Neptune's Inferno_ The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal - James D. Hornfischer [77]
Ghormley was of mixed mind regarding the appropriate range of his command authority. He wrote Nimitz in that same letter, “A recent dispatch from Washington told me of several ships that had P-38’s on board, but they have never given me authority to divert a ship. I do not want that authority, for in diverting a ship in order to get an airplane, I might divert the very ship that had the critical ammunition in the hold to tide over a tough situation in Australia.” The pressures of command were clearly weighing on him. He had insufficient authority, but he was no longer sure he wanted more of it.
At the St. Francis, Nimitz acknowledged to King and Forrestal that the problems in the South Pacific were grave. While he was glad to have three battleships in his theater—the Washington, North Carolina, and South Dakota—they were poor replacements for the heavy cruisers lost at Savo because their ravenous appetite for fuel limited their deployability. Nimitz didn’t yet have enough tankers to keep them operating. Forrestal promised he would do what he could.
But the question of Ghormley’s fitness for command was a far more perplexing problem. Nimitz knew then, faced with Ernest King’s inquiry, that he had no other choice: He would hop on a Coronado patrol plane and fly to Nouméa to see his old friend personally. He would order Ghormley to undergo a physical examination. Then he would let King know what he found.
Ghormley had long complained that Washington had little interest in or sympathy for his problems. What he didn’t know was that Forrestal, based in part on impressions formed during his own recent trip to Nouméa, was going powerfully to bat for him. Forrestal had visited hospitals where badly burned sailors from the Battle of Savo Island were still fighting for their lives. “What could I say in the face of such heroism and such suffering except to bow my head,” Forrestal said. The Navy secretary would find tankers for Nimitz and urge Roosevelt to speed up reinforcements. He was so vocal in his entreaties on Ghormley’s behalf that Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, by now occupied with planning the invasion of North Africa, thought Forrestal had been unduly influenced by his personal impressions. “Jim,” Stimson said, “you’ve got a bad case of localitis.” Forrestal replied without a lost beat: “Mr. Secretary, if the Marines on Guadalcanal were wiped out, the reaction of the country will give you a bad case of localitis in the seat of your pants.”
Before adjourning at the St. Francis Hotel, the three leaders settled on a personnel move that would send electricity through the carrier fleet and beyond. It was agreed that Vice Admiral Halsey would return to Pearl Harbor with Nimitz and eventually take over his old billet as commander of the Enterprise task force as soon as repairs to the battle-damaged carrier were complete in mid-October.
Shortly after they returned to Pearl, Nimitz took Halsey to visit the Enterprise. On board the weathered and battle-worn ship, competing with the pneumatic and hydraulic clangor, Nimitz awarded decorations to the crew. Then he announced, “Boys, I’ve got a surprise for you. Bill Halsey’s back!” There were cheers. Then he told them, “I know that you have been promised a rest and God knows that you deserve it, but you also know that we have lately suffered severe losses in ships and men. I have no recourse but to send you back into battle.” That statement received a courteous silence, and they would have five more weeks to think about it.
IN HINDSIGHT IT was unclear which of the opposing fleets was less prepared for the fight that lay ahead. As the American brain trust was conferring in San Francisco, Yamamoto held a series of conferences in the flag quarters of the Yamato at Truk. According to Tameichi Hara, a destroyer captain who participated in the meetings, his commander in chief’s agenda was trivial next to other