Thomas C. Kinkaid - World War II - Southwest Pacific

Southwest Pacific

In November 1943, Kinkaid replaced Carpender as Commander Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area, and the Seventh Fleet, known as "MacArthur′s Navy". General Douglas MacArthur had twice requested Carpender′s relief, and Kinkaid′s record working with the Army in Alaska made him a logical choice. Australian newspapers hailed the appointment of a "fighting admiral", but neither MacArthur nor the Australian government had been consulted about the appointment, which was made by the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, Admiral Ernest King. The was a violation of the international agreement that had established the Southwest Pacific Area. The Navy Department then announced that the replacement of Carpender with Kinkaid was merely a proposal, and MacArthur and the Prime Minister of Australia, John Curtin, were asked if Kinkaid was acceptable. They agreed that he was. In his new role, Kinkaid had two masters. As commander of the Seventh Fleet, he was answerable to King; but as Commander Allied Naval Forces, Kinkaid was answerable to MacArthur. Operations were conducted on the basis of "mutual cooperation" rather than "unity of command", and relations between the Army and Navy were not good. Kinkaid was not the most senior naval officer in the theater, for the Royal Australian Navy′s Admiral Sir Guy Royle and the Royal Netherlands Navy′s Admiral Conrad Helfrich were both senior to him.

Despite the unpromising relationship with the army, Kinkaid′s most troublesome subordinate was a U.S. Navy officer, as had been the case with Rockwell in the Aleutians. This time, the subordinate was Rear Admiral Ralph W. Christie, the commander of Task Force 71, the Seventh Fleet′s submarines. Christie commonly greeted a returning submarine at the pier and awarded decorations on the spot. This practice bypassed military and naval award boards, and annoyed Kinkaid because confirmation of sinkings was accomplished by Ultra, and news of awards given so quickly could constitute a security breach. Kinkaid gave Christie and his other subordinates orders forbidding pierside awards, and the award of army medals to navy personnel. In June 1944, Christie accompanied a war patrol on Commander Samuel D. Dealey′s submarine USS Harder. Afterward, Christie met with MacArthur and related the events of the war patrol to the general, who decided to award Dealey the Distinguished Service Cross and Christie the Silver Star. When Harder was lost with Dealey and all hands on its next patrol, Christie recommended Dealey for the Medal of Honor. Kinkaid turned down the recommendation on the grounds that Dealey had already received the Distinguished Service Cross for the same patrol. Angered, Christie sent a dispatch to Kinkaid in an easily decipherable low-order code that criticized him and urged him to reconsider. Upset by both Christie′s attitude and his losses, which included Dealey and Kinkaid′s nephew, Lieutenant Commander Manning Kimmel on USS Robalo in July 1944, Kinkaid requested Christie′s relief. On 30 December 1944, Christie was replaced by Captain James Fife.

Other forces under Kinkaid′s command included the cruisers of Task Force 74 under Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley and Task Force 75 under Russell S. Berkey, and Task Force 76, the VII Amphibious Force, under Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbey. The main role of the Seventh Fleet was supporting MacArthur′s drive along the northern coast of New Guinea with a series of 38 amphibious operations, usually directed by Barbey. Kinkaid accompanied MacArthur for the landing in the Admiralty Islands, where the two men came ashore a few hours after the assault troops. With 215 vessels involved, Operations Reckless and Persecution in April 1944 was the largest operation in New Guinea waters. It was followed in quick succession by four more operations, at Wakde, Biak, Noemfor and Sansapor.

For MacArthur′s long-awaited return to the Philippines in October 1944, the Seventh Fleet was massively reinforced by Nimitz′s Pacific Fleet. Kinkaid commanded the assault personally, with Barbey′s VII Amphibious Force as Task Force 78, joined by Vice Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson′s III Amphibious Force from the Pacific Fleet as Task Force 79. Kinkaid was also given Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf′s Task Force 77.2, a bombardment force built around six old battleships that had survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, and Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague′s Task Force 77.4, a force of escort carriers. However Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher′s Task Force 38, the covering force of the fast carriers and battleships, remained part of Admiral Halsey′s Third Fleet, which was not under MacArthur or Kinkaid′s command.

Halsey′s orders, which gave priority to the destruction of the Japanese fleet, led to the most controversial episode of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Four Japanese task forces converged on Kinkaid's forces in Leyte Gulf: a carrier task force under Vice Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa, from the north; a force under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita through the Sibuyan Sea; and two task forces commanded by Vice Admirals Shōji Nishimura and Kiyohide Shima, which approached via the Surigao Strait. Carrier aircraft from Task Force 38 engaged Kurita in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, and forced him to withdraw. In a controversial decision, Halsey concluded that Kurita was no longer a threat and headed north after Ozawa′s force but, due to a misunderstanding, Kinkaid believed that Halsey was still guarding the San Bernardino Strait. Kinkaid deployed all available Seventh Fleet vessels in the Surigao Strait under Oldendorf facing Nishimura and Shima. In the Battle of the Surigao Strait that night, Kinkaid engaged the Japanese with his PT boats, destroyers, cruisers and battleships, and was able to "cross the T" of the enemy fleet. It was the last occasion in history in which battleships fought each other. The Japanese lost two battleships, Yamashiro and Fusō, and three destroyers; Kinkaid′s Force did not lose a single vessel.

However, the victory was marred when Kurita′s force doubled back and engaged Sprague′s escort carriers in the Battle off Samar the next day. Oldendorf′s force headed back but Kurita withdrew after sinking an escort carrier, two destroyers and a destroyer escort. After the war, Halsey defended his actions in his memoirs. Kinkaid′s position was that:

Of course it would have been sound practice and better to have an overall commander of naval forces.... However, the Third Fleet and the Seventh Fleet each had an assigned mission which, if fulfilled, would have resulted in the destruction of the Japanese fleet then and there. The question of an overall commander at the scene of action would have been purely academic. Most surely Nimitz′s orders to Halsey did not contemplate the withdrawal of covering forces at the height of battle. "Divided Command" is not the key to what happened at Leyte. "Mission" is the key.

Following the demise of Japanese naval power in the region, Kinkaid′s Seventh Fleet supported the land campaigns in the Philippines and the Borneo. Kinkaid was promoted to admiral on 3 April 1945. After the Pacific War ended in August 1945, the Seventh Fleet assisted in landing troops in Korea and northern China to occupy these areas and repatriate Allied prisoners of war. Kinkaid elected not to land troops at Chefoo as originally instructed because the city was in the hands of the Communist Eighth Route Army; Tsingtao was substituted instead. He was awarded the Legion of Merit by the theater commander in China, Lieutenant General Albert C. Wedemeyer, and the Grand Cordon of the Order of Precious Tripod by the Chinese government.