Chester W. Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander in Chief, US Pacific Fleet, and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas, commanding Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II.
Nimitz was the leading U.S. Navy authority on submarines. Qualified in submarines during his early years, Nimitz later oversaw the conversion of these vessels' propulsion from gasoline to diesel, and then later was key in acquiring approval to build the world's first nuclear-powered submarine,, whose propulsion system later completely superseded diesel-powered submarines in the United States. Beginning in 1917, Nimitz was the Navy's leading developer of underway replenishment techniques, the tool which during the Pacific war would allow the American fleet to operate away from port almost indefinitely. The chief of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation from 1939 to 1942, Nimitz served as the Chief of Naval Operations from 1945 until 1947. He was the United States' last surviving officer who served in the rank of fleet admiral. The supercarrier, the lead ship of her class, is named after Nimitz.
Early life and education
Nimitz, a German Texan, was born the son of Anna Josephine and Chester Bernhard Nimitz on February 24, 1885, in Fredericksburg, Texas, where his grandfather's hotel is now the National Museum of the Pacific War. His frail, rheumatic father had died six months earlier, on August 14, 1884. In 1890, Anna married William Nimitz, Chester B. Nimitz's brother. He was significantly influenced by his German-born paternal grandfather, Charles Henry Nimitz, a former seaman in the German Merchant Marine, who taught Nimitz, "the sea – like life itself – is a stern taskmaster. The best way to get along with either is to learn all you can, then do your best and don't worry – especially about things over which you have no control". His grandfather had become a Texas Ranger in the Texas Mounted Volunteers in 1851 and later served as captain of the Gillespie Rifles Company in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War.Originally, Nimitz applied to West Point in hopes of becoming an Army officer, but no appointments were available. James L. Slayden, US Representative for Texas's 12th congressional district, told Nimitz that he had one appointment available for the United States Naval Academy and that he would award it to the best-qualified candidate. Nimitz felt that this was his only opportunity for further education and spent extra time studying to earn the appointment. Nimitz was appointed to the Naval Academy by Slayden in 1901, and graduated with distinction on January 30, 1905, seventh in a class of 114.
Military career
Early career
Nimitz joined the battleship at San Francisco, and cruised on her to the Far East. In September 1906, he was transferred to the cruiser ; on January 31, 1907, after the two years at sea as a warrant officer then required by law, Nimitz was commissioned as an ensign. Remaining on Asiatic Station in 1907, he successively served on the gunboat, destroyer, and cruiser.The destroyer Decatur ran aground on a mud bank in the Philippines on July 7, 1908, while under the command of Ensign Nimitz. The incident was the result of a navigational error. Nimitz had failed to check the harbor's tide tables and tried Batangas' harbor when the water level was low, leaving Decatur stuck until the tide rose again the next morning, and she was pulled free by a small steamer. Following the grounding, a naval board of inquiry was convened to investigate the circumstances. The board found that Nimitz had indeed made an error in judgment, and he received a letter of reprimand.
Nimitz returned to the United States on board USS Ranger when that vessel was converted to a school ship, and in January 1909, began instruction in the First Submarine Flotilla. In May of that year, he was given command of the flotilla, with additional duty in command of, later renamed A-1. Nimitz was promoted directly from ensign to lieutenant in January 1910. He commanded when that submarine was commissioned on 2 February 1910, and on 18 November 1910, assumed command of .
In the latter command, Nimitz had additional duty on October 10, 1911, as Commander 3rd Submarine Division Atlantic Torpedo Fleet. In November 1911, he was ordered to the Boston Navy Yard, to assist in fitting out and assumed command of that submarine, which had been renamed E-1, at her commissioning on February 14, 1912. On the monitor Tonopah on 20 March 1912, Nimitz rescued Fireman Second Class W. J. Walsh from drowning, receiving a Silver Lifesaving Medal for his action.
After commanding the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla from May 1912 to March 1913, Nimitz supervised the building of diesel engines for the fleet oil tanker, under construction at the New London Ship and Engine Company, Groton, Connecticut.
World War I
In the summer of 1913, Nimitz studied engines at the Maschinenfabrik-Augsburg-Nürnberg diesel engine plants in Nuremberg, Germany, and Ghent, Belgium. Returning to the New York Navy Yard, he became executive and engineer officer of Maumee at her commissioning on October 23, 1916.After the United States declared war on Germany in April 1917, Nimitz was chief engineer of Maumee while the vessel served as a refueling ship for the first squadron of US Navy destroyers to cross the Atlantic, to take part in the war. Under his supervision, Maumee conducted the first-ever underway refuelings. On August 10, 1917, Nimitz became aide to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Commander, Submarine Force, US Atlantic Fleet.
On February 6, 1918, Nimitz was appointed chief of staff and was awarded a Letter of Commendation for meritorious service as COMSUBLANT's chief of staff. On 16 September, he reported to the office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and on October 25 was given additional duty as senior member, Board of Submarine Design.
Interwar Period
From May 1919 to June 1920, Nimitz served as executive officer of the battleship. He then commanded the cruiser with additional duty in command of Submarine Division 14, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Nimitz, assisted by four earnest Chief Petty Officers, supervised the construction of Submarine Base Pearl Harbor on a triangle-shaped, overgrown piece of land at the juncture of Southeast Loch and Quarry Loch, and served as the base's first commanding officer. During this tour, he also conducted an investigation into the R-14 sailing incident. Nimitz's handling of the disciplinary action in the aftermath of the investigation was considered a model of even-handed fairness, cementing his reputation as a solid and capable leader. Returning to the mainland in the summer of 1922, Nimitz studied at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island.File:De Steiguer Laning Nimitz.png|left|thumb|Inspection visit to Naval ROTC Unit at U.C. Berkeley in 1927. ADM Louis R. de Steiguer, Commander in Chief, Battle Fleet; William Wallace Campbell, President, U.C. Berkeley; RADM Harris Laning, Chief of Staff, Battle Fleet; COL Robert O. Van Horn, Army ROTC Unit; CAPT William D. Puleston, Asst Chief of Staff, Battle Fleet; CAPT Chester Nimitz, Naval ROTC UnitIn June 1923, Nimitz became aide and assistant chief of staff to the Commander, Battle Fleet, and later to the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. In August 1926, he went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he established one of the first Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps units and successfully advocated for the program's expansion.Nimitz lost part of a finger in an accident with a diesel engine, saving the rest of it only when the machine briefly jammed against his Annapolis ring.
In June 1929, Nimitz took command of Submarine Division 20. In June 1931, he assumed command of the destroyer tender and the destroyers out of commission at San Diego, California. In October 1933, Nimitz took command of the cruiser and deployed to the Far East, where in December, Augusta became the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. While in command of the Augusta, his legal aide was Chesty Puller.
In April 1935, Nimitz returned home for three years as assistant chief of the Bureau of Navigation, before becoming commander, Cruiser Division 2, Battle Force. In September 1938, Nimitz took command of Battleship Division 1, Battle Force. During this time, he conducted experiments in the underway refueling of large ships which would prove a key element in the Navy's success in the war to come. "Tests were planned for the spring of 1939 using elements of the fleet left on the West Coast while the rest of the fleet was in the Caribbean participating in Fleet Problem XX. Nimitz was scheduled to remain on the West Coast aboard his flagship the. The aircraft carrier, the heavy cruisers and, and the light cruiser would also be left behind. These ships, with their escorts and at least one oiler, would constitute Task Force 7. Nimitz, as senior officer present, would be in command."
On June 15, 1939, Nimitz was appointed chief of the Bureau of Navigation. From 1940 to 1941, he served as president of the Army Navy Country Club, in Arlington, Virginia.
World War II
Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Rear Admiral Nimitz was selected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Fleet. Nimitz immediately departed Washington for Hawaii and took command in a ceremony on the top deck of the submarine. He was promoted to the rank of admiral, effective December 31, 1941, upon assuming command. The change of command ceremony would normally have taken place aboard a battleship, but every battleship in Pearl Harbor had been either sunk or damaged during the attack. Assuming command at the most critical period of the war in the Pacific, Admiral Nimitz organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance, despite the shortage of ships, planes, and supplies. Nimitz had a significant advantage in that the United States had cracked the Japanese diplomatic naval code and had made progress on the naval code JN-25. The Japanese had kept radio silence before the attack on Pearl Harbor, although events were then moving so rapidly that they had to rely on coded radio messages they did not realize were being read in Hawaii.On March 24, 1942, the newly formed US-British Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. Six days later, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff divided the theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas, the Southwest Pacific Area, and the Southeast Pacific Area. The JCS designated Nimitz as "Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas", with operational control over all Allied units in that area.
Nimitz, in Hawaii, and his superior Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, in Washington, rejected the plan of General Douglas MacArthur to advance on Japan through New Guinea and the Philippines and Formosa. Instead, they proposed an island-hopping plan that would allow them to bypass most of the Japanese strength in the Central Pacific until they reached Okinawa. President Roosevelt compromised, giving both MacArthur and Nimitz their own theaters. The two Pacific theaters were favored, to the dismay of generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, who favored a Germany-first strategy. King and Nimitz provided MacArthur with some naval forces but kept most of the carriers. However, when the time came to plan an invasion of Japan, MacArthur was given overall command.
Nimitz faced superior Japanese forces at the crucial defensive actions of the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway. The Battle of the Coral Sea, while a loss in terms of total damage suffered, has been described as resulting in the strategic success of turning back an apparent Japanese invasion of Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea. Two Japanese carriers were temporarily taken out of action in the battle, which would deprive the Japanese of their use in the Midway operation that shortly followed. The Navy's intelligence team reasoned that the Japanese would be attacking Midway, so Nimitz moved all his available forces to the defense. The severe losses in Japanese carriers at Midway affected the balance of naval air power during the remainder of 1942 and were crucial in neutralizing Japanese offensive threats in the South Pacific. Naval engagements during the Battle of Guadalcanal left both forces severely depleted. However, with the allied advantage in land-based air-power, the results were sufficient to secure Guadalcanal. The US and allied forces then undertook to neutralize remaining Japanese offensive threats with the Solomon Islands campaign and the New Guinea campaign, while building capabilities for major fleet actions. In 1943, Midway became a forward submarine base, greatly enhancing US capabilities against Japanese shipping.
In terms of combat, 1943 was a relatively quiet year, but it proved decisive inasmuch as Nimitz gained the materiel and manpower needed to launch major fleet offensives to destroy Japanese power in the central Pacific region. This drive opened with the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign from November 1943 to February 1944, followed by the destruction of the strategic Japanese base at Truk Lagoon, and the Marianas campaign that brought the Japanese homeland within range of new strategic bombers. Nimitz's forces inflicted a decisive defeat on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, which allowed the capture of Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. His Fleet Forces isolated enemy-held bastions on the central and eastern Caroline Islands and secured in quick succession Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi. In the Philippines, his ships destroyed much of the remaining Japanese naval power at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, that lasted from October 24 to 26, 1944. With the loss of the Philippines, Japan's energy supply routes from Indonesia came under direct threat, crippling their war effort.
File:Photograph of President Truman decorating Admiral Chester Nimitz with a Gold Star (in lieu of a third Distinguished... - NARA - 199222.jpg|thumb|President Harry Truman decorating Admiral Nimitz with a Gold Star on 5 October 1945
By act of Congress, passed on December 14, 1944, the rank of fleet admiral – the highest rank in the Navy – was established. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Nimitz to that rank. Nimitz took the oath of that office on December 19. In January 1945, Nimitz moved the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet forward from Pearl Harbor to Guam for the remainder of the war. Nimitz's wife remained in the continental United States for the duration of the war and did not join her husband in Hawaii or Guam. In 1945, Nimitz's forces launched successful amphibious assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa and his carriers raided the home waters of Japan. In addition, Nimitz also arranged for the Army Air Force to mine the Japanese ports and waterways by air with B-29 Superfortresses in a successful mission called Operation Starvation, which severely interrupted Japanese logistics.
On September 2, 1945, Nimitz signed as representative of the United States when Japan formally surrendered on board in Tokyo Bay. On October 5, 1945, which had been officially designated as "Nimitz Day" in Washington, D.C., Nimitz was personally presented a second Gold Star for the third award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal by President Harry S. Truman "for exceptionally meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June 1944 to August 1945".