Word: halseyisms
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
With his carrier forces commanding the air over northern Japan, and his gunnery ships commanding the seas within sight of its shores, there was no telling to what lengths Halsey might go in succeeding days. His love of spectacular improvisation knew no limits...
Sure enough, Halsey struck again. Four days later his carrier planes thundered up again out of the dawn. Some struck Hokkaido (pop. 3,300,000), which had never been bombed before. Some struck northern Honshu. Some struck in Tsugaru Strait, where the railroad and automobile ferries run between Aomori (on Honshu) and Hakodate (on Hokkaido), almost the only link between the two islands...
...Seed of Hate. To Bull Halsey, the assault was the fulfillment of two longstanding ambitions. Ever since Dec. 7, 1941, he had been obsessed with the desire to hit Japan. That morning, four years ago, as planes flying from his flagship Enterprise to Ford Island were attacked by Zeros, Halsey exploded: "My God, they're shooting at my own boys! Tell Kimmel." Then it dawned on him: Kimmel already knew, and this was war. Halsey, as senior officer afloat, soon got an order to take command of all U.S. warships then at sea in the Pacific...
...early as March 4, 1942, the Bull (it was "Raider" Halsey then) drove with one carrier, the Enterprise, to within a thousand miles of Tokyo, and sent her planes to bomb tiny Marcus Island. Six weeks later he stood on the same carrier's flag bridge and watched Lieut. Colonel (now Lieut. General) Jimmy Doolittle's ill-fated B-25s fly off the Hornet to carry to Tokyo the first token...
...November 1944, Halsey saw his dream coming true: after his Third Fleet had covered General MacArthur's return to the Philippines he would strike the hated Empire. But there were not enough land-based aircraft to defend the Philippine beachhead; twice the chafing Third Fleet was recalled to give tactical support. The first carrier-plane strikes on the Tokyo area, which had been scheduled to mesh with the first B-29 attacks on the enemy capital, had to be canceled. Admiral R. A. Spruance got in ahead in February ; Halsey had to be content with storming into the South...