Spruance and Hailstone

Discussions on WW2 in the Pacific and the Sino-Japanese War.
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Kingfish
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Spruance and Hailstone

#1

Post by Kingfish » 01 Sep 2019, 22:18

At this point reports reached Admiral Spruance concerning the group of warships fleeing through North Pass. The admiral put himself in tactical command of Task Group 50.9, made up of four destroyers, two heavy cruisers and the battleships Iowa and New Jersey, which he personally led in a surface engagement against the previously damaged Japanese ships. Spruance was so adamant on engaging in ship-to-ship combat that his carrier commander, Admiral Mitscher, ordered his air groups to stop attacking Katori and her companions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Hailstone

Any idea as to why Spruance would opt for a a surface engagement over continued airstrikes?

Mitscher's air groups were more than capable of finishing off any IJN vessels left afloat, and at far less risk.
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb

aghart
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Re: Spruance and Hailstone

#2

Post by aghart » 02 Sep 2019, 07:31

He was a sailor and an Admiral, and the opportunity to command his ships in a surface engagement was probably too great a temptation to resist.


reedwh52
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Re: Spruance and Hailstone

#3

Post by reedwh52 » 03 Sep 2019, 04:48

Speculation: (Since I have not seen the AARs for Hailstone):

Most large carrier forces with battleship support had a plan for surface action if the situation warranted. This involved pulling disparate units from the carrier task forces and creating a surface action group. Spruance may have viewed this as a low-risk opportunity to evaluate the actual use of this contigrncy plan.

Lethl215
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Re: Spruance and Hailstone

#4

Post by Lethl215 » 30 Oct 2019, 15:50

Battle Experience 18 describes the operation from contemporary AARs.

https://trireme.access.preservica.com/u ... 14a8239b6/

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