When Vice Adm. Bull Halsey was confined to a hospital with a skin disease, Pacific Fleet Commander Nimitz appointed Spruance to succeed him as commander of Task Force 16. Known for his calm in moments of crisis, Admiral Spruance became one of the U.S. Navy's largest assets in World War II. ), honoris causa degree from Central Philippine University in 1955, an institution of higher learning founded by the American Baptist missionary, William Orison Valentine in 1905. [31] The series, based on Herman Wouk's book of the same name, shows Spruance's decision to end the battle and retreat rather than confront the rest of the Japanese fleet as having been opposed by his subordinates, and he was mocked behind his back as "lacking the stomach." Spruance began World War II as a gunship admiral, commanding a division of . Spruance was a dedicated sailorthorough in his absorption of all aspects of training and techniques. These raids were critical to moralesetting a new tone of aggressiveness by U.S. commanders while providing invaluable battle experience for the commanders and sailors of the U.S. Covered by fog and lashed by storms most of the time, they were generally unsuitable for air or naval bases. Two years later, Spruance again received orders for the Naval War College and taught on the staff until April 1938. When I look at myself objectively, he wrote in retirement, I think that what success I may have achieved through life is largely due to the fact that I am a good judge of men. Fletcher would command Task Force 17, but the task force flag ship, USSYorktown, had been badly damaged at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the formation's other carrier, Lexington, had been sunk, but at Nimitz's behest Yorktown was patched-repaired in "rush" time purposefully to join the Midway operation.[11]. Before Midway, a small and fractional U.S. Navy faced an overwhelmingly larger and battle-hardened Japanese Combined Fleet. The Japanese felt that they had won the encounter. [22] Spruance later chose the battleship USSNew Jersey as his flagship, as the huge Iowa-class battleship had both room for his staff and the speed to keep up with the fast carrier task forces. Admiral Ernest J. In May 1942, intelligence suggested that the Japanese were planning on assaulting Midway Island. In fact, Spruance had a knack for getting along with difficult people, including his friend Admiral Kelly Turner, the hotheaded commander of 5th Fleet's amphibious force. Why was Chester W Nimitz important? erful leader. The Gilberts attack was planned and directed by Spruance, with the assistance of Rear Adms. United States Admiral in command of naval units on the Pacific Theatre in 1942. His new duties involved planning rather than operations, and Spruance chafed for more action. He held that post until the following February, when he was ordered back to the Naval War College at Newportthis time as president. At 10.26am on 4 June 1942 the course of World War Two in the Pacific changed utterly. He was the grandfather of legendary theatre director Anne Bogart. Admiral Yamaguchi and the Hiryu's captain decide to stay aboard the ship. From the remaining enemy carrier, Hiryu, Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi launched bombers and torpedo planes against Yorktown. As part of this reorganization, the force became known as the Fifth Fleet when Spruance was in charge and the Third Fleet when Halsey was in command. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, is named Spruance Hall. From 1952 to 1955 Spruance served as the American ambassador to Philippines. >The fleet units shielding the Marianas invasion forces were also under Spruances command. Yorktowns planes hit Soryu as she was turning into the wind to launch aircraft. This time we were right because the enemy did what we expected him to do. He remained in the position only briefly as he accepted a posting as President of the Naval War College on February 1, 1946. Midway bought the United States valuable time until the new Essex-class fleet carriers became available at the end of the year. Four years later, President Harry S. Truman appointed him as Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines. It was bombed by dive bombers from the Enterprise and as scuttled shortly after Nagumo was forced by his staff to evacuate. Locating the Japanese carriers as they were rearming and refueling their aircraft, American bombers inflicted massive damage and sank three. On 13 May 1945, Admiral Raymond Spruance put pen to paper and described the second kamikaze attack he experienced at Okinawa. He never did things the same way twice. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz,, Commander in Chief, Pacific, (right) and, Admiral Raymond Spruance, Commander, Central Pacific Force, (center) Tour Kwajalein Island, Marshalls, February 5,1944, following its capture. World War II: Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, World War II: Battle of the Philippine Sea. After Rome fell, the bishop of Constantinople became the most pow the prospects for its inclusion in doctrine The logical starting point is Admiral Chester Nimitz's famous "letter of instruction" (actually, of course, transmitted . D. Suburban America, 100 POINTS! The USS Enterprise ambushes and sinks the Hiryu. The first Japanese airstrike was followed by another. At Midway, dive bombers from the Enterprise crippled sank four larger carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. For his actions at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Spruance was awarded the Navy Cross. Two minutes later, 37 dive bombers from Enterprise, led by Lt. Cmdr. It was June 4, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and Admira Fletcher had to engage four Japanese ships in the Battle of Midway. Admiral Raymond Spruance on the balcony of the U.S. Embassy, Manila, while serving as U.S. Biographies, 20th century collection, Navy Department Library. On April 1, Spruance began the Battle of Okinawa. [9] On the other hand, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz knew he must intercept the Japanese invasion fleet, and that he must give battle to the enemy aircraft carriers before they could project their overwhelming power against the naval air station at Midway. She went down with Admiral Yamaguchi, an outstanding flag officer who, it was said, would have been Yamamotos successor had he lived. Some people asked why he did not take take advantage of the chaotic scene to attack all of Japans air carriers. Commanding the battleship for nearly two years, Spruance was aboard when World War II began in Europe. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Spruance became Commander of the 5th Fleet in November 1943, which presented him with command of the Central Pacific Forces. Then, reflect on the education opportunities that God has provided us today. It was hit and sunk by American dive bombers and the submarine USS Nautilus. All three were eventually scuttled. Admiral Yamamoto had hoped to fight a classic-style sea battle with battleships, but Spruance had proved that the aircraft carrier was now emerging as the capital ship of naval combat forces. Then it was back to Pebble Beach. >A few days later, Mitscher rejoined Spruance and the Fifth Fleet. Web. Photograph Courtesy of the US Naval History & Heritage Command. But the American commander, who could be daring and resourceful when necessary, could also exhibit shrewd caution when his experienced mind sensed an ambush. Notwithstanding their different personalities, Spruance and Halsey were close friends. "[16] Both Fletcher and Nimitz recommended Spruance for the Distinguished Service Medal for his role in the battle. For about 20 minutes, fighters, dive bombers and torpedo bombers pounded the island, carefully avoiding damaging the runways because the Japanese hoped to eventually use them. About us| The Japanese navy could never accept this catastrophic loss. HistoryLearning.com. Raymond A. Spruance emerged from the battle one of the greatest admirals in American naval history". Traveling to the Pacific, he was in this post when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7 forcing the US to enter the war. By shortly after 9 a.m., planes from Yorktown were also on their way. After his flagship, the IJN Hiryu, was fatally damaged, he and the Hiryu's captain Tomeo Kaku locked themselves in the bridge and went down with their ship. Spruance died in Pebble Beach, California, on December 13, 1969, and was buried with full military honors at Golden Gate National Cemetery near San Francisco. The following year, they made me executive officer of the transport Agamemnon, bringing troops home from France. He was survived by his wife and a daughter, Mrs. Gerald S. Bogart of Newport, R.I. His only son, Navy Captain Edward D. Spruance, who served for 30 years, was killed in a car accident in Marin County, Calif., in May 1969. He presided over US Forces in the Pacific during two decisive Allied victories: the Battle of Midway in 1942 and the 1944 Battle of the Philippines Sea. He never smoked and drank little. During the last year of World War I he was assigned as Assistant Engineer Officer of the New York Naval Shipyard, and carried out temporary duty in London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland. Two years later, he aided in the fitting out of USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) then under construction in the yard. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance displayed outstanding leadership and command capabilities during the battle that turned the tide in the Pacific. serious damage on the islands installations. US Navy SBD dive bombers at the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942. Yamato class battleship that served as the Japanese Combined Fleet's Flagship, housing Admiral Yamamoto. Falling ill with shingles, Halsey recommended that Spruance lead Task Force 16, centered on the carriers USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8), in his stead. Carrier units of his force penetrated waters of the Japanese homeland and Nansei Shoto. Unites States Rear Admiral in command of Task Force 16 on the USS Enterprise. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison believed he was one of the greatest fighting and thinking admirals in American naval history. Then Nagumo was dumbfounded to receive a search planes report of 10 enemy ships to the northeast, where no U.S. ships were supposed to be. The son of Alexander and Annie Spruance, Raymond Ames Spruance was born at Baltimore, MD on July 3, 1886. The Turning Point in the Pacific. The defeat effectively destroyed the Japanese Navy's air arm. Word of the sacrifice of VT-8 stunned the United States, and Churchill was reported to have wept when he heard about it. This approach of bypassing Japanese strong points, such as Truk, was applied on a large scale as the Allies devised their strategy for moving across the central Pacific. Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 - December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral in World War II. Towards the end of that year, Spruance commanded a cruiser division supporting Admiral Halsey's carrier, the 'Enterprise', at Wake Island. But they expected it to come at the obvious and exposed outer fringe, and when we struck at the heart of the archipelago with a huge fleet that had approached undetected, we enjoyed complete tactical surprise. Serving in Manila, Spruance remained abroad until resigning his post in 1955. This was said to be the first time that a four-star admiral took part in a sea action aboard one of the ships engaged. These plans proved moot when the war came to an abrupt end in early August with the use of the atom bomb. Retribution was not long in coming. On June 14, while Mitscher led a diversionary attack on the Bonin Islands 800 miles to the north, U.S. Marines and infantrymen stormed ashore. The battle commenced on the morning of June4; the first several waves of U.S. attack aircraft were badly beaten, both near Midway and at sea around the Japanese task force. Four days after the invasion, all immediate objectives had been taken, and by February 8, 1944, all organized resistance had ceased. Mitschers force pursued the Japanese fleet and engaged it the following day in the Philippine Sea, sinking the light carrier Hiyo and two oilers (in addition to which submarines Albacore and Cavalla had sunk Taiho and Shokaku the previous day). Maintaining a position offshore, the Fifth Fleet's ships were subjected to relentless kamikaze attacks by Japanese aircraft. On December 30, 1914, Spruance married Margaret Vance Dean, the daughter of an Indianapolis businessman. . Spruance served as executive officer of USS Mississippi from October 1929 to June 1931. Besides his family, he loved the companionship of his pet schnauzer, Peter. The small Marine Corps garrison scrambled its handful of Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat and Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo fighters, but they were too weak and slow to deter the Japanese. He loved to show them to visitors. Early in his career he was Besides, the Japanese only had 35 serviceable planes left, rendering her carriers toothless. It is still the largest warship built to date and survived the battle undamaged as it never came near the battlefield despite Yamamoto's protests. The American offensive in the Pacific theater was now enjoying considerable momentum, aided in no small measure by Rear Adm. Marc Mitschers Task Force 58, the most powerful and destructive unit in the history of sea warfare. The attack fails to destroy any airfields or major targets. And, off Okinawa, Spruance never faltered in face of the destruction wrought by the kamikazes. President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Spruance for promotion to full admiral on February 10, 1944, and he was approved. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. That same year he received a new assignment: assistant machinery inspector at the Newport News, Va., dry dock, where the battleship Pennsylvania was being outfitted. Japanese Vice Admiral in command of the Japanese Carrier strike force based on the Aircraft Carrier IJN Akagi. During this period, Spruance served aboard USS Minnesota (BB-22) during the cruise of the Great White Fleet. A total of 1,132 enemy planes were put out of action. Lieutenant aboard the Hiryu who led and was killed during the first Japanese counterattack after the sinking of 3 Japanese aircraft carriers. While screening the American invasion of Saipan in June 1944, Spruance defeated the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In this position, he traveled to London and Edinburgh. Meanwhile, Task Force 58 was busy in the forefront of clearing the Japanese from the 600-mile-long Marianas chain. The U.S. Navy counterforce sank all four Japanese carriers while losing one of its own, Yorktown. 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