BIOGRAPHIES
Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey, Jr., USN
1882 - 1959
William Frederick Halsey, Jr., was born in Elizabeth, New
Jersey on 30 October 1882, the son of Master William F.
Halsey, USN. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in
1904 and spent his early service years in battleships and
torpedo craft.
The latter became a speciality - he commanded the First
Group of the Atlantic Fleet's Torpedo Flotilla in 1912-13
and several torpedo boats and destroyers during the
'teens and 'twenties. Lieutenant Commander Halsey's First
World War service, including command of USS SHAW (DD 68)
in 1918, was sufficiently distinctive to earn a Navy
Cross.
In 1922-25, Halsey served as Naval Attache in Berlin,
Germany and commanded USS DALE (DD 290) during a European
cruise. During 1930-32, Captain Halsey led two destroyer
squadrons. He studied at the Naval War College in the
mid-1930s and also received instruction as a Naval
Aviation Observer.
He then commanded the aircraft carrier SARATOGA and the
Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida. Halsey was
promoted to Rear Admiral in 1938, commanding Carrier
Divisions for the next three years, and, as a Vice
Admiral, also serving as Commander Aircraft Battle Force.
Vice Admiral Halsey was at sea in his flagship, USS
ENTERPRISE, when Japan attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at
Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. During the first six
months of the war, his carrier task force took part in
raids on enemy-held islands and in the Doolittle raid on
Japan.
Beached by illness just before the June 1942 Battle of
Midway, he took command in the South Pacific in
mid-October 1942, at a critical stage of the Guadalcanal
Campaign. After Guadalcanal was secured in February 1943,
Admiral Halsey's forces spent the rest of the year
battling up the Solomons Chain to Bougainville, then
isolated the Japanese fortress at Rabaul by capturing
positions in the Bismarcks and Admiralties.
Admiral Halsey left the South Pacific in May 1944, as the
war surged toward the Philippines and Japan. During
September 1944 - January 1945, he led the Third Fleet
during campaigns to take the Palaus, Leyte and Luzon, on
many raids on Japanese bases, and during the Battle of
Leyte Gulf.
He returned to the combat zone in late May 1945 to
command the Third Fleet through the end of the Pacific
War and was present when Japan formally surrendered on
the deck of his flagship, USS MISSOURI (BB 63), on 2
September 1945. Promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral in
December 1945, Halsey retired from active duty in March
1947. Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey died on 20 August
1959.
(Source: http://navysite.de/people/wfhalsey.htm)
~~~~~~~~~~
U.S.S. HALSEY
(Source: http://www.usshalsey.org)
USS HALSEY was
the eighth ship in the LEAHY-class of guided missile
cruisers and the first ship in the Navy named after Fleet
Admiral Halsey. The commissioning ceremony of USS HALSEY
even included a eulogy by Fleet Admiral Chester W.
Nimitz, USN, on Fleet Admiral Halsey's illustrious
career.
Commissioned as a guided missile frigate and later
reclassified a guided missile cruiser on June 30, 1975,
HALSEY was decommissioned and stricken from the Navy
Register on January 28, 1994 at San Diego. Transferred
March 7 the same year to the Maritime Administration, she
was laid up at the Suisun Bay, CA. reserve to await final
disposal. HALSEY is scheduled to be scrapped.
General Characteristics: Keel laid: August 26, 1960
Launched: January 15, 1962
Commissioned: July 20, 1963
Decommissioned: January 28, 1994
Builder: San Francisco Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, Ca.
Propulsion system:4 - 1200 psi boilers; 2 General
Electric geared turbines
Propellers: two
Length: 535 feet (163 meters)
Beam: 53 feet (16.1 meters)
Draft: 26 feet (7.9 meters)
Displacement: approx. 7,800 tons
Speed: 30+ knots
Aircraft: none
Armament: two Mk 141 Harpoon missile launchers,
two 20mm Phalanx CIWS,
two Mk-10 missile launchers for Standard missiles (ER),
Mk 46 torpedoes from two Mk-32 triple mounts,
one Mk 16 ASROC missile launcher
Crew: 27 officers and 413 enlisted
This page was last updated May 24, 2004.