Admiral William “Bull” Halsey
U.S. Naval commander
Born: October 30, 1882, in Elizabeth, New Jersey
Died: August 16, 1959, in Fishers Island, New York
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2011: Public Service
As commander of the U.S. Third Fleet during World War II, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey won key naval engagements in the Pacific Theater that helped destroy Japan’s military might.
The son of a U.S. Navy captain and the descendant of military figures dating back to Colonial times, Halsey attended the Pingry School in Millburn and went on to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he lettered in football as a fullback. After graduation in 1904, Halsey began his military career aboard battleships and torpedo boats, becoming an expert in torpedo warfare.
During World War I, Halsey, by then a lieutenant, commanded a group of torpedo boats and destroyers, earning the Navy Cross. Following the war, Halsey served as the U.S. Naval Attache in Germany, and later in the Scandinavian countries. He returned to sea duty in 1927 and by 1934 was offered the command of his first aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga. Before taking the helm, Halsey, then 52, attended aviator school and earned his Naval Aviator’s Wings. By 1938, he was in command of the Navy’s entire Aircraft Battle Force with the title of rear admiral.
At the outbreak of World War II, Halsey was placed in command of a carrier division in the Pacific. He was at the helm of the USS Enterprise bound for Hawaii when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. An aggressive commander and a strong proponent of air power to gain superiority in naval engagements, Halsey went on the offensive, leading a series of hit-and-run attacks on Japanese positions throughout the Pacific—improving morale back home in the process. In April 1942, his Naval Group moved close enough to Tokyo for U.S. aircraft under Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle to conduct America’s first air attack on the Japanese capital.
Over the course of the war, Halsey’s command played a key role in battles for the Santa Cruz Islands, Guadalcanal, and the Leyte Gulf. At the decisive Leyte battle, Halsey, by then promoted to admiral, discovered and destroyed much of the Japanese fleet. Next, he led the final U.S. Naval operations around Okinawa. On September 2, 1945, Halsey was present when Japan formally surrendered on the deck of the USS Missouri.
Following the war, Halsey was promoted to fleet admiral; he remains only the fourth individual to hold that exalted rank. He retired from active service in March 1947. In retirement, he served on several corporate boards and led a failed effort to preserve his former flagship, the USS Enterprise, as a naval memorial in New York Harbor. Halsey himself has been memorialized in his native state with a service area on the New Jersey Turnpike; several streets named in his honor; and the Admiral William F. Halsey Health and Public Safety Academy, a public high school in Elizabeth.