The Third Fleet was forming during WWII on March 15, 1943 under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey. Its onshore headquarters, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was established on June 15, 1944. The fleet operated in and around the Solomon Islands, the Phillippines, Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Ryukyu Islands with the USS New Jersey and from May 1945 to the end of the war, the USS Missouri as its flagship. It also operated in Japanese waters, launching attacks on Tokyo, the naval base at Kure, and the island of Hokkaido.