21st century internet admirals have a grand old time bashing Halsey, I think, for the most part, he has taken a bad rap.
Kurita’s central force in the Sibuyan Sea heading for Leyte, had turned back west after Halsey’s planes had sunk the battleship Musashi, the sister ship to the Yamato, the two biggest battleships ever built. A previous attack by US subs had sunk another part of Kurita’s fleet.
From the intelligence Halsey had, his planes had turned the central force back, and was no longer a threat. The southern force coming through the Surigao Strait would be contained by Admiral Oldendorf’s battleships. Halsey gets wind of another IJN force with carriers coming down from the north.
Sure, after the fact we can say he should have stayed at Leyte to protect the landing, instead of going after the northern force, but with the intelligence he had why not go after the northern force? We’d expect as much from “Bull” Halsey. McArthur called him “the fightingest admiral in the Navy.”
Halsey wouldn’t have gotten any criticism at all if he had sent the fast battleships to the gulf like everyone else assumed he did. Second guessing is easy. Still it’s ironic that one of the most important sea battles of the war was won by the second string do to speak.