biography
| name: |
Halsey, William (Frederick)
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| |
known as Bull Halsey
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pronunciation:
[holzee]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1882–1959)
|
| biography:
| US naval officer, born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA. He served on the USS Kansas during the world cruise of the battle fleet (1907–9), commanded destroyers in World War 1, and was the naval attache at several European embassies (1922–4). Promoted to rear-admiral (1938) and vice-admiral (1940), in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor he led the first offensives in the Pacific. He escorted the USS Hornet which brought Captain James Doolittle's B-52 squadron to within striking distance of the Japanese mainland (1942), led the South Pacific force in the crucial naval battle of Guadalcanal (1942), and was promoted to admiral. He worked in tandem with General Douglas MacArthur, following the strategy of ‘island hopping’, and as commander of the Third Fleet (1944–5) he began preparations for an assault on the Japanese mainland (1945). In 1945 he became a fleet admiral. |
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