Best Early War Carrier Admiral

[pinehilljoe]

Your choice for the best early War Carrier Admiral. Best could be innovative, or successful.

My choice is Jack Fletcher, history is being kind to him as the years go by. He won strategic victories in all his battles when the odds were slim and the stakes very high and carrier warfare was being invented.

I think his reputation was tainted by Morrison. ADM King did not like that he had 2 carriers sunk while under his command, and banished him to Alaska.

I left the later year admirals out of the poll, such as Mitscher, Clark, Davidson, McCain, and Towers.

 

[aurora-7]

Yamaguchi and Nagumo are interesting to compare because it's often said about Midway that Yamaguchi sparred with Nagumo about switching attack plane armaments from bombs to torpedoes when the American carriers were spotted. Yamaguchi wanted the current bomb armed aircraft to attack the US carriers immediately while Nagumo wanted to take the time to re-arm them with torpedoes so you could argue Yamaguchi had better carrier warfare instinct over Nagumo.

Takagi's only carrier vs carrier action was at Coral Sea, I think.


Aside from Midway, in which the US Navy had the advantage of advanced intelligence, Spruance didn't have a lot of carrier experience beyond probing raides. I think Midway's success was a lot of luck for the admirals along with intelligence.

Fitch is close because of his vision and use of naval airpower.

Cunningham used carrier forces to great effect in the Mediterranean but did not go up against any opposing carrier forces, something the others on this list can be judged by.

I think Fletcher gets it just for sheer exposure to battles and for coming up on top.

 

[parsifal]

My vote is for Cunningham, and perhaps the staff that supported him. he utilised carrier forces at a time when it was believed that carriers were just a supporting act for capital ships, used less than thirty a/c to disable an entire fleet, rampaged through the western med sinking well over 250000 tons of shipping, won a victory at matapan when he should not have been able to do so. grimly hung on to get a trapped army out of crete, ensured the re-supply of malta in the face of determined German and Italian resistnce, which for the first two years of the war was the critical battle to fight. ABC was the consummate leader, easily the best the RN had seen since Nelson.

 

[davparlr]

I guess my vote for early war admiral would be Halsey. The results of his take over of the forces at Guadalcanal was the second punch, after Midway, that stopped the Japanese juggernaut dead in its tracks. Had it not been gullibility in taking the bait a Leyte gulf he would have probably have been known as American best fighting Admirable, the Navy Patton. Still this is early war and he gets my vote.

 

[pinehilljoe]

I guess my vote for early war admiral would be Halsey.

Interesting what might have happened at Midway if Halsey were able to stay with the Fleet. Would he have done as well as Fletcher and Spruance?

Agreed he was one of the main forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign, and gambling with Lee's TF was audacious and paid off. But I don't think any other Flag officer's career would have survived the Typhoon incidents and Leyte.

 

[KiwiBiggles]

From a Commonwealth perspective, the characterization of Midway as "early war" is amusing.

Of the candidate list, only Cunningham operated in the early war.

 

[Timppa]

Spruance, hands down. The way he conducted the two most important naval battles in the Pacific, Midway and Philippine Sea, was brilliant.
Halsey made a major mistake at Leyte Gulf.

 

[ww2restorer]

The only one that qualifies for Early war carrier admiral would be Cunningham along with Sir James Somerville, Arthur Power and Cedric Holland. All seen service in combat years before the US was ever involved in WW2. The others qualify for mid to late war contributions.

 

[pinehilljoe]

Sorry, but i meant early for us Yank's.

 

[RCAFson]

My vote for best carrier admiral would have been Sir James Somerville because he commanded Force H and later was given command of the British Eastern Fleet in early 1942.