Wielding the Trident: Admiral Raymond A. Spruance and America’s Victory in the Pacific. By Andrew Blackley. US Naval Institute Press, 2026. ISBN9798899190001.
Reviewed by Peter Jones*
Admiral Thomas Kinkaid self-deprecatingly once wrote that his arrival aboard his flagship did not elicit the same rousing cheers from sailors as when Admiral ‘Bull’ Halsey strode up the gangway. Kinkaid and the subject of Wielding the Trident, Admiral Raymond Spruance, shared a similar lower personal profile. They were both, however, most consequential admirals worthy of a biographer’s attention and the readership of those interested in navies.
Indeed, of admirals who commanded truly massive fleets at sea in wartime, there are probably less than a handful – Jellicoe, Beatty, Halsey and Spruance.
This is the third biography of Admiral Spruance. The most definitive to date was by Thomas Buell in 1974 which was written when many of the veterans and key family members were still alive. Andrew Blackley’s engaging and most readable biography builds on this material and benefits from the subsequent release of more archival material, as well as the publication of biographies and memoirs of men who interacted with Spruance.
Spruance is most notable for his commanding roles in Battles of Midway and the Philippine Sea, but this biography also carefully examines his important contribution Spruance made both as Admiral Chester Nimitz’s chief of staff and as Commander of the Fifth Fleet.
For Australian readers Wielding the Trident, much like Devotion to Duty, the 1995 biography Admiral Clifton Sprague, highlights how different the USN is from the RAN and other Commonwealth navies. That begins with the recruitment of officers, their training at the naval academy and their subsequent career progression. The astounding fact that there was a 30% attrition rate at Annapolis during Spruance’s time (graduated in 1907) would seem inconceivable to a RAN or RN contemporary. No wonder Spruance did not have fond memories of the Academy. Also, of interest to Australian readers will be how the ‘line’ concept works in practice and the competencies that Spruance gained along the way to his Flag. Another insight is the, at times, intense friction between the senior officers of the black shoe (battleship) and brown shoe (aviation) tribes.
Spruance’s career included three stints at the US Naval War College, and a strength of this book is its description of that institution’s contribution to both Spruance’s success and that of the Navy in World War II.
Personal and professional relationships are always a key factor in one’s life and Blackley usefully draws these out in the book. In particular, the longstanding relationships between Ernest King, Nimitz, Halsey and Spruance are most revealing.
For Australian readers more familiar with the exploits of the Australian Squadron as part of Vice Admiral Kinkaid’s 7th Fleet in the western Pacific operations, this book makes for interesting companion reading as it details Spruance’s role in the central Pacific campaign. It is by its nature a complex story and Blackley handles the narrative very well.
For those readers seeking insights into good leadership, they will be rewarded by accounts and assessments of Spruance’s command style and performance. Spruance was by no means perfect, but you could imagine, if you served under him, whether when he was a ship’s captain or a flag officer, it would have been a career highlight.
I thoroughly recommend this biography.
* Peter Jones is a retired vice admiral who is the author of two naval biographies, with his third, Salt in His Veins: The Life of Vice Admiral Sir Albert Poland due for release in the UK and the US by mid-2026.
