to pursue what remained of Japan's carrier fleet even though Admiral Kurita's center force was still in the area leading up to the Battle of Samar which put General Mccarthur's 200,000 man invasion force of Leyte at risk?

Although at the time he believed Kurita was retreating?

I can't recall that he was, and if it was it wasn't anything more than a slap on the wrist. Same thing two months later during Typhoon Cobra. That's a story to read about to.

He was criticized ! Time has softened a bit .

He was harshly criticized for leaving 7th fleet and Taffy 3 alone and not returning to them once they called for aid in fact the Navy even called Halsey taking Task force 34 up north "Bull's Run". So he was criticized for his actions but is it fully warranted?

From hindsight it is easy but put yourself in Halsey's position, you are dealing with two fleets, the Central and Northern fleets to your knowledge the Japanese central fleet was defeated in detail and that the biggest threat is the Northern fleet because they have not engaged and have aircraft carriers. So of course you are going to send your best to defeat the biggest threat, should he have left behind some of the ships he took with him, yes but again he believed that the Central Force was in full scale retreat

All in all nothing but the highest praise can be given to Taffy three and Admiral Clifton Spargue and the brave Captains and sailors on board the tin cans and jeep carriers. They were tough as nails in fact combined with their fierce resistance and the Carrier escort planes attacking the central fleet made Japanese Admiral Takeo Kurita believe that Halsey had returned and ordered his fleet to regroup in the north.

Just reads Nimitz bio. Yes, he was criticized but Nimitz afterward said he would have made the same decision with the info at hand and regrets the criticism.

I would need to go back and look but the criticism angle for Leyte is also hindsight being 20/20. If I remember correctly, wasn't Halsey's primary order to engage and defeat the carrier forces of the IJN and secondary was to cover the landings? I can understand the decision he made and with the knowledge he had available and his orders, it was probably the correct decision.

Now, driving his fleet into a typhoon later in the war, there is where criticism is warranted.

I just finished reading The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors which is about task force 3. During MacArthur's campaign in New Guinea he had been able to make runways so that he would have air support during the different invasions and battles. The Philippines however were too far from any air base which required the use of aircraft carriers. Halsey's orders were to protect MacArthur's invasion force and provide air support. Nimitz later changed the orders to give Halsey the lee way to go after Japanese carriers. The problem was that communication was pretty poor. Halsey initially was going to leave Task Force 34 to guard the San Bernardino strait but in the end he didn't and nobody knew that.

Halsey got caught in two typhoons. I think that shows he didn't always have the best judgement.

YZ250 said:

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I just finished reading The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors which is about task force 3

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Fantastic book tale and great book about it.