Massachusetts]]
* Halsey Street, St. Louis, Missouri
* Admiral Halsey Drive, NE, [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]]
* Admiral Halsey Service Area, a north-bound rest area along the [[New Jersey Turnpike]] at mile marker 111 on [[Interstate 95]], at the present [[New Jersey Route 81]] interchange, in Elizabeth, New Jersey<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.i95exitguide.com/restareas/newjersey.php |title=Admiral Halsey Service Area |work=i95exitguide.com |access-date=August 8, 2011 |archive-date=August 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814005727/http://www.i95exitguide.com/restareas/newjersey.php }}</ref>
* Halsey Court, [[Princeton, New Jersey]]
* Halsey Street, [[Princeton, New Jersey]]
* Halsey Road, [[Toms River, New Jersey]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Riverside, Ohio]]
* Halsey Court, [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]
* Halsey Avenue, [[Middletown, Rhode Island]]
* Halsey Street, [[Newport, Rhode Island]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Warwick, Rhode Island]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Flower Mound, Texas]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Arlington National Cemetery]], Arlington, Virginia
* South Halsey Drive, [[Whidbey Island]], Washington
* Halsey Street, [[Eau Claire, Wisconsin]]
* Admiral Halsey Slope ''(Côte Amiral Halsey)'', [[Nouméa, New Caledonia]]
* Halsey Drive, [[Lynfield, New Zealand]] (Halsey visited New Zealand in 1908, however the drive may be named for British Admiral [[Lionel Halsey]])<ref name="Waikōwhai Coast">{{Cite web|url=https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/how-auckland-council-works/local-boards/all-local-boards/puketapapa-local-board/docsheritagestudies/waikowhai-coast-heritage-study.pdf |title=Waikōwhai Coast Heritage Study |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Pishief |first2=Brendan |last2=Shirley|date=August 2015|publisher=[[Auckland Council]]|access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==
* Halsey was portrayed by [[James Cagney]] in the 1959 [[bio-pic]], ''[[The Gallant Hours]]''; by [[James Whitmore]] in the 1970 film, ''[[Tora! Tora! Tora!]]''; by [[Robert Mitchum]] in the 1976 film, ''[[Midway (1976 film)|Midway]]'', and by [[Dennis Quaid]] in the 2019 film ''[[Midway (2019 film)|Midway]]''.
* 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]]''. Wouk was extremely critical of Halsey's handling of the battle at Leyte Gulf, but also said he was too great a builder of naval morale to be retired in disgrace. (Chapter 92)  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 has been portrayed in a number of other films and TV miniseries, played by [[Glenn Morshower]] ([[Pearl Harbor (film)|''Pearl Harbor'']], 2001), [[Kenneth Tobey]] (''[[MacArthur (1977 film)|MacArthur]]'', 1977), [[Jack Diamond (actor)|Jack Diamond]] (''[[Battle Stations (1956 film)|Battle Stations]]'', 1956), [[John Maxwell (actor)|John Maxwell]], (''[[The Eternal Sea]]'', 1955) and [[Morris Ankrum]] (''[[Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo]]'', 1944).
* An "Admiral Halsey" is mentioned in the [[Paul McCartney|Paul]] and [[Linda McCartney]] song "[[Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey]]". The chorus of "hands across the water, heads across the sky" was a reference to the American aid programs of World War II. McCartney later specified that the second half of the song was indeed in honor of William Halsey.<ref>{{cite book |last=McGee |first=Garry |year=2003 |title=Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings |publisher=Taylor Trade Publishing |location=New York |page=196 |isbn=0-87833-304-5}}</ref>
* On 4 March 1951, Halsey appeared as a mystery guest on episode No. 40 of the game show, ''[[What's My Line]]'', where the panel correctly deduced his identity.<ref>{{cite web |work=TV.com |url=http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-40/episode/92668/summary.html |title=Episode No. 40 Summary |access-date=March 4, 2008 |archive-date=December 19, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219101845/http://www.tv.com/whats-my-line/episode-40/episode/92668/summary.html }}</ref>
* In the television series, ''[[McHale's Navy]]'', one of Captain Binghamton's catchphrases whenever he would get frustrated with one of McHale's schemes was, "What in the name of Halsey is going on here?"
* Halsey is mentioned in the 1990 film ''[[The Hunt for Red October (film)|The Hunt for Red October]]''. Soviet submarine commander Marko Ramius, while engaged in battle with the Soviet attack submarine ''Konovalov'', asks [[Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy character)|Jack Ryan]] what books he wrote for the CIA. Ryan mentions one about Admiral Halsey, entitled ''The Fighting Sailor'' (not to be confused with a real book of the same title); Ramius reveals his awareness of the book and expresses disdain for Ryan's assessment of Halsey, saying, "Your conclusions were all wrong, Ryan. Halsey acted stupidly".
* A character in [[Seth MacFarlane]]'s ''[[The Orville]]'' is named Admiral Halsey, presumably after Admiral Halsey.
* In ''[[The Bridge on the River Kwai]]'', [[William Holden]]'s character, feigning madness as his excuse for impersonating an officer, says, "I'm getting worse, you know. Sometimes I think I'm Admiral Halsey."
* A former service area on the [[New Jersey Turnpike]] was named for Admiral William Halsey located by what is now Exit 13A in [[Elizabeth, New Jersey]]. Upon creation of the exit in 1982, this caused the obscuring of the service area as they both overlapped with each other, before the service area itself closed in 1994.
*In Darren Sapp's novel, ''Fire on the Flight Deck'', the fictional aircraft carrier is called the USS ''William Halsey,'' and the crew uses the nickname, The Bull.
* Appearing in four of the five seasons of the television series, [[The Last Ship (TV series)|The Last Ship]], "Admiral" Halsey is the name of a Naval Service K9 assigned to [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] Daniel Joshua "Danny" Green (played by [[Travis Van Winkle|Travis Van Winkle).]] The dog's name was chosen in part because the {{USS|Halsey|DDG-97}} was used as one of the stand-ins for the show's fictional ship, [[USS Nathan James|USS ''Nathan James'' (DDG-151)]].

== See also ==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[List of Fleet and Grand Admirals]]
* [[List of United States military leaders by rank]]
* [[List of military figures by nickname]]
* [[Gene Markey]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Borneman |first=Walter R. |title=The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy and King – The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea |location=New York, NY |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-316-09784-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/admiralsnimitzha0000born |url-access= registration}}
* {{cite book |last=Buell |first=Thomas B. |date=1974 |title=The Quiet Warrior, A Biography of Raymond A. Spruance |url=https://archive.org/details/quietwarriorbiog00buel |url-access=registration |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=0-87021-562-0 }}
* {{cite book |last = Cutler |first = Thomas |year=1994 |title =The Battle of Leyte Gulf: 23–26 October 1944 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn = 1-55750-243-9 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Drury |first1=Robert |last2=Clavin |first2=Tom |year=2007 |title=Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |location=New York |page=15 |isbn=978-0-87113-948-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/halseystyphoontr00bobd |url-access=registration |access-date=8 November 2020}}
* {{cite book |last=Dull |first= Paul S. |year=1978 |title=A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941–1945 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-0-87021-097-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/battlehistoryofi0000dull}}
* {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=David |last2=Peattie |first2=Mark |date=1997 |title=Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy 1887–1941 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-0-87021-192-8}}
* {{cite book |last=Frank |first=Richard |author-link=Richard B. Frank |year=1990 |title=Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=978-0-394-58875-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/guadalcanal00fran}}
* {{cite book |last1= Halsey |first1= William F. |last2= Bryan |first2= Joseph III |title= Admiral Halsey's Story |year= 1947 |publisher= Whittlesey House |location= New York; London |url= https://archive.org/details/AdmiralHalseysStory |ol= 13528468M}}
* {{cite journal|author1-link=Thomas C. Hone |last=Hone |first=Thomas C. |date=Winter 2013 |title=Replacing Battleships with Aircraft Carriers in the Pacific in World War II |journal=Naval War College Review |volume=66 |issue=1 |url=https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/9fe423c2-9276-41c7-be29-04260b8a04c3/Replacing-Battleships-with-Aircraft-Carriers-in-th |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412143856/https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/9fe423c2-9276-41c7-be29-04260b8a04c3/Replacing-Battleships-with-Aircraft-Carriers-in-th |archive-date=April 12, 2017 |access-date=October 10, 2020 |pages=56–76}}
* {{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Thomas Alexander |date=2016 |author-link=3 |title=Admiral Bill Halsey: A Naval Life |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-04963-5 }}
* {{cite book |last= Melton | first= Buckner F. Jr. |title= Sea Cobra, Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon |year= 2007 |publisher= Lyons Press |isbn= 978-1-59228-978-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/seacobraadmiralh00melt |url-access= registration |access-date= 8 November 2020}}
* {{cite book |last= Millis |first= Walter |author-link= Walter Millis |year= 1947 |title= This Is Pearl! The United States and Japan—1941 |publisher= William Morrow and Company |location= New York }} {{isbn|978-0-837-15795-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison |year=1948 |title=The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931 – April 1942 |volume=3 |series=[[History of United States Naval Operations in World War II]] |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston, MA}}
* {{cite book |last=Morison |first=Samuel Eliot |year=1958 |author-mask=3 |title=The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943 |volume=5 |series=History of United States Naval Operations in World War II |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston, MA}} {{isbn|978-0-316-58305-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Parshall |first1=Jonathan |last2=Tully |first2 = Anthony |year=2005 |title=Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway |publisher=Potomac Books |location=Dulles, Virginia |isbn = 1-57488-923-0 |url = https://archive.org/details/shatteredswordun0000pars }}
* {{cite book |last=Potter |first=E. B. |year=2005 |title=Admiral Arleigh Burke |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-692-6 |author-link=E. B. Potter}}
* {{cite book |last=Potter |first=E. B. |year=1985 |author-mask=3 |title=Bull Halsey |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-59114-691-9 |url-access=registration |url= https://archive.org/details/bullhalsey00pott}}
* {{cite book |last=Potter |first=E. B. |year=1976 |author-mask=3 |title=Nimitz |publisher=U.S. Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-0-87021-492-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/nimitz00pott}}
* {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Theodore |author-link=Theodore Taylor (author) |date=1991 |title=The Magnificent Mitscher |orig-date=Originally published 1954 |location=Annapolis, Maryland |publisher=[[Naval Institute Press]] |isbn=978-1-55750-800-3 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Tolley |first=Kemp |date=1983 |title=Caviar and Commissars: the Experience of a U.S. Naval Officer in Stalin's Russia |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-55750-407-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Tuohy |first=William |date=2007 |title=America's Fighting Admirals:Winning the War at Sea in World War II |publisher=Zenith Press |isbn=978-0-7603-2985-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/americasfighting00tuoh}}
* {{cite book |last=Willmott |first=H. P. |date=1984 |title=June, 1944 |publisher=Blandford Press |location=Poole, Dorset, UK |isbn=0-7137-1446-8 }}
* {{cite book |last=Willmott |first=H. P. |author-mask=3 |date=2005 |title=The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action |publisher=Indiana University Press |chapter=Six, The Great Day of Wrath |isbn=978-0-253-34528-8}}
* {{cite journal |last=Wildenberg |first=Thomas |url = http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/sheerluck_midway.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071105190645/http://history.navy.mil/library/online/sheerluck_midway.htm |url-status = dead |archive-date = 5 November 2007 |title=Midway: Sheer Luck or Better Doctrine? |journal=Naval College War Review |date=Winter 2005 |volume=58 |number=1}}
* {{cite book | last = Wukovits | first = John | year = 2010 | title = Admiral "Bull" Halsey – The Life and Wars of the Navy's Most Controversial Commander |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-230-60284-7}}
* {{cite web |ref={{sfnref|NHHC Halsey|2019}} |title= Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr. |date=April 8, 2019 |url= https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-h/halsey-william-f.html |publisher=[[Naval History and Heritage Command]] |access-date=November 8, 2020}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |last= Dillard |first= Nancy R. |date= May 20, 1997 |url= https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA325157.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110604203353/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA325157&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |url-status= live |archive-date= June 4, 2011 |title= Operational Leadership: A Case Study of Two Extremes during Operation Watchtower |format= Academic report |publisher= Joint Military Operations Department, [[Naval War College]] |access-date= August 4, 2009 }}
* {{cite news |last1=Drury |first1=Robert |last2=Clavin |first2=Tom |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/opinion/28drury.html?ex=157680000&en=e3692a1a57e95bd0&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |title=How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship |newspaper=New York Times |date=December 28, 2006 }}
* {{cite book |last= Thomas |first= Evan |year= 2006 |url= https://archive.org/details/seaofthunderfour00thom |url-access= registration |title= Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign |publisher= Simon and Schuster |isbn= 978-0-7432-5221-8 }}
* {{cite journal |last=Hughes |first=Thomas |date=January 2013 |title=Learning to Fight: Bill Halsey and the Early American Destroyer Force |journal=Journal of Military History |issue=77 |pages=71–90}}
* {{cite book |last1=Mossman |first1=B. C. |last2=Stark |first2=M. W. |chapter-url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/Last_Salute/Ch18.htm |chapter=Chapter XVIII: Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., Special Military Funeral, 16 – August 20, 1959 |title=The Last Salute: Civil and Military Funeral, 1921–1969 |url=http://www.history.army.mil/books/Last_Salute/index.htm |publisher=Department of the Army |location=Washington, D.C. |year=1991 |id=[[United States Army Center of Military History|CMH]] Pub 90-1 |access-date=July 12, 2010 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303183142/http://www.history.army.mil/books/Last_Salute/Index.htm }}
* {{cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |author-link=Ian W. Toll |title=[[Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942]] |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |date=2011}}
* {{cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |author-mask=3 |title=[[The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944]] |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |date=2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Toll |first=Ian W. |author-mask=3 |title=[[Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945]] |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton |date=2020}}
{{refend}}


{{S-start-collapsible|title=Military offices of William Frederick Halsey, Jr}}
{{S-mil}}<ref>{{cite web |title=William Frederick Halsey, Jr. 
|work=Modern Biographical Files in the Navy Department Library - H |publisher=Naval History and Heritage Command, United States Navy |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-h/halsey-william-f.html |access-date=18 January 2024}}</ref>
{{s-bef|before= William Henry Allen|years=?-5 Sep 1913}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Flusser|DD-20|6}}|years=Aug 1912-5 Sep 1913}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Jarvis|DD-38|6}}|years=Sep 1913-Jul 1915}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Benham|DD-397|6}}|years=Feb 1918-Aug 1918}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Shaw|DD-68|6}}|years=May 1918-Aug 1918}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-new|command}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Yarnall|DD-143|6}}|years=Nov 1918-Jan 1920}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander [[Destroyed Division 32]]|years=Jan 1920-Oct 1920}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Chauncey|DD-296|6}}|years=Jan 1920-Jul 1920}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|John Francis Burnes|DD-299|6}}|years=Jul 1920-Oct 1920}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Captain {{USS|Wickes|DD-75|6}}|years=Oct 1920-Sep 1921}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commander [[Destroyer Division 15]]|years=Oct 1920-Sep 1921}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Captain {{USS|Dale|DD-290|6}}|years=Jul 1924-Jun 1925}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Captain {{USS|Osborne|DD-295|6}}|years=Jun 1925-Nov 1925}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Destroyer Squadron 3]]|years=Jun 1930-Jun 1932}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Kenneth Whiting]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= Captain {{USS|Saratoga|CV-3|6}}|years=Jul 1935–Jun 1937}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Jophn H. Towers]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Naval Air Station Pensacola|NAS Pensacola]]|years=Jul 1937–Jun 1938}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Carrier Strike Group 2|Carrier Division 2]]|years=Jun 1938-May 1939}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Carrier Strike Group 1|Carrier Division 1]]|years=May 1939-Jun 1940}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Carrier Strike Group 2|Carrier Division 2]]|years=Jun 1940-May 1942}}
{{s-vac|unknown}}
{{s-new|command}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[Task Force 16]]|years=Apr 1942–May 1942}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Raymond A. Spruance]]}}
{{s-bef|before= Vice Admiral [[Robert L. Ghormley]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= Commander [[South Pacific Area]]|years=Oct 1942–Jun 1944}}
{{s-aft|after= Vice Admiral [[John H. Newton]]}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-vac|New Command}}
{{s-ttl|title= Admrial/Fleet Admiral [[United States Third Fleet]]|years=Jun 1944–Nov 1945}}
{{s-aft|after= Rear Admiral [[Howard F. Kingman]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Navy Midshipmen athletic director navbox}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halsey, William Jr.}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:American five-star officers]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Battle of Midway]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:United States Naval Aviators]]
[[Category:Naval War College alumni]]
[[Category:Navy Midshipmen athletic directors]]
[[Category:Navy Midshipmen football players]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]]
[[Category:Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Elizabeth, New Jersey]]
[[Category:United States Naval Academy alumni]]
[[Category:United States Navy admirals]]
[[Category:United States Navy World War II admirals]]
[[Category:Pingry School alumni]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal]]
[[Category:United States naval attachés]]