The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King--The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea
Walter R. Borneman
Language: English
Pages: 608
ISBN: 0316097837
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
How history's only five-star admirals triumphed in World War II and made the United States the world's dominant sea power.
Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey. These four men were the best and the brightest the navy produced, and together they led the U.S. navy to victory in World War II, establishing the United States as the world's greatest fleet.
In THE ADMIRALS, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full detail for the first time. Drawing upon journals, ship logs, and other primary sources, he brings an incredible historical moment to life, showing us how the four admirals revolutionized naval warfare forever with submarines and aircraft carriers, and how these men-who were both friends and rivals-worked together to ensure that the Axis fleets lay destroyed on the ocean floor at the end of World War II.
among our various important outposts, Dutch Harbor and Midway offered [the Japanese] the best chance of an action… with some hope of success.” Thus, U.S. naval forces were providentially placed off Midway to counter the strike. But then King went off the record and zeroed in on the Washington Times-Herald. By publishing “an item which purported to be a ‘chapter and verse’ recital of the composition and functions of Japanese forces advancing toward Midway,” King lectured, the Times-Herald had
busy-looking as a couple of task forces.” It is important to note that no one had as yet called him “Bull.” Instead, the article reiterated Halsey’s mantra: “Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit Often.” Nimitz’s own comments in the cover article did much to cement Halsey’s image with Time’s readers. “Halsey’s conduct of his present command leaves nothing to be desired,” Time quoted Nimitz. “He is professionally competent and militarily aggressive without being reckless or foolhardy [and] he has that rare
hours, Marshall, King, and Arnold were all off for Great Britain to see firsthand the results of their two-year effort. With Marshall and Arnold in one C-54 transport and King in another, they flew from Washington to Newfoundland and then across the North Atlantic to an attempted landing at Prestwick, Scotland. Heavy fog obscured the field, and the planes were diverted south to Wales. There an aide flagged down the Irish Mail and hastily arranged for an unheated car to be added to the train.
foremost a destroyer man. If he was being tossed about on the mass of the New Jersey, he had to know what hellish conditions his destroyers and destroyer escorts were facing, not to mention the pitching decks of his smaller escort carriers. Where was the innate seamanship that Halsey had exhibited so often throughout his career? Where was that intuitiveness that had caused him to bring the destroyer Jarvis to a halt in a dense fog off the coast of Long Island in 1914? If other experienced
coming off assembly lines in increasing numbers. Ads encouraged young men to join their favorite branch of the armed forces, and if patriotism itself wasn’t enough of an inducement, FDR signed the Selective Training and Service Act into law and required registration for a “peacetime” draft. America was girding for war on the home front as well as at its far-flung Pacific outposts and on the stormy seas of the North Atlantic. In the summer of 1941, Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United