Montgomery, Alfred Eugene (1891-1961)

Naval Archives #80-CF-8005-1

"Monty" Montgomery commanded United States Task Group 58.2 from the Marshalls campaign to the end of the Pacific war.  He was qualified both as a submariner and an aviator, having served in submarines from 1915 and completed flight training in 1922. He commanded Ranger and Essex before being recommended for early promoted to flag rank in late 1942 by John Towers, the Navy's leading aviator.

Montgomery participated as a prospective commanding officer in the Marcus raid of August 1943. His wartime service in command of a carrier division in Task Force 50 included strikes against Wake, Rabaul, the Gilberts, and the Marshalls. He made the first strike against Truk in early 1944. Transferred to a carrier division in Task Force 38/58, he served in the Marianas and the Philippines. He was among the admirals who were critical of Spruance for failing to destroy the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (Tuohy 2007):

Results of the action were extremely disappointing to all hands, in that important units of the enemy fleet, which came out in the open for the first time in over a year and made several air attacks on our superior force, were able to escape without our coming to grips with them.

For his part, Spruance once exhibited a rare display of temper when Montgomery failed to include a battleship bombardment as part of his operational plan for Roi-Namur.

After the war, Montgomery rose to command of 5 Fleet.

Montgomery was a skilled and aggressive carrier commander, evaluated by Towers in late 1943 as "Energetic, courageous and determined." However, he suffered from frequent migraine headaches that left him sufficiently irritable that he was more respected than adored.

Service record

References

Boatner (1996)

Dupuy et al. (1992)
Morison (1953)
Pettibone (2006)

Tillman (2005)
Tuohy (2007)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2006, 2008-2009 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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