1944
Anti-shipping sweeps on New Ireland's east coast, punctuated by counter-battery fire off East Buka Passage made tense and exciting days for Halford, Waller and Wadsworth during January 1944, a month which also saw the destruction by this three-ship task force, of the strategic Japanese facilities on Choiseul Island.
Halford next became the flagship for Admiral T. S. "Ping" Wilkinson's Green Islands Attack Force. Carrying Major General Harold E. Barrowclough's 3rd New Zealand Division Admiral Wilkinson's destroyer-transport group sortied from Vella Lavella and the Treasuries, 12 – 13 February, arrived off Barahun Island at 06:20, 15 February and lowered their landing craft fully manned.
Halford took up station off Green Island and began patrolling while unloading operations proceeded. At 09:40 General Barrowclough, RNZA, and staff disembarked to land on Green Island. Within two hours after the initial landing, all New Zealand forces were ashore; 5,800 men were landed during D-Day, 15 February. The fact that such a force could put thousands of troops ashore virtually without opposition 115 miles (210 km) from Rabaul demonstrated the might and mobility of the Allied fleets in the Pacific.
Halford next joined a destroyer squadron to make shipping sweeps off the west coast of New Ireland. On the night of 24 – 25 February 1944, Halford and Bennett sank two small coastal ships and severely damaged a patrol vessel. For the next three days, Halford carried out her sweeps south of the strong Japanese naval base of Truk then returned to Purvis Bay for supplies.
The Spring of 1944 found Halford busily escorting supply units to the northern Solomon Islands. Halford then prepared for the longest cruise of her career—commencing early in June with the campaign for the Marianas.
The initial phase of Operation Forager which kept Halford at sea for seventy five days was the bombardment of Tinian's west coast defenses, followed by night harassing fire and the screening of heavy shore bombardment units. On 17 June Halford joined the battle line of Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's famed Task Force 58 (TF 58) for the greatest carrier action of all time: the Battle of the Philippine Sea. 19 June found Halford in the first phase of the battle:—the "Marianas Turkey Shoot"—as repeated enemy carrier strikes were shot down by surface fire. In the two day battle of the Philippine Sea, the Japanese Fleet lost 395 of its carrier planes, thirty one float planes, and three aircraft carriers.
While Guam footholds were being secured, Halford covered beach demolition units giving close bombardment support to assault troops and rescuing a number of friendly natives who had escaped through Japanese lines. Halford then joined the Angaur Fire Support Group in the bombardment of Angaur Island (4 – 21 September 1944).
Halford turned next to the campaign for the recapture of the Philippines. Joining Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's Fire Group of the Southern Attack Force, Halford participated in the pre-invasion bombardments in Leyte Island. Then, on 24 October, when Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid estimated that Admiral Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force would try to enter Leyte Gulf via Surigao Strait, Halford prepared for the Battle of Surigao Strait (24 – 25 October 1944). That night and in the early morning hours of 25 October Halford, as a member of Destroyer Division 112, witnessed virtually the complete destruction of the Japanese Southern Force except for destroyer Shigure. American casualties totaled 39 men killed and 114 wounded, most of them in destroyer Albert W. Grant. Admiral Oldendorf said after the battle, "My theory was that of the old-time gambler: 'Never give a sucker a chance.' If my opponent is foolish enough to come at me with an inferior force, I'm certainly not going to give him an even break."
After the epochal Battle of Leyte Gulf, which broke the back of Japanese sea power, Halford departed Leyte Gulf 1 November 1944 and took up operations with the 3rd Fleet out of Ulithi until 2 December when she returned to Leyte as part of the covering force for the landings. On 6 December she was dispatched to escort damaged SS Antone Sautrain into Leyte, but the ship was lost in air attack. Returning to Leyte Halford next escorted supply echelons to Ormoc Bay and troopships to Mindoro.
Read more about this topic: USS Halford (DD-480)