Bull Halsey by E.B. Potter

Author:E.B. Potter
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781612512242
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Cruises of the Enterprise, November 1941–May 1942

The next day, when the marines and their equipment had all been landed at Pago Pago, the Enterprise force moved in closer to the islands, affording the men in the ships a glimpse of green shoreline. The force then shaped course northwest, toward the Marshalls, 1,600 miles away. The Yorktown task force, which now came under Halsey’s command, fell in behind, following at a distance.

For lack of information about Japanese fortifications in the islands, Admiral Nimitz had given Halsey only the most general orders concerning the forthcoming raid, leaving the details to his discretion. Halsey had turned the planning over to his chief of staff, Miles Browning. On the latter’s recommendation, he directed Fletcher to attack Makin in the Gilberts and Jaluit and Mili in the southern Marshalls, reserving for his stronger force the older and presumably more heavily developed bases of Wotje and Maloelap in the northeastern Marshalls.

Until their attack on the islands revealed their presence to the enemy, the task forces were of course to maintain radio silence. But Nimitz could and did keep in touch with them by radio. He informed Halsey and Fletcher that their prospects appeared better than first estimated. Reconnoitering U.S. submarines reported that the Marshalls were not nearly so well developed and fortified as had first been feared and that the greatest concentration of ships and aircraft was at Kwajalein Atoll, evidently the site of Japanese headquarters. More important, the Japanese carriers were not coming their way. They were heading south to support a Japanese landing on New Britain, planned to capture the port of Rabaul.

Browning now urged Halsey to take bolder measures. The admiral should have his cruisers bombard the outer islands of Wotje and Maloelap under the cover of Wildcat fighters while the Enterprise penetrated the archipelago and sent bombers against Kwajalein. At any rate, Browning pointed out, unless they kept all air bases in the Marshalls busy defending themselves, the bases would send their planes against the Enterprise, which could hardly hope to survive a massed air attack. Halsey was convinced. He adopted the Browning proposal and sent word of the change by carrier plane to Fletcher. “It was one of those plans,” said Halsey, “which are called ‘brilliant’ if they succeed and ‘foolhardy’ if they fail.”

On 28 January, as the task forces neared the target islands, Halsey ordered fueling. The oiler came alongside the Enterprise at 2000 and finished fueling at 0130. It was the first time a heavy ship had been fueled at night in the open sea. No lights were showing and the darkness was intense, but the operation was completed without incident.

The force crossed the international date line on 29 January and thus passed into 30 January, east longitude date. Halsey now ordered all ships rigged with gear that would permit vessels damaged in action to be quickly taken in tow.

The following day the force was on course due west, heading directly for the northern Marshalls for a dawn attack on 1 February, still east longitude date.

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