I'm John Bachelor. This is CBSi on the world. Craig Simons is the author of the new book Nimitz at War, command leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay.

A dramatic moment that is replayed again and again in debate at the US Naval Academy and everywhere you read the book about the Pacific War.

It Halsey's decision-making at the Battle of Lady Gulf, but it doesn't stop there.

This is a war.

And in that war, the Fifth Fleet is going to again take over and they're going to be

landings at Guam. They're going to be land, they're going to be, not Guam, they're

going to be landings at Iwo Jim and Okinawa coming up in the new year, we turn into the, we're going to turn into 45, but before

that there's something that isn't about the Japanese, that isn't about the Americans, it's about

nature.

There's a typhoon in the middle of December

1944. And Bill Halsey again, who's given a chance again and again by Chester Nimitz to explain

his excesses.

Again, makes a decision that leads to the deaths of 800 sailors,

the loss of three ships, damage to the fleet,

this invincible task force 58.

And the review board vaults Halsey afterwards,

and Nimitz travels out to meet Halsey and to talk about this at the time.

Again, this gets complicated, Professor.

It becomes almost as if Nimitz doesn't have a way of disciplining Halsey.

Did Halsey take advantage of that?

I don't know that Halsey took advantage of it.

In a way Nimitz's attitude was let Halsey be Halsey. I mean one of the things Nimitz liked about

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