Harold Raynsford Stark
Harold Raynsford Stark | |
---|---|
Army Distinguished Service Medal |
Harold Raynsford Stark (November 12, 1880 – August 20, 1972) was an officer in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II, who served as the 8th Chief of Naval Operations from August 1, 1939, to March 26, 1942.
Early life and career
Stark enrolled in the
World War I
Subsequently, Stark had extensive duty in
Interwar years
Following World War I, Stark was executive officer of the battleships North Dakota and West Virginia, attended the Naval War College, commanded the ammunition ship USS Nitro and served in naval ordnance positions.
During the later 1920s and into the mid-1930s, with the rank of
In August 1939, Stark became
After Pearl Harbor
As CNO, Stark oversaw combat operations against Japan and the
In March 1942, Stark was relieved as CNO by Admiral
From his
After the Normandy landings, Stark faced a Court of Inquiry over his actions leading up to Pearl Harbor.[9] The Court concluded that Stark had not conveyed the danger or provided enough information to Kimmel but that he had not been derelict.[10] Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal had ordered the 1944 Board of Inquiry, Upon reviewing the report, Forrestal felt that the court had been too lenient in assigning blame for the disaster. The court had found that the Army and Navy had adequately cooperated in the defense of Pearl Harbor; there had been no information indicating that Japanese carriers were on their way to attack Pearl Harbor; and the attack had succeeded principally because of the aerial torpedo, a secret weapon whose use could not have been predicted.
Forrestal disapproved all of those findings and judged that Kimmel could have done more with the information he had had to prevent or mitigate the attack. Forrestal concluded that both Kimmel and Stark had "failed to demonstrate the superior judgment necessary for exercising command commensurate with their rank and their assigned duties."[11] King's endorsement of the report was scalding,[12] leading to Stark being relieved.[13]
In 1948, King reconsidered and requested that the endorsement be expunged: "It was the only time that King ever admitted he had been wrong."[14] The controversy surrounding him persisted after his death.[15]
Stark's most controversial service involved the growing menace of Japanese forces in the period before America was bombed into the war by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The controversy centers on whether he and his Director of War Plans Admiral Richmond K. Turner provided sufficient information to Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Commander of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, about Japanese moves in the fall of 1941 to enable Kimmel to anticipate an attack and to take steps to counter it. Captain (later Rear Admiral) Edwin T. Layton was Kimmel's chief intelligence officer (later also Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's intelligence officer) at the time of the attack. In his book, And I Was There: Pearl Harbor and Midway – Breaking the Secrets (1985), Layton maintained that Stark offered meaningless advice throughout the period; withheld vital information at the insistence of his Director of War Plans, Admiral Turner; showed timidity in dealing with the Japanese; and utterly failed to provide anything of use to Kimmel.[16] John Costello (Layton's co-author), in Days of Infamy (Pocket, 1994), points out that Douglas MacArthur had complete access to both PURPLE and JN-25, with over eight hours warning, and was still caught by surprise.
Moreover, as the
In addition, there was considerable confusion over where Japan might strike: the United States, the Soviet Union, or British colonies in Asia and the Far East.[19]
Postwar
From August 1945 until he left active duty in April 1946, Stark served in Washington, D.C., and made his home there after retirement. He died in 1972[20] and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[21]
Stark maintained a family summer residence on Lake Carey in
Awards
Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two Gold Stars |
Army Distinguished Service Medal
|
Navy Expeditionary Medal | |
Mexican Service Medal | World War I Victory Medal | American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp | |
American Campaign Medal | battle star
|
World War II Victory Medal
| |
Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (United Kingdom) |
Commander, Legion of Honor (France) |
Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 with palm (France) |
Legacy
The frigate USS Stark (FFG-31) was named in honor of Stark. Stark Learning Center, a major instructional facility at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA, was also named in his honor, as was research and development laboratory and office building at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division.
Stark was portrayed by actor Edward Andrews in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
- ^ In general, see B. Mitchell Simpson, III, Admiral Harold R. Stark: Architect of Victory, 1939–1945. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989)
- ^ Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, pp. 212–217 passim.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 220.
- ^ Holwitt, Joel I. "Execute Against Japan", Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2005, pp. 212–217, 232–249 passim.
- ^ Holwitt, passim.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 225.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 225.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 225.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 225.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 226.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 226.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 226.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 225, quoting King biographer Thomas Buell's Master of Sea Power, p. 353.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 227.
- ^ Layton, passim.
- ^ Holwitt, p. 230 & fn 20; Dyer, The Amphibians Came to Conquer, pp. 176–196.
- ^ Holwitt, pp. 230–231fn.
- ^ Tripod.com (retrieved 22:43, 6 March 2011 (UTC).
- ^ Holwitt, p. 227.
- ^ Burial Detail: Stark, Harold R – ANC Explorer
External links
- Works by or about Harold Raynsford Stark at Internet Archive
- Harold R Stark at ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website
- Newspaper clippings about Harold Raynsford Stark in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW