Once theBattle of the Philippine Sea came to an end, Spruance returned to Pearl Harbour to help plan other landings in the future. Spruance's fast carrier commander, Marc Mitscher, told his chief of staff Arleigh Burke: You and I have been in many battles, and we know there are always some mistakes. Why was Chester W Nimitz important? Known for his calm in moments of crisis, Admiral Spruance became one of the U.S. Navy's largest assets in World War II. 1155 (August 1946): 144-157. He was decorated with Order of Leopold and Croix de guerre with Palm by the Government of Belgium for his service for the Allied cause.[26]. Spruance's rise to fame . Moving into position near Midway, Spruance's force was later joined by Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher's TF 17 which included the carrier USS Yorktown (CV-5). At 10.26am on 4 June 1942 the course of World War Two in the Pacific changed utterly. Commanded the first Japanese air strike against Midway Island at the beginning of the battle. C. American Dream This was in July 1938, and this time he was the battleships commander. 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. Japanese naval force tasked with the invasion of the Aleutian Islands under Vice Admiral Kakuta with aircraft carriers Junyo and Ryuho. Spruance, Raymond A. 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. He never smoked, and drank little. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/admiral-raymond-spruance-2360511. Born on 3 July 1886, Spruance graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1906. Two minutes later, 37 dive bombers from Enterprise, led by Lt. Cmdr. In July 1907 he transferred to the battleship Minnesota and was aboard her during the historic around the world cruise of the Great White Fleet from 1907 to 1909. Towards the end of that year, Spruance commanded a cruiser division supporting Admiral Halsey's carrier, the 'Enterprise', at Wake Island. His next assignment was command of the destroyer Aaron Ward, and then USS Perceval. Promoted to captain the following year, he departed to take the position of Chief of Staff and Aide to Commander Destroyers, Scouting Fleet in May 1933. US Naval Task force under Raymond Spruance with 2 carriers, Enterprise and Hornet. Flagship of Task Force 16 under the command of Raymond Spruance. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz called him a fine man, a sterling character, and a great leader, and said, nothing you can say about him would be praise enough. Biographies, 20th century collection, Navy Department Library, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Spruance, Raymond A. Bombs destroyed the bridge of Kaga and set her ablaze from stem to stern. To the Aleutians, the Japanese dispatched an invasion task force of three transports carrying 2,400 troops, supported by two heavy cruisers, a two-carrier support force and a covering group of four battleships. In the footnote Morison says, Admiral Spruance, in commenting on the first draft of this volume, requested that I delete victor at and substitute who commanded a carrier task force at, butI have let it stand. At the crucial Battle of Midway, your daring and skilled leadership routed the enemy in the full tide of his advance and established the pattern of air-sea warfare which was to lead to his eventual capitulation. Samuel Eliot Morison agreed: Power of decision and coolness in action were perhaps Spruances leading characteristics. But we went in and took their possessions in a few days, without the loss of a single ship. The Battle of Midway infused the U.S. Pacific Navy with confidence. A number of strategic and tactical errors contributed to the Japanese defeat: Yamamotos virtual isolation on the bridge of Yamato and his failure to maintain an overall grip on the strategic situation; a loss of nerve on the part of Nagumo; tradition that led Yamaguchi and other enemy commanders to go down with their ships instead of trying to recover the initiative; insufficient reconnaissance against the U.S. carriers; a lack of high-altitude fighter cover; inadequate fire precautions aboard the ships; and the launching of airstrikes from all four fleet carriers at the same time, so that there was a critical period when the Japanese carrier force had little defensive capability. 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. 1, and he commanded her until 1914. A number of torpedo squadrons from the airfields and carriers launch attacks on the Japanese carriers but score no hits and almost all planes involved were shot down. A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Spruance commanded cruisers during the early months of the conflict and first came to prominence for helping lead American forces to victory at the pivotal Battle of Midway in June 1942. 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. 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. The defenders fought fiercely but were unable to inflict any damage on the U.S. vessels. Weeks later . In October 1946 he was awarded the Armys Distinguished Service Medal for his exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services during the capture of the Marshall and Mariana islands. Adding to the surprise factor was the fact that Admirals Yamamoto and Nagumo did not believe the U.S. Pacific Fleet was at sea. [21] Buell quotes Spruance speaking with Morison: As a matter of tactics I think that going out after the Japanese and knocking their carriers out would have been much better and more satisfactory than waiting for them to attack us, but we were at the start of a very important and large amphibious operation and we could not afford to gamble and place it in jeopardy. After six furious minutes, the three carriers were left burning. President Harry S. Truman appointed him ambassador to the Philippines in January 1952, and he served until March 1955. It was interesting work, but I wouldnt want to do it for a living. Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral during World War II. In August 1943, Spruance, now a vice admiral, returned to sea as Commander Central Pacific Force. Having been promoted to rear admiral in December 1939, he was directed to assume command of the Tenth Naval District (San Juan, PR) in February 1940. Admiral Raymond Spruance on the balcony of the U.S. Embassy, Manila, while serving as U.S. Always calm, always at peace with himself, Spruance had that ability which marks the great captain to make correct estimates and the right decisions in a fluid battle situation. The Saipan campaign began with air attacks on June 10, 1944. Covered by fog and lashed by storms most of the time, they were generally unsuitable for air or naval bases. The Turning Point in the Pacific. 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. He commanded that vessel during the patrols with the Atlantic Fleet until January 1920, when he assumed command of newly commissioned destroyer USS Percival in San Francisco, California. [7], Spruance served in Washington until early 1924, when he was ordered to the headquarters, Commander Naval Force in Europe. However, an invasion was rendered unnecessary when the atomic bomb was used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. Kwajalein was in American hands, but the rest of the Marshalls groupabout 30 islands and more than 800 reefs scattered over hundreds of miles of oceanremained to be dealt with. This article was written by Michael D. Hull and originally appeared in the May 1998 issue of World War II magazine. Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance was a key American naval commander who served in the Pacific Theater of World War II.A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Spruance commanded cruisers during the early months of the conflict and first came to prominence for helping lead American forces to victory at the pivotal Battle of Midway in June 1942. Hiryu class Japanese aircraft carrier that was part of the second detachment of the Japanese carrier strike force. The Japanese expected no American ships in the Midway area until after the landing there, and they hoped that the Pacific Fleet would dash northward as soon as it received word of the opening strikes in the Aleutians. Hiryu class Japanese aircraft carrier that was the flagship of the second detachment of the carrier strike force. More to his liking was the study of foreign methods of naval fire control, which took him to London and Edinburgh. Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 - December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral during World War II. The Americans were able to count on Yorktown, however, after patching her up in an astonishing two days instead of 90 days as had been estimated. Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance was a key American naval commander who served in the Pacific Theater of World War II. On November 24, Spruance relieved Nimitz as Commander, US Pacific Fleet. I finally wangled two months at sea, in 1918, before the war was over. On June 19, however, hundreds of planes from nine Japanese aircraft carriers attacked the Fifth Fleet. 7 reviews. The Americans were gravely outnumbered by the lurking enemy armada. Before Midway, a small and fractional U.S. Navy faced an overwhelmingly larger and battle-hardened Japanese Combined Fleet. B. Jim Crow Laws Then U.S. dive bombers from Spruance's Enterprise flew to Nagumo's fleet of four carriers which, fatefully, were without air cover. Photograph Courtesy of the US Naval History & Heritage Command. Naval Academy at Annapolis. 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. At Midway, dive bombers from the Enterprise crippled sank four larger carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Advertisement Still have questions? Capturing and occupying Midway was the brainchild-plan of commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. That achievement brought praise from Churchill, who wrote to Navy Secretary James Forrestal, Admiral Spruance is again to be congratulated for another fine job. society in the 1950s? Retribution was not long in coming. Calm, collected, decisive, yet receptive to advice; keeping in his mind the picture of widely disparate forces, yet boldly seizing every opening. Yet because of his modest, retiring nature, Spruance was never a popular hero in the manner of Admirals Nimitz, William F. Halsey and Marc A. Mitscher. Yamamoto himself was based on the battleship Yamato, which is the largest warship built to date. 2015. As his staff worked, Halsey used the fleet to win the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The attack fails to destroy any airfields or major targets. (. He also held several engineering, intelligence, staff and Naval War College positions up to the 1940s. The defeat effectively destroyed the Japanese Navy's air arm. "Admiral Raymond Spruance". He began attendance at the Naval War College in 1926, and graduated in 1927. It Didnt End Well. While in that capacity he assumed additional duty as a member of the board on doctrine of aircraft in connection with fleet fire control. Spruance expressed his personal feelings on this matter as follows: So far as my getting five star rank is concerned, if I could have got it along with Bill Halsey, that would have been fine; but, if I had received it instead of Bill Halsey, I would have been very unhappy over it. Three bombs hammered her. 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