Raymond A. Spruance

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the other thing at Midway, of course, is that Spruance, who's effectively in operational command, refuses to go after what he thinks are other elements of the Japanese fleet to the west.

Yeah, yep.

And Yamamoto's got his full battle wagon force just to the west.

Out in the open.

And the fact that Spruance has this sixth sense, and he does it again later at the Philippine Sea.

Mm-hmm.

He says, "I'm not doing this i- in case we get bushwhacked." And he's absolutely right, and this is where Spruance's genius really shows.

Instead of a small, flat coral islet in an atoll, it was a large island target of some 72 square miles, with terrain varying from flat cane fields to swamps to precipitous cliffs to the commanding 1,554-foot-high Mount Tapacha.

moreover the japanese considered it their own territory in spite of the fact that it was legally only a mandate provided by the terms of the versailles treaty following world war i the fact that japan held the islands led it to install a policy of exclusion of all outsiders and the start of military construction forbidden by the treaty as early as nineteen thirty four attacking a formidable objective such as saipan called for complex planning and much greater force than had previously been needed in the central pacific an elaborate organization was therefore assembled Admiral Raymond A. Spruance was in overall command of the force detailed to invade the Marianas as well as the naval units needed to protect them.

Admiral Turner was in command over the amphibious task force while Marine Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith was to direct the landing forces on Saipan and then on the neighboring island of Tinian.

A similar command structure but with different combat units was set up for the attack

No one on the American side ever suggested that taking Iwo Jima would be an easy proposition.

Admiral Nimitz assigned this mission to the same team which had prevailed so effectively in the earlier amphibious assaults in the Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance commanding the 5th Fleet, Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner commanding the Expeditionary Forces, and Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill commanding the Attack Force.

Spruance added the highly regarded Rear Admiral William H. P. Blandy, a veteran of the Peleliu-Angour landings, to command the amphibious support forces responsible for minesweeping, underwater demolition team operations, and preliminary naval air and gun bombardment.

As usual, maintaining unremitting military pressure on the enemy meant an accelerated planning schedule and an overriding emphasis on speed of execution.

THE MARINE ASSAULT OF TARWA.

In August 1943, to meet in secret with Major General Julian C. Smith and his principal staff officers of the 2nd Marine Division, Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Central Pacific Force, flew to New Zealand from Pearl Harbor.

Spruance told the Marines to prepare for an amphibious assault against Japanese positions in the Gilbert Islands in November.

The Marines knew about the Gilberts.

The 2nd Raider Battalion, under Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson, had attacked Macon Atoll a year earlier.

Subsequent intelligence reports warn that the Japanese had fortified Basio Island in Tarawa Atoll, where elite forces guarded a new bomber strip.

Spruance said Basio would be the prime target for the 2nd Marine Division.

General Smith's operations officer, Lieutenant Colonel David M. Shoup, studied the primitive chart of Batio and saw that the tiny island was surrounded by a barrier reef.

Okay.

And primarily looking at persons like Nimitz, Admiral Nimitz, looking even Lieutenant Commander Rochefort at Station Hypo, some of the famous submarine commanders about this notion of you know, leadership and really became interested in Nimitz and comparing Raymond Spruance versus someone like Bull Halsey, because they are all three of those names I just mentioned of Nimitz, Spruance, and Halsey, very, very different leadership styles.

But successful in different ways for different reasons.

So I started to become curious about to what extent did you start to see, is there a formula for that in your military studies? Or was it more situational or contextual of what made leadership successful?

And I'm pulling these randomly out of the pile, guys.

So the more I read, the more I get confused regarding Admiral Spruance being relieved of command of the Fifth Fleet.

He was never relieved of command of the Fifth Fleet, so that's one of the parts of your confusion.

Okay.

After the initial purging of, quote, less than aggressive leaders, unquote, most if not all of the other four-star leaders served throughout the war in their assigned posts.

I realized that other flag officers like Mitcher and Clark were restrained.

At the leash to attack, but Spruance seemed to have the wisdom and foresight to be restrained when necessary.

That is, I would agree.

Who is he?

Raymond Spruance was the commander of the cruiser destroyer screen for Halsey's carrier task force.

Nimitz knew him.

In fact, Nimitz had already decided prior to the news about Halsey's skin condition that he wanted to appoint Raymond Spruance as his own chief of staff, as Nimitz's chief of staff.

So he knew him and trusted him so that when Halsey said...

When Nimitz, first of all, asks Halsey, well, if you can't go, who should take your spot? And Halsey immediately said Spruance, and Nimitz immediately accepted that.

No one on the American side ever suggested that taking Iwo Jima would be an easy proposition.

Admiral Nimitz assigned this mission to the same team which had prevailed so effectively in the earlier amphibious assaults in the Gilberts, Marshalls, and Marianas, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance commanding the 5th Fleet, Vice Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner commanding the Expeditionary Forces, and Rear Admiral Harry W. Hill commanding the Attack Force.

Spruance added the highly regarded Rear Admiral William H.P. Blandy, a veteran of the Peleliu-Angour landings, to command the amphibious support forces responsible for minesweeping, underwater demolition team operations, and preliminary naval air and gun bombardment.

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