Spruance as the likely replacement if Halsey never reached the South Pacific

Who would have been sent to command the South Pacific if Halsey had been shot down on the way to take command?

Raymond Spruance is suggested as the most plausible replacement, given the limited pool of available senior officers.

The speakers frame Halsey's loss en route to the South Pacific as an immediate senior-command problem rather than a vacancy that could be filled casually. They note that the U.S. Navy's pool of available senior officers was already limited at that moment. Raymond Spruance is offered as the most plausible replacement, although the answer is tentative and does not attempt a full comparison of their command styles. The watch point therefore identifies the likely succession choice without claiming that the subsequent campaign would unfold unchanged.