# Admiral Halsey, psoriasis and midway **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471 "2009-07-18T20:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/21 "2009-07-21T00:13:02Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > Presumably for Halsey’s actions at Leyte Gulf. > > Halsey’s job was to protect the landing beaches, the supply ships, the support ships etc. Instead he went sailing off to try and catch some carriers. He had more than sufficient forces to do both, and he even managed to leave everyone (including his boss back in Pearl Harbor) with the impression that he had left a powerful force to screen the Leyte landings. Despite plenty of evidence that the carrier forces were bait to draw off US warships, and that there were significant forces trying to sneak into the gulf, off he went. In fact Halsey reacted in exactly the fashion the Japanese had hoped. > > The fact that the landing force wasn’t destroyed was due only to Japanese mistakes and some absurdly courageous actions by the first US ships they ran into. > > I always liked Leahy’s (Chief of Staff at the time) quote regarding the affair, “We didn’t lose the war for that but I don’t know why we didn’t.” Cool. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/22 "2009-07-21T01:30:44Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > Presumably for Halsey’s actions at Leyte Gulf. > > Halsey’s job was to protect the landing beaches, the supply ships, the support ships etc. > > [etc] > > I always liked Leahy’s (Chief of Staff at the time) quote regarding the affair, “We didn’t lose the war for that but I don’t know why we didn’t.” Uh… It was _Spruance_ who, at Saipan, interpreted his orders to mean that his primary duty was to protect the landings. After this led to a missed opportunity, Halsey demanded and got orders that allowed him to go after and destroy the enemy fleet as his primary mission. The last he had seen of the “Central” force, it was retreating to the west, away from Leyte. He assumed that the loss of a cruiser (to a submarine) and the superbattleship Musashi (to air strikes) had driven off the Japanese. To Halsey, as to most admirals, _carriers_ were the prime targets, and the Central force had no carriers. What he knew or didn’t know is hard to say. What he was willing to pay attention to was even harder. He doesn’t seem to have been much of a thinker on these matters. He **was** unluck, though. He didn’t need Lee’s battleship group to go after the carriers. He already knew that the Central force didn’t have any carriers, so he could have left Lee to deal with it and taken his own carriers to destroy the Northern force. Of course, he would have discovered that the Northern force was a decoy, and Lee would have gotten the credit for the victory. Or, he could have split up his group (he had plenty of ships to attack both Japanese forces at once). But instead, he insisted on being “in at the kill”, and he guessed wrong. Commanders who guess right get promoted and famous. Commanders who guess wrong get killed or get others killed. Unfortunately, most of war is mostly guesswork. In hindsight we see everything clearly, but in the moment the commander has no idea what to believe or discredit. Halsey was also a bit lackadasical. He set out the famous “three groups” signal and so left everyone thinking he had the situation in hand. No excuse is possible; commanders are taught to be crystal-clear about their intentions. If you want to call someone stupid, though, how about Admiral Kurita, head of the Central Force? You arrive in Leyte in what is obviously a complete surprise. Instead of a coordinated attack, you let everyone rush off willy-nilly. And then, when it’s obvious that you’re facing forces that are far inferior to yours, you _break off the attack!_ I can’t figure out what he thought he was saving his fleet _for_. Leahy is, of course, exaggerating. Most of these admirals didn’t get along with each other. Leahy wasn’t there. To his credit, Nimitz never said anything. Also (as has been said here), let’s not forget the amazing story of Taffy 3, and how a bunch of second-tier ships _designed_ for little more than shore support successfully fought off a Japanese battle fleet. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/23 "2009-07-21T03:10:00Z")
This is venturing a bit off topic. And your points are well taken **633squadron**. I was trying to just give the 5¢ tour of the complaints. But I really don’t think Halsey has a leg to stand on here. He had all but certain knowledge that Kurita had turned back once darkness fell. Reconnaissance planes had seen the fleet turn. And the Japanese had turned on the land based navigation lights in the San Bernardino Strait. Center force was on its way. Halsey’s command staff was warned separately by Admiral Lee, Admiral Bogan, Commodore Burke, and Commander Flatley. All of whom were told basically to shut up and follow orders, as Halsey already knew this. As to orders, this is the most complete set I have in any of my references: “…cover and support forces of Southwest Pacific in order to assist the seizure and occupation of objectives in the Central Philippines… and destroy enemy naval and air forces in or threatening the Philippines Area… In case opportunity for destruction of major portion of the enemy fleet offers or can be created, such destruction becomes the primary task.” (I wish I had a book with the full wording) That seems to exonerate Halsey. But you must remember that the day before all this he had proposed to chase any Japanese units spotted through the San Bernardino or Surigao straits into the inland Philippine waters. Nimitz slapped him down hard and after reminding him that his responsibility was to protect the landing units and told him “…movements of major units of the Third Fleet through Surigao and San Bernardino straits will not be initiated without further orders from CINC-PAC.” Nimitz of course did not cover orders for every other approach. But leaving the northern flank completely unguarded seems to be in disregard to his orders and came as a surprise to all the other ranking Naval officers. ---
**Author:** ![bigun6605](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@bigun6605](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigun6605)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/24 "2017-09-14T18:52:27Z")
Guys-anyone with an answer. Adm Halsey had dermatitis after the Battle of the Coral Sea, that was caused by wartime stress, smoking and coffee. I don’t think poison ivy is the problem and he was young for shingles. The ship surgeon had him taking Oatmeal Baths!!! When he got to Pearl, Nimitz took one look and put him in the hospital. Now the question. I have seen three answers on wiki, a book, and and quora on his location and treatment. 1. He was flown (on Nimitz’s plane) to Vancouver Washington (nice and cool) and the best dermatologist in the US, a Dr Vaughn (?) was flown in to treat him. 2. He was send by destroyer to SF and treated there. 3. He was sent to Washington and Dr Vaughn treated him there. Any help? Al ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/25 "2017-09-14T19:56:54Z")
> [@bigun6605](#): > > The ship surgeon had him taking Oatmeal Baths!!! The world wonders. I vaguely remember that from the film, _In Harm’s Way._ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/26 "2017-09-14T21:00:24Z")
Halsey was a very aggressive commander (something that the US Navy needed), but this made him susceptible to being decoyed into ambush situations. And the wily Japanese commander recognized this, and took advantage of it when possible. The Japanese plan for Midway included an ambush operation just for this. The Japanese carriers were to damage Midway defenses, especially air cover, to make the troop landing easy. Then the carriers would retreat back toward Japan, while the Japanese battleships & cruisers & submarines would be there to destroy Halsey & the US carriers that would be hurrying there from Hawaii. Spruance was a more typical USN commander, less aggressive than Halsey, might even say timid. But he did the right things at Midway. The real hero of Midway was \*\*Captain Joseph Rochefort \*\*and his team of codebreakers at Pearl Harbor, who had provided the information on the Japanese plan to the US Admirals. He argued with the Washington DC Intelligence group, who were quite fooled by the Japanese misinformation, and thought the Midway attack would come a month later. Luckily Nimitz, CiC Pacific, believed him. (But the Washington bureaucrats got even with Rochefort afterwards; he never again got promoted,never got a sea command, never got any recognition or medals, and was eventually transferred to a minor job elsewhere.) But I don’t think it made much difference which admiral was in charge at Midway, because of the detailed intelligence they had. Because of this, they were in attack position before the Japanese expected, and they knew the strength of the Japanese battleship force was too much for them to take on (and not really very important, strategically). ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/27 "2017-09-14T21:43:09Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I think in the movie “Midway,” they said he was suffering from poison ivy. I guess they thought shingles would have been over people’s heads. Actually, they just said skin disease. > [@](#): > > But a skin disease! Of all the stupid, useless things to get laid up with! > > It’s driving me nuts. I can’t even think! We don’t have much time. Wiki just calls it a skin condition. > [@](#): > > A debilitating chronic skin condition covered a great deal of his body and caused unbearable itching, making it nearly impossible for him to sleep. Gaunt and having lost twenty pounds, he was medically ordered to the Hospital in Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/28 "2017-09-14T22:20:38Z")
SHINGLES OR PSORIASIS? THE WORLD WONDERS. (I wonder if anyone will get that.) ---
**Author:** ![bigun6605](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@bigun6605](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigun6605)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/29 "2017-09-15T00:15:32Z")
It was used when Halsey was chasing the Japanese carriers north from San Bernadino strait during the battle off Samar. When Kurita’s task force reversed course (second time) through the strait and hit Taffy One. Nimitiz was really upset and asked for Halsey location. Some coder had been reading the poem and used it as filler at the end of the message. Halsey saw it and exploded even though it was prefaced by a "R’ to describe this as message filler. Lets get our battles right. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/30 "2017-09-15T00:35:06Z")
> [@bigun6605](#): > > he was young for shingles. I have no information on whether Halsey had shingles or psoriasis, but youth does not confer immunity to shingles. I’ve known 2 young people who suffered from bad cases of shingles; one was 19 and another was 20. The one who had it at age 20 is 57 now and still has recurring pain from it, since he had it before acyclovir came along. ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/31 "2017-09-15T00:36:43Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > SHINGLES OR PSORIASIS? THE WORLD WONDERS. > > (I wonder if anyone will get that.) > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The world wonders. > > I vaguely remember that from the film, _In Harm’s Way._ Yeah. I get it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/32 "2017-09-15T01:30:37Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > Yeah. I get it. Well, hell, turkey trots to water. ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/33 "2017-09-15T01:48:41Z")
Call it what you will, Halsey’s worst blunder was attempting to refuel his fleet in a typhoon. Cost three destroyers and several hundred lives. Nimitz covered for him in both this incident as well as his decision to bite on the useless carriers the Japanese used to pull him away from Leyte. Good thing for him the American public considered him a hero. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/34 "2017-09-15T12:43:20Z")
> [@633squadron](#): > > Uh… > > It was _Spruance_ who, at Saipan, interpreted his orders to mean that his primary duty was to protect the landings. After this led to a missed opportunity, Halsey demanded and got orders that allowed him to go after and destroy the enemy fleet as his primary mission. You are being much more kind to Halsey than virtually all historical analysis has been. Halsey was charged with covering and supporting the invasion. But of course Halsey would rather have been chasing Japanese aircraft carriers and shooting down Japanese planes. The Japanese believed that they could entice Halsey to come chasing them causing him to leave the invasion force and supporting ships in danger - and they were right. Further, he issued conflicting, or at the very least confusing orders for his commanders, VADM Lee and Commodore Burke. As has been noted above, if not for a combination of truly heroic efforts of the DDs and DEs, combined with the confusion of Admiral Kurita’s fleet, this would have been an unmitigated disaster. No history has judged Halsey and found him to be negligent at Leyte Gulf, and correctly so. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/35 "2017-09-15T12:46:24Z")
> [@SanDiegoTim](#): > > Call it what you will, Halsey’s worst blunder was attempting to refuel his fleet in a typhoon. Cost three destroyers and several hundred lives. Nimitz covered for him in both this incident as well as his decision to bite on the useless carriers the Japanese used to pull him away from Leyte. Good thing for him the American public considered him a hero. It appears that they were refueling when the typhoon hit and broke of because of the weather. Empty fuel tanks caused one of the destroyers that capsized to be top heavy. Halsey did appear to have a problem with typhoons, and Nimitz did go to bat for him. [“This typhoon also led to the establishment of weather infrastructure of the US Navy”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra#Investigation) ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/36 "2017-09-15T15:00:29Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > SHINGLES OR PSORIASIS? THE WORLD WONDERS. > > (I wonder if anyone will get that.) I did. I laughed out loud here in the office:D:D ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/37 "2017-09-15T23:44:19Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I did. I laughed out loud here in the office:D:D Funnier than “turkey trots to water”. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/38 "2017-09-15T23:58:29Z")
A debilitating chronic skin condition covering a large area of his body makes shingles sound unlikely, leaving psoriasis in the ballpark along with a host of other things (primary skin disorders largely falling into allergic, infectious or autoimmune categories). Interestingly, chronic pruritus tends to be more of a problem as one ages. > [@spifflog](#): > > No history has judged Halsey and found him to be negligent at Leyte Gulf, and correctly so. I’m assuming there should be a comma between “no” and “history”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/39 "2017-09-16T01:23:40Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’m assuming there should be a comma between “no” and “history”. 🙂 Meh. His prophecy did not become true, but the USA won the Second World War. ---
**Author:** ![ZurBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/71e660/32.png) [@ZurBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZurBob)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471/40 "2017-09-16T01:53:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Admiral Halsey notified me he had to have a berth or he couldn’t get to sea. Jesus! Always thought it was _ **surf** _… Berth makes more sense. Thankyaveramuch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/admiral-halsey-psoriasis-and-midway/503471.md?page=3)