June 6, 2023

The “Unhappy Controversy”: Admiral Sampson, Commodore Schley, and the Santiago Campaign of 1898

During World War II, Admiral Chester Nimitz famously kept his opinions of his fellow officers to himself. On one occasion in 1944, he revealed why. When a staff officer showed Nimitz a CINCPAC draft report critical of Admiral William “Bull” Halsey’s performance at the Battle of Leyte Gulf,[1] Nimitz sent it back with the following note: “What are