With World War I raging, he became Assistant Engineer Officer of the New York Navy Yard. Spruance also held several engineering . Admiral Spruance commanded with deadly precision, reported an observer.[20]. Spruance was about to face the sternest test in his long, distinguished career. Michio Kobayashi A bust of Spruance is in the lobby. Four days after the invasion, all immediate objectives had been taken, and by February 8, 1944, all organized resistance had ceased. Midway Island sent a false message stating that its water distillation plant had been damaged and that the base needed fresh water. The Japanese navy could never accept this catastrophic loss. After Rome fell, the bishop of Constantinople became the most pow When New Mexico was struck by two kamikaze on the night of 12 May 1945 a hasty search by Spruance's staff found the Admiral manning a fire hose amidship. For the main Midway assault, the Japanese force consisted of the main battle fleet under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, composed of three battleships, a light carrier and a destroyer screen; Admiral Chuichi Nagumos combined fleet of two battleships, two heavy cruisers, destroyers and four fleet carriers carrying more than 250 aircraft; and an invasion task force led by Admiral Nobutake Kondo, consisting of a dozen transport ships carrying 5,000 troops, closely supported by four heavy cruisers, two battleships and a light carrier; and a three-cordon submarine force intended to neutralize U.S. countermoves. Admiral Ernest J. His father wanted him to go to West Point, but young Raymond yearned to go to sea. He was the grandfather of legendary theatre director Anne Bogart. Notwithstanding their different personalities, Spruance and Halsey were close friends. US Navy SBD dive bombers at the Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942. The US intelligence services could predict the way the Japanese carriers and planes would be approaching the battle. Raymond Ames Spruance (July 3, 1886 - December 13, 1969) was a United States Navy admiral in World War II. help him spread the Gospel?Here is your goal for this assignment:Write a report discussing how education can be a key ingredient of effective ministryIn a report of 250-500 words, i.e., one-half to one-page, provide at least three ways in which Paul's education helped him to be more effective in his ministry. World War II: Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr. World War II Pacific: The Japanese Advance Stopped, M.S., Information and Library Science, Drexel University, B.A., History and Political Science, Pennsylvania State University. The Saipan campaign began with air attacks on June 10, 1944. Provide at least two examples.Certain lessons in New Testament Survey, as well as outside sources, may be of help to you as you write your report. These attacks were followed by a raid against Marcus Island. Although he broke the back of the Japanese naval air force by sinking three carriers, two oilers and destroying about 600 enemy airplanes (so many that the remaining Japanese carriers were used solely as decoys in the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few months later due to the lack of aircraft and aircrews to fly them) Spruance has been criticized for not being aggressive enough in exploiting his success in the Philippine Sea. With the end of the war, Spruance aided in returning American troops home before moving through a succession of engineering postings and destroyer commands. Yorktown and Task Force 17 were under the command of Rear Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher. He never smoked, and drank little. The fourth was a choice between Halsey and Spruance, and after much deliberation, eventually Halsey was appointed in December 1945. Its commanding officers Admiral Yamaguchi and the ship's captain both stayed aboard their ship. US Naval Task Force under Frank Fletcher with aircraft carrier Yorktown. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/admiral-raymond-spruance-2360511. Lt. Kabayashi leads Japanese bombers from the Hiryu to attack the USS Yorktown. He never did things the same way twice. Although some historians and many newsmen have written many words about Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, U.S. Navy and his brilliant career in the Pacific in World War II, the complete story of this reserved and self-effacing man . This was followed by an assault on Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands on January 31, 1944. It was a cool, clear day. Thus the Americans knew the Japanese planned to move toward Midway. 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. Spruance succeeded Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas in November 1945, a few months after the end of the war. B. Jim Crow Laws His squadron successfully ambushed and sank 3 Japanese Aircraft Carriers, Lieutenant in command of the USS Hornet air group. This saw him win a victory at Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 as part of the Allied "island-hopping" campaign across the Pacific. Japanese aircraft carrier attached to the Main Body of the fleet and saw close to no action. Arriving back in the United States, he underwent additional training in electrical engineering at General Electric before being posted to USS Connecticut (BB-18) in May 1910. Spruance's first duty assignment was aboard the battleship USSIowa, an 11,400 ton veteran of the SpanishAmerican War. For most of the war, Spruance preferred to use the heavy cruiser USSIndianapolis, named for his hometown, as his flagship. [7], Spruance ran a quiet bridge, without chit-chat; he demanded that orders be given concisely and clearly. It was the only aircraft carrier in the presence of Midway Island to survive the dive bomber attack and launched two and a half waves of planes against the United States Navy. He withdrew his ships westward, still hoping to draw Spruance into a trap. Spruance was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 3, 1886, to Alexander and Annie Hiss Spruance. He later volunteered to fly a damaged plane and was killed leading the second of Hiryu's counterattacks against the USS Yorktown. He was in this post on June 4, 1942, when the Japanese navy attacked Midway Island in force. [3] After the war, Spruance was appointed President of the Naval War College, and later served as American ambassador to the Philippines. The Iwo Jima and Okinawa actions lasted from January to May 1945, and in August the Japanese surrendered. Flagship of Kakuta. His next assignment was command of the destroyer Aaron Ward, and then USS Perceval. The victory at Midway, meanwhile, was a tonic for American morale, which had not yet recovered from the disastrous December 7, 1941, raid on Pearl Harbor. 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. [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. An academic building at the Naval War College was also named for him. The battle would open in the mist-shrouded Aleutians with airstrikes against Dutch Harbor on June 3, followed by landings at three points on June 6. She went down with Admiral Yamaguchi, an outstanding flag officer who, it was said, would have been Yamamotos successor had he lived. Spruance became a shadowy sort of legend in the Navy. 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. The setback in the Japanese timetable to encircle the Pacific gave the U.S. industrial machine time to crank up war production, and ultimately, to turn the advantage on Japan in the production of ships, planes, guns, and all the other matriel of war. In the seven-week campaign, 55 Japanese ships were sunk, five probably sunk and 74 damaged. Carrier units of his force penetrated waters of the Japanese homeland and Nansei Shoto. . I finally wangled two months at sea, in 1918, before the war was over. At Midway, dive bombers from the Enterprise crippled sank four larger carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. With it he intended to significantly expand the Imperial Japanese Navy's outer defense perimeter across the central Pacific; and, he believed, this very powerful stroke against Midway would so severely threaten Hawaii and Pearl Harbor that the U.S. government would be induced to sue for peace. Despite this, some detractors argued that Spruances tactics at Philippine Sea were overly cautious. "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. He is responsible for the Japanese battle plan to attack Midway and the Aleutian Islands. The airstrips in the Gilberts were put to good use two months later when they were used in the invasion of Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Calm, collected, decisive, yet receptive to advice; keeping in his mind the picture of widely disparate forces, yet boldly seizing every opening. His steady rise, according to Newsweek magazine, has borne the imprint of his personalityunobtrusive but undeviating. [2] He emerged from the war as one of the greater admirals in American naval history. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. It was interesting work, but I wouldnt want to do it for a living. Raymond Ames Spruance as Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee - 1945 On April 28, the last day of the invasion, Spruances command was redesignated as the Fifth Fleet. >On March 29, 1944, Admiral Spruance took tactical command of a three-pronged assault against the Palau Islands, 550 miles east of the Philippines, and against Yap Island and Ulithi Atoll in the western Carolines. Admiral Spruance died on 13 December 1969, at his home in Pebble Beach , California. A. Desegregation of Society The struggle by the U.S. Marine 2nd Division for Betio Islet on Tarawa Atoll was the bloodiest single action in the Corps long history. Spruance launched an assault on February 16-17 against Truk, the Japanese Pearl Harbor, at the same time that Admiral Turners forces were attacking Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshalls, about 700 miles to the west. US Naval Task force under Raymond Spruance with 2 carriers, Enterprise and Hornet. . [12] Spruance assumed command of Task Force 16 with its two carriers, USSEnterprise and USSHornet, under battle command of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/admiral-raymond-spruance-2360511. If this happened, it would enable the Japanese to pinch the Americans between their two carrier forces. About his intellect he was equally unpretentious: "Some people believe that when I am quiet that I am thinking some deep and important thoughts, when the fact is that I am thinking of nothing at all. The US intelligence services could predict the way the Japanese carriers and planes would be approaching the battle. The two admirals were a contrast in styles. Web. [28], His achievements in the navy were well known, but himself much less. Three bombs hammered her. Capturing and occupying Midway was the brainchild-plan of commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance displayed outstanding leadership and command capabilities during the battle that turned the tide in the Pacific. 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. His entry in Whos Who in America was only three lines long (including his full name), and a footnote in Morisons monumental history of the U.S. Navy in World War II testifies to his modesty. Official Navy historian Samuel Eliot Morison characterized Spruance's performance as "superb", and he was nicknamed "electric brain" for his calmness even in moments of supreme crisis, a reputation enhanced by his successful tactics. I can thank heredity for a sound constitution, and myself for taking care of that constitution. The slow-moving Devastators were easy targets for the Japanese gunners and Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighters, and all 15 were shot down. In the course of a two-hour interview, he stood or walked about all the timenot restlessly, but slowly and deliberately. This was followed by a promotion to Deputy Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet in September. In the opening weeks of the conflict, Spruance's cruisers served under Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey and took part in raids against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands before striking Wake Island. Yorktowns planes hit Soryu as she was turning into the wind to launch aircraft. He organized the Japanese counterattack on the American carriers and is credited with the sinking of the USS Yorktown, the only American Carrier sunk at Midway. That December he was elevated to rear admiral, and in February 1940 he was placed in command of the 10th Naval District (Caribbean), with his headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Lieutenant in command of the USS Yorktown air group. He commanded U.S. naval forces during one of the most significant naval battles that took place in the Pacific Theatre: the Battle of the Philippine Sea. 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. ThoughtCo, Jul. The American losses were Yorktown, destroyer Hammann and 147 planes. Spruance was put in command of Task Force 16, which included two carriers: USS Enterprise and USS Hornet, and was instrumental in the decisive US victory in the Battle of Midway. Moving forward in mid-1944, Spruance embarked on a campaign in the Marianas Islands. [25], Spruance was President of the Naval War College from February 1946 until he retired from the Navy in July 1948. The attack fails to destroy any airfields or major targets. At Midway, Spruances force inflicted on the Imperial Japanese Navy its worst setback in 350 years. Spruance's rise to fame . The Americans lost only 17 planes and no ships. His new duties involved planning rather than operations, and Spruance chafed for more action. The two admirals presented a contrast in styles as Spruance tended to be quiet and meticulous while Halsey was brash and more impetuous. Then he returned to the Naval War College as a staff member. His flagship was badly damaged by the Japanese and was hit by two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine before sinking. The Fifth Fleet commanders citation read: Responsible for the operation of a vast and complicated organization which included more than 500,000 men of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, 318 combatant vessels and 1,139 auxiliary vessels, [he] directed the forces under his command with daring, courage and aggressiveness. Naval Academy in 1906 and from the Naval War College in 1927 where he taught for a few years. Spruance received the Navy Cross for his actions at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.[23]. 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. Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Leslies VB-3 from Yorktown attacked the carrier Soryu. He was commissioned an ensign in 1908, and during a tour of shore duty he took a postgraduate course in electrical engineering in Schenectady, N.Y. He readied himself at Stevens Preparatory School in Hoboken, N.J., and entered Annapolis in July 1903 at age 17. I am lazy, and I never have done things myself that I could get someone to do for me. For his actions at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Spruance was awarded the Navy Cross. . The Navy honored Spruance by giving his name to a new class of 30 destroyers, the first of which, USS Spruance, was launched in 1973. Aboard the battleship Yamato, Admiral Yamamoto received word that the U.S. fleet was at Midwaynot Pearl Harbor as he had thought. Then U.S. dive bombers from Spruance's Enterprise flew to Nagumo's fleet of four carriers which, fatefully, were without air cover. This saw Allied forces move against Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters, Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers and Douglas TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers thundered off the flight decks and rose to search for the enemy carriers. B. Fewer than two days before launch from Pearl Harbor, Nimitz's commander of the fleet carrier force, Admiral Halsey, was hospitalized with severe shingles;[10] Halsey immediately recommended Admiral Spruance to Nimitz as his replacement with Admiral Fletcher receiving overall command. His classmates included Arthur L. Bristol, William L. Calhoun, William A. Glassford, Charles C. Hartigan, Aubrey W. Fitch, Frank J. Fletcher, Robert L. Ghormley, Isaac C. Kidd, John S. McCain Sr., Leigh Noyes, Ferdinand L. Reichmuth, John H. Towers, Russell Willson, and Thomas Withers. Raymond A. Spruance was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 3 July 1886. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . https://www.thoughtco.com/admiral-raymond-spruance-2360511 (accessed March 1, 2023). The repulse of the Japanese invasion fleet at Midway, and critically the destruction of the Kido Butai, allowed the U.S. to gain parity in the naval air war. Naval Academy, graduating in 1906. Spruance graduated from the U.S. Not till many months later did American intelligence ferret out the facts."[33]. Hickman, Kennedy. Then followed two years as assistant chief of staff to the commander of naval forces in Europe; a year of study at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., where he completed the senior course; and two years of duty in the Office of Naval Intelligence. Naval Academy in 1906,[5] and received further, hands-on education in electrical engineering a few years later. [11] Although Spruance was proven as a cruiser division commander, he had no experience handling carrier-air combat; Halsey reassured Nimitz, and he told Spruance and Fletcher to rely on their newly inherited staff, particularly Captain Miles Browning, a battle-proven expert in carrier warfare. transmitted as a message) to Rear Admirals Frank Jack Fletcher and Raymond Spruance on the eve of the battle of Midway To quote a U S Navy website, "Nimitz clearly . Four fleet carriers and the heavy cruiser Mikuma were sunk; a cruiser, three destroyers, an oiler and a battleship were damaged. 108 planes under Juichi Tomanaga bomb and strafe Midway. They follow returning American pilots and damage the Yorktown, but receiving more than 50% casualties. Landing troops on Saipan on June 15, he defeated Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa at the Battle of the Philippine Sea a few days later.
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