Admiral Spruance - The Forging of a Quiet but Deadly Leader
73,671
Published 2024-07-24
Sources:
The Quiet Warrior: a biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance - Buell, Thomas B.
Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN; A Study In Command - Admiral E. P. Forestel
Naval History books, use code 'DRACH' for 25% off - www.usni.org/press/books?f%5B0%5D=subject%3A1966
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'Legionnaire' by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
All Comments (21)
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
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Say what you will about Admiral Halsey. But I believe recommending Spruance to Nimitz as Task Force 16's CO for Midway was his best one in the war.
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Responding to news of Pearl Harbor with "Thank you, you know what to do" is a special kind of power move
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Love these videos about the lives of US admirals. They're all so interesting people with interesting careers. I really hope Frank Jack Fletcher is on the list of admirals you will make videos about. He definitely deserves some spotlight.
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27:00 "And that's what you're going to command, officer, the air station with the best foundatuions in all of the Carribean" - the bright mind that decided to build a castle naval air station on a swamp
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Got a good chuckle out of his very thorough solo inspection of his Battleship. I bet his men loved him for that bit of cheekiness.
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I was not aware Nimitz gave those secret , by spoken word only, orders. This puts Spruance truly into another light at Midway. He was actually going very risky considering his main objective was actually force preservation. Considering both Enterprise and Hornet were invaluable for the rest of the time before Essex class started coming into service, I completely understand Nimitz's way of thinking.
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By all accounts Spruance was what we used to call "A sailor's sailor."
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Thank you! I was not aware: A. how early in their careers Spruance and Halsey had started operating together; B. how Spruance had to maneuver to get a sea command out of Pearl Harbor vs. being a paper pusher for King at the outbreak of WW2. Always learning with Drach!
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Using an out of date officer device and basically waiting for someone to say something about it is peak E-4 behavior
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You’re commitment to putting out professional quality, exquisitely researched content week after week after week is kinda amazing, Drach.
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Dangnabit. I was so enthralled in this video and it had to end when things were getting very interesting.
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Also, for anyone who wants to research Spruance further, Check out his Biography, "The Quiet Warrior." By Thomas B Buell.
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I love the fact that you mentioned his use of maneuvering boards at the end of the video. As a former US Navy CIC crewmember, we used maneuvering boards extensively 👍 Yet another excellent video, Sir. Thank you.
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I haven't commented in a long time. But thanks a lot for the video, really like the detail and information that you put into every video.
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Little did the navy realize that their practice torpedoes were as dangerous, if not more so, than their real torpedoes.
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DRach;s VERY dry humor just kills me. @10:20 I have to pause and laugh so hard my eyes water. So great.
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You've fascinated me with things I'm not interested in - or wasn't. Now? I'm a drachaddict.
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And later those sailors on the lower yardarms would tell stories how a young Admiral Spruance had once vomited on them from above.
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Most excellent Drach. Looking forward to the second part.
