Admiral Bill Halsey : A Naval Life / Thomas Alexander Hughes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hughes, Thomas Alexander., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Halsey, William F. (William Frederick), 1882-1959.

Halsey, William F.

United States. Navy--Biography.

United States.

Admirals--United States--Biography.

Admirals.

World War, 1939-1945--Pacific Area--Naval operations, American.

World War, 1939-1945.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (536 p.)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2017]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"William Halsey was the most famous naval officer of World War II. His fearlessness in carrier raids against Japan, his steely resolve at Guadalcanal, and his impulsive blunder at the Battle of Leyte Gulf made him the "Patton of the Pacific" and solidified his reputation as a decisive, aggressive fighter prone to impetuous errors of judgment in the heat of battle. In this definitive biography, Thomas Hughes punctures the popular caricature of the "fighting admiral" to reveal the truth of Halsey's personal and professional life as it was lived in times of war and peace. Halsey, the son of a Navy officer whose alcoholism scuttled a promising career, committed himself wholeheartedly to naval life at an early age. An audacious and inspiring commander to his men, he met the operational challenges of the battle at sea against Japan with dramatically effective carrier strikes early in the war. Yet his greatest contribution to the Allied victory was as commander of the combined sea, air, and land forces in the South Pacific during the long slog up the Solomon Islands chain, one of the war's most daunting battlegrounds. Halsey turned a bruising slugfest with the Japanese navy into a rout. Skillfully mediating the constant strategy disputes between the Army and the Navy--as well as the clashes of ego between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz--Halsey was the linchpin of America's Pacific war effort when its outcome was far from certain."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Maps

Introduction: A Naval Death

1. An American Aristocracy

2. The Admiral’s Captain

3. A Carefree and Careful Boy

4. New Officer, New Navy, New Century

5. A Naval Band of Brothers

6. Becoming Bill Halsey

7. The Oldest Aviator

8. The First Fighter

9. The Right Man

10. The Thin Red Line

11. Real Tales of the South Pacific

12. The Crossroads of Command

13. Low Tide

14. High Tide

15. At Sea at Last

16. Bull’s Run

17. An Old Man at Sea

18. At Home at Last

Conclusion: A Naval Legacy

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed Feb. 24, 2017)

ISBN:

9780674969292

0674969294

9780674969315

0674969316

OCLC:

984687037