Raymond A. Spruance - Early Life

Early Life

Spruance was born in Baltimore, Maryland to Alexander and Annie Spruance. He was raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. Spruance attended Indianapolis public schools and graduated from Shortridge High School. From there, he went on to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906, and received further, hands on education in electrical engineering a few years later. His first duty would be aboard the battleship USS Iowa (BB-4), an 11,400 ton veteran of the Spanish-American War. His seagoing career included command of the USS Osborne, four other destroyers, and the battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41).

In 1924, as Bill Halsey was preparing to turn over command of destroyer Osborne to Spruance, he advised the bridge crew that they should not let Spruance's quiet manner deceive them into thinking they were getting anything but an outstandingly competent commander. The crew soon learned that Spruance liked a quiet bridge, without extraneous chit-chat or the use of first names, and with orders given concisely and clearly. In an incident in the harbor of Bizerte in French Tunisia, Osborne was anchored in 6 fathoms, or 36 feet, of water. A distraught torpedo officer rushed to the bridge and reported, "Captain, we've just dropped a depth charge over the stern!"

"Well, pick it up and put it back," was Spruance's measured response.

Notwithstanding their different personalities, Spruance and Halsey were close friends. In fact, Spruance had a knack for getting along with difficult people, including his friend Kelly Turner, the hotheaded commander of 5th Fleet's amphibious force. One exception was John Towers, a constant critic of Spruance, whom Spruance came to despise for his naked ambition.

Spruance also held several engineering, intelligence, staff and Naval War College positions up to the 1940s. In 1940 and 1941, he commanded the 10th Naval District and Caribbean Sea Frontier, headquartered at San Juan, Puerto Rico.