Chester W. Nimitz

Ancestry and early life

Chester William Nimitz was born on 24 February 1885 in Fredericksburg, Texas, to Anna Josephine Henke and Chester Bernhard Nimitz (also recorded as Chester Bernard Nimitz).^[7][8] His ancestors were thirteenth-century Saxons who joined the Sword Brethren and later the Teutonic Order in the Baltic region.^[9] Following the Swedish conquest of Livonia under Gustavus Adolphus, the family entered Swedish service; after the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the family of Baron Ernst von Nimitz settled in northwestern Germany, relinquished the noble prefix von, and built a substantial fortune in the textile and cloth trade.^[10][11] Chester's great-grandfather, Karl Heinrich Nimitz, lived extravagantly and lost the family fortune, forcing his son, Karl Heinrich (Charles Henry) Nimitz, to work on merchant ships at the age of fourteen.^[11] Charles Henry and three brothers emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, between 1840 and 1844.^[11]

Attracted by western frontier life, Charles Henry Nimitz moved to Texas in 1846 with German settlers led by Baron Otfried Hans von Meusebach, founding the settlement of Fredericksburg.^[12] He anglicized his name, joined the Texas Mounted Volunteers as a Texas Ranger in 1851, and married Sophie Dorothea Muller in 1848, having twelve children.^[12][13][14] During the American Civil War, he served as a captain commanding the Gillespie Rifles Company in the Confederate States Army.^[13] In 1852, he built the Nimitz Hotel in Fredericksburg, designed with a superstructure resembling a steamboat, which hosted guests such as General Robert E. Lee and later served as the basis for the National Museum of the Pacific War.^[7][14] Charles Henry later served in the Texas State Legislature and was known for storytelling and humor, traits his grandson inherited.

Nimitz's father, Chester Bernhard Nimitz, suffered from rheumatic heart disease and died before Chester was born, having married Anna Henke in March 1884.^[15][16] Anna and the infant Chester moved into Charles Henry's hotel, where his grandfather acted as his principal father figure.^[16] Charles Henry taught the boy that the sea, like life itself, was a stern taskmaster, advising him to learn everything possible, do his best, and not worry about matters beyond his control.^[17] Texas German was spoken exclusively in the household, and Nimitz grew up bilingual, learning English at school. In 1890, his mother married William Nimitz, her late husband's brother, and had two more children, Otto and Dora.^[18] William worked at the St. Charles Hotel in Kerrville, Texas, and the family relocated there.^[16] Due to family financial difficulties, Nimitz began working as a delivery boy at age eight and later as a hotel desk clerk at age fifteen.^[16]

Naval Academy and commissioning

In 1900, two young United States Army lieutenants, William I. Westervelt and William M. Cruikshank, stayed at the St. Charles Hotel.^[19] Their presence inspired Nimitz to seek admission to the United States Military Academy at West Point to become an Army officer.^[19] Nimitz contacted his local congressman, James Luther Slayden of Texas's 12th congressional district, requesting an appointment.^[20][21] Slayden explained that all West Point nominations were filled, but that he held one competitive appointment available for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, which he would award to the best-qualified applicant.^[20][21] Nimitz spent extra time studying to secure the appointment and took the entrance examination alongside applicants from across Texas.^[20][22]

Slayden appointed Nimitz to the Naval Academy, which he entered on 7 September 1901.^[20][23][24] Because of naval expansion following the Spanish-American War, class schedules were accelerated, and Nimitz graduated on 30 January 1905, placing seventh in a class of 114.^[20][25][26] He excelled in mathematics, modern languages including French and Spanish, ordnance, and navigation, and was an active athlete.^[22][25][26] The academy yearbook, Lucky Bag, recorded a favorable assessment of his future prospects, quoting William Wordsworth's phrase describing a man of cheerful yesterdays and confident tomorrows.^[22][26] Nimitz, who had left school to enter the academy, finally received his diploma from Tivy High School when he stopped at Kerrville after returning to the United States as a national hero.^[22][27]

Early surface career and the Decatur incident

Following graduation, Midshipman Nimitz joined the crew of the battleship USS Ohio (BB-12) in San Francisco, which sailed for the Far East as the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet.^[28] In May 1905, after the Japanese victory over the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima, the Meiji Emperor hosted a celebration banquet in Tokyo Bay for the officers of foreign warships.^[28][29] With senior officers of the Ohio declining to attend, Nimitz and five fellow midshipmen were sent to represent the ship.^[28][29] Arriving late due to transportation difficulties and seated near the exit, Nimitz and a colleague approached Admiral Togo Heihachiro toward the end of the banquet to propose a toast.^[28] Togo conversed with them cordially in fluent English, leaving a lasting impression on Nimitz.^[28][29]

In September 1906, Nimitz was transferred to the cruiser USS Baltimore.^[30][31] On 31 January 1907, he was commissioned as an ensign.^[31] Remaining on the Asiatic Station, he was given command of the gunboat USS Panay on 12 January 1907, as well as command of the naval station at Polloc on Mindanao.^[31] He subsequently served on the cruiser Denver and the destroyer USS Decatur (DD-5).^[32] Nimitz assumed command of the Decatur on 8 July 1907 at the age of twenty-two, an unusually young age for a destroyer commander compared to contemporaries such as Ernest King, Raymond Spruance, and William Halsey.^[32]

On the evening of 7 July 1908, the Decatur ran aground on a mud bank at the entrance to the harbor of Batangas in the Philippines.^[33][34] The grounding occurred because Nimitz failed to check the harbor's tide tables and entered the port when the water level was low, on waters where navigation charts were poor or inaccurate.^[33][34] Unable to free the ship immediately, Nimitz had a cot placed on deck and went to sleep, recalling his grandfather's maxim not to worry about circumstances beyond his control.^[34] The destroyer was pulled free the following morning by a small steamer.^[33] Nimitz was subjected to a naval court of inquiry aboard the cruiser Denver.^[33][35] The court found him guilty of neglect of duty, but taking into account the poor nautical charts, his corrective actions, and his prior record, gave him an official letter of reprimand and relieved him of command.^[33][35] In December 1908, he departed the station for the United States aboard the gunboat USS Ranger, which was being converted into a school ship.^[33][36]

Submarine service and diesel engineering

Upon his return to the United States in January 1909, Nimitz requested assignment to a battleship, but was instead assigned to instruction in the First Submarine Flotilla.^[33][37] At that time, submarines were considered experimental craft and were derided by mainstream officers, who referred to them as pigboats; Nimitz later described early submarines as a cross between a Jules Verne fantasy and a humpback whale.^[38] In May 1909, he was appointed commander of the First Submarine Flotilla, with additional duty commanding the submarine USS Plunger (later renamed A-1).^[33][39] On 31 January 1910, Nimitz was promoted directly from ensign to lieutenant, with the rank of lieutenant junior grade recorded on the same day for administrative purposes without his ever having held it in service.^[33]

Nimitz assumed command of the submarine USS Snapper (later C-5) when she was commissioned on 2 February 1910, and transferred to command USS Narwhal (later D-1) on 18 November 1910.^[33][37] On 10 October 1911, he was assigned additional duty as Commander, 3rd Submarine Division, Atlantic Torpedo Fleet.^[33][37] During this period, Nimitz advocated replacing gasoline engines on submarines with diesel engines, as gasoline engines presented risks of toxic fume leakage and explosions.^[37] In November 1911, he reported to the Boston Navy Yard to assist in fitting out USS Skipjack (renamed E-1), which became the first diesel-powered submarine in the United States Navy when commissioned under his command on 14 February 1912.^[33][37] On 20 March 1912, while aboard the monitor USS Tonopah, Nimitz rescued Fireman Second Class W. J. Walsh from drowning, for which he received the Silver Lifesaving Medal.^[33][40] In June 1912, he delivered a lecture at the Naval War College entitled Defensive and Offensive Tactics of Submarines, which was published in the United States Naval Institute Proceedings in December 1912.^[41]

From May 1912 to March 1913, Nimitz commanded the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla.^[42] He was then assigned to supervise the construction of diesel engines for the oil tanker USS Maumee (AO-2) at the New London Ship and Engine Building Company in Groton, Connecticut.^[42][43][44] On 9 April 1913, Nimitz married Catherine Vance Freeman in Wollaston, Massachusetts.^[33] In the summer of 1913, the Navy sent Nimitz, who spoke German, to Europe to study diesel engine technology at Maschinenfabrik-Augsburg-Nürnberg (M.A.N.) plants in Nuremberg, Germany, and in Ghent, Belgium.^[44] Upon his return, an American diesel manufacturing firm attempted to recruit him, offering a five-year contract at an annual salary of $25,000 compared to his naval pay of $240 per month plus a $40 commuting allowance, but Nimitz declined because he did not want to leave the Navy.^[45][46] He was promoted to lieutenant commander on 29 August 1916 and became the executive officer and chief engineer of the Maumee upon her commissioning on 23 October 1916.^[43] While demonstrating diesel engines, his left ring finger was caught in the gearing; his Annapolis class ring jammed the machinery, preventing the loss of his entire hand, though the tip of the finger was severed.^[47][48] He also contracted a severe ear infection that left him partially deaf, a handicap he compensated for by learning to read lips.

World War I and underway replenishment

When the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, Nimitz was serving aboard the Maumee. Working alongside the ship's commanding officer, Captain Henry C. Dinger, Nimitz designed and executed techniques for refueling warships while underway at sea.^[49] In the spring of 1917, the Maumee refueled the first squadron of United States Navy destroyers making the transatlantic crossing to the European war zone, conducting the first successful underway refuelings in naval history. This operational procedure subsequently became fundamental to sustaining extended American fleet deployments in the Pacific War.^[49]

In August 1917, Nimitz became a staff officer to Rear Admiral Samuel S. Robison, commander of the Atlantic submarine force.^[50] On 6 February 1918, he was designated chief of staff to Robison, being promoted to commander on 1 February 1918.^[37] He was awarded a Letter of Commendation for his services as chief of staff. During the war, Nimitz accompanied Robison to Europe, inspecting submarine operations and antisubmarine warfare techniques in France and the United Kingdom.^[50] In September 1918, he was reassigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and at the same time given a seat on the Board of Submarine Design.^[27][48][51]

Interwar career

From May 1919 to June 1920, Nimitz served as executive officer of the battleship USS South Carolina (BB-26), which was engaged in repatriating American troops from France.^[52][53] In July 1920, he took command of the cruiser USS Chicago with additional duty commanding Submarine Division 14, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.^[52][54] Assisted by four chief petty officers, Nimitz oversaw the construction of Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, utilizing surplus materials left from World War I on land at the juncture of Southeast Loch and Quarry Loch, and served as the facility's first commanding officer.^[52][55] During this assignment, he investigated the R-14 sailing incident, in which a disabled submarine rigged canvas sails to reach port, establishing a reputation for administrative fairness.^[52][56]

In the summer of 1922, Nimitz reported to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.^[52][54][57] His studies focused on logistics and tactics for a potential conflict in the Pacific against Japan.^[57] He wrote a thesis proposing a circular tactical formation in which battleships and cruisers were deployed to form an escorting defensive screen around aircraft carriers, a concept that later became standard fleet doctrine.^[57][58] Following graduation on 26 May 1923, he became aide and assistant chief of staff to Admiral Samuel S. Robison, Commander, Battle Fleet, and later Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (CINCUS).^[57][59]

In August 1926, Nimitz was dispatched to the University of California, Berkeley, to establish one of the first units of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC).^[57][59][60] He served as professor of naval science and successfully expanded the program.^[59][60] Promoted to captain on 2 June 1927, he directed the university's NROTC unit until June 1929, when he was appointed commander of Submarine Division 20.^[57][59][60] In June 1931, he assumed command of the destroyer tender USS Rigel (AR-11) and the decommissioned destroyers of the Reserve Fleet stationed at San Diego, California.^[30][60]

In October 1933, Nimitz was appointed commanding officer of the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31).^[30][61] The Augusta deployed to the Far East, becoming the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet in December 1933.^[30] His legal aide aboard the vessel was Captain Lewis B. 'Chesty' Puller of the Marine Corps.^[62] Under Nimitz's command, the Augusta achieved a high reputation for operational efficiency; young officer Lloyd Mustin later described Nimitz as the finest instructor in the Navy during the 1930s.^[30][63] In June 1934, during a visit to Japan, Nimitz attended the state funeral of Admiral Togo Heihachiro.^[64]

In April 1935, Nimitz returned to Washington, D.C., to serve as assistant chief of the Bureau of Navigation under Rear Admiral William D. Leahy.^[30][65] On 23 June 1938, he was promoted to rear admiral.^[27] He took command of Cruiser Division 2, Battle Force, on 9 July 1938, but relinquished it briefly due to illness, and on 17 September 1938 was appointed commander of Battleship Division 1, Battle Force, hoisting his flag aboard the USS Arizona.^[30] In the spring of 1939, during Fleet Problem XX, Nimitz was left on the West Coast in command of Task Force 7, consisting of the Arizona, aircraft carrier Saratoga, heavy cruisers Chester and Vincennes, light cruiser Trenton, escorts, and oilers, during which he directed trials of underway refueling for capital ships.^[30][66] In 1939, he was appointed chief of the Bureau of Navigation.^[64][67] In early 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered Nimitz command of the Pacific Fleet to replace Admiral James O. Richardson, but Nimitz declined on the grounds of his relative junior status, leading to the appointment of Admiral Husband E. Kimmel.^[64][67][68]

Appointment to Pacific command

Nimitz was at his home in Washington, D.C., on 7 December 1941 when he heard radio broadcasts announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.^[69] On 16 December, President Roosevelt directed Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox to relieve Kimmel and select Nimitz as Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC).^[70][71][72] Roosevelt instructed Knox to tell Nimitz to proceed immediately to Pearl Harbor and remain there until the Japanese were defeated.^[71][72] Promoted to the rank of admiral on 31 December 1941, Nimitz bypassed twenty-eight senior rear admirals.^[70][73][74] Vice Admiral William S. Pye had held the interim fleet command since 17 December.^[72][75]

Upon reaching Hawaii, Nimitz took the oath of office on 31 December 1941 on the deck of the submarine USS Grayling (SS-209), because all the battleships stationed in the harbor were either sunken or damaged.^[2][70][76] Privately expressing sympathy for Kimmel, Nimitz observed that any commander could have faced a similar disaster.^[77] Rather than conducting a purge of the existing headquarters, Nimitz retained most of Kimmel's and Pye's staff, including Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Milo Draemel and war plans officer Captain Charles McMorris.^[75][78] This decision helped raise the morale of officers and men who had been downcast after the attack on Pearl Harbor.^[79] Nimitz proceeded to assemble an integrated joint staff, incorporating Army personnel, a structure distinct from General Douglas MacArthur's command in Australia.^[30][80]

On 24 March 1942, the Anglo-American Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility.^[81][82][83] On 30 March, the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff divided the theater into three operational commands: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) commanded by General MacArthur, and the Southeast Pacific Area (SEPA).^[81][82] Nimitz was appointed Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CINCPOA), with operational control over all Allied air, ground, and naval forces within the designated sector.^[81][83] Nimitz retained direct operational control over the Central Pacific Area, while appointing Rear Admiral Robert A. Theobald to command the North Pacific Area and Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley to command the South Pacific Area.^[82][83]

Early operations and carrier raids

During the first months of 1942, Japanese forces rapidly overran Malaya, the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, the Netherlands East Indies, and portions of the Bismarck Archipelago.^[82][84] Allied surface forces of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) were virtually eliminated during the Battle of the Java Sea in February and March 1942.^[85] With the battle fleet crippled, Nimitz organized his operational ships into task forces centered on fleet carriers, relying on the USS Enterprise, USS Lexington, and USS Yorktown.^[84][86] Admiral Ernest J. King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, advocated active counterstrikes to secure supply routes to Australia and New Zealand, leading to carrier raids against Japanese garrisons in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in February 1942 under Vice Admiral William Halsey and Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher.^[87][88][89] King also established the temporary ANZAC Area to defend the approaches to Australia, to which Nimitz contributed carrier units.^[90]

On 10 March 1942, carrier aircraft from the Lexington and Yorktown launched strikes across the Owen Stanley Mountains against Japanese invasion shipping at Lae and Salamaua in New Guinea, causing damage to enemy auxiliaries.^[90][91] On 19 March, Army Captain Donald Duncan presented a plan to launch Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bombers from a carrier to strike Tokyo.^[92] Nimitz committed two of his three available fleet carriers, deploying the newly arrived USS Hornet (CV-8) carrying sixteen B-25s under Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, escorted by the Enterprise under Halsey.^[92][93] On 18 April 1942, the Doolittle Raid bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities, inflicting limited physical damage but inducing Japanese military leaders to extend their defensive perimeter eastward.^[94][95][96]

Battle of the Coral Sea

By late April 1942, Allied cryptanalysts working with British and Australian radio intelligence identified Japanese plans for Operation MO, an amphibious assault to capture Port Moresby on the southern coast of New Guinea, supported by the fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku and the light carrier Shoho.^[97][98][99] Nimitz judged that the Japanese aimed to control eastern New Guinea and would attack Port Moresby on 3 May to destroy the last major Allied base standing in the way of a Japanese offensive against Australia..^[99] Nimitz ordered Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher with Task Force 17, centered on the Yorktown, to rendezvous with Rear Admiral Aubrey Fitch's Task Force 11, centered on the Lexington, in the Coral Sea.^[100][101] Halsey's Task Force 16, returning from the Doolittle Raid, was dispatched south but could not arrive in time.^[102]

The Battle of the Coral Sea was fought from 4 to 8 May 1942..^[96][103] On 7 May, American carrier aircraft sank the light carrier Shoho.^[103] The following day, air strikes heavily damaged the Shokaku, while the Lexington sustained severe bomb and torpedo hits and was subsequently scuttled after internal explosions ignited aviation gasoline vapors.^[103][104] The Yorktown was also damaged by a bomb.^[103] Although the battle resulted in higher American tactical losses, it was a strategic success that turned back the seaborne invasion of Port Moresby.^{[96][103][105]} Furthermore, severe aircraft and pilot losses aboard the Zuikaku and structural damage to the Shokaku eliminated both fleet carriers from participating in the upcoming operation against Midway.^{[103][105][106]} Nimitz commended Fletcher's performance, though King declined to approve Nimitz's recommendations for Fletcher's promotion and decoration.^[107]

Battle of Midway

In May 1942, Combat Intelligence Unit Station HYPO at Pearl Harbor, directed by Lieutenant Commander Joseph Rochefort and supported by fleet intelligence officer Lieutenant Commander Edwin T. Layton, intercepted and decrypted Japanese naval messages detailing a major offensive.^[108][109] Cryptanalysts concluded that the target, designated 'AF', was Midway Atoll.^[109] When Army leaders argued that the enemy intended to attack San Francisco, MacArthur argued New Guinea, and King considered Hawaii or the South Pacific, Rochefort, with Nimitz's approval, arranged a ruse: Midway was instructed to transmit an unencrypted radio message reporting that its seawater distillation plant had broken down.^[109] Two days later, an intercepted Japanese transmission stated that 'AF' was short of fresh water, confirming Midway as the objective.^[109]

Nimitz gathered all available naval forces for an ambush.^{[105][108][110]} He ordered the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard to repair the heavily damaged Yorktown; through around-the-clock labor by shipyard workers, the carrier was made battle-ready in seventy-two hours.^[110][111] Midway Atoll was reinforced with anti-aircraft batteries, naval mines, and 115 aircraft ranging from modern TBF Avengers to obsolete F2A Buffalo fighters.^[112] Because Vice Admiral Halsey was hospitalized with severe dermatitis, Nimitz accepted Halsey's recommendation to assign Rear Admiral Raymond A. Spruance to command Task Force 16, comprising the carriers Enterprise and Hornet.^[108][113] Fletcher retained tactical command of Task Force 17 aboard the Yorktown.^[108][113] Submarines were positioned in patrol arcs west of Midway.^[110] Nimitz issued operational orders directing his commanders to adhere to the principle of calculated risk: avoiding exposing American carriers to superior enemy forces unless there was a prospect of inflicting greater damage.

On the morning of 4 June 1942, air reconnaissance reported two Japanese carriers, and Fletcher asked Spruance to attack them..^[114] The Japanese force sent to invade Midway had been spotted on 3 June and attacked without result by land-based bombers..^[114] At 10:22, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown surprised the Japanese carriers while their decks were crowded with rearming planes and fuel lines.^[114] Within minutes, dive bombers set ablaze the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu, all of which were abandoned and sank.^[114][115] On the afternoon of 4 June, the Yorktown and the Japanese carrier Hiryu were both put out of action; the Hiryu was one of the four Japanese carriers sunk in the battle..^[114][115] On 6 June, American carrier planes sank the heavy cruiser Mikuma and heavily damaged the Mogami.^[115][116] On 7 June, the Japanese submarine I-168 torpedoed and sank the damaged Yorktown and the destroyer USS Hammann.^[117]

The Battle of Midway resulted in the loss of all four Japanese fleet carriers, hundreds of aircraft, and over three thousand personnel, including many veteran aviators, halting Japanese strategic expansion in the Central Pacific.^{[105][117][118]} Nimitz issued a public communique stating that pearl harbor had been partially avenged and that the fleet was midway to its objective.^[119] Following the victory, Nimitz appointed Spruance as his chief of staff, while Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid took command of Task Force 16.^[120][121]

Guadalcanal campaign

Following Midway, King and Nimitz pressed for an offensive in the Solomon Islands to secure communication routes between Hawaii and Australia under the strategic framework of War Plan Orange.^[120][122] MacArthur advocated an immediate attack on the Japanese stronghold of Rabaul, but King argued that only the Navy and Marine Corps possessed the amphibious capabilities and carrier aviation needed for initial assaults.^[120][123] The resulting plan gave Nimitz's Pacific Fleet the first task, Operation Watchtower, to take the Santa Cruz Islands and Tulagi from 1 August, while MacArthur would then take the whole of the Solomon Islands, Lae, Salamaua and Papua, and finally retake Rabaul and New Guinea..^[124] On 5 July 1942, an American reconnaissance aircraft found the Japanese building an airfield near Lunga Point on Guadalcanal, and King insisted on going ahead with Operation Watchtower and landing on both Tulagi and Guadalcanal to seize it..^[125]

On 7 August 1942, the 1st Marine Division under Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, capturing the unfinished airfield, which was named Henderson Field.^[126][127] On the night of 8–9 August, Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa led an eighth-fleet cruiser force into Savo Sound, surprising the Allied screening force at the Battle of Savo Island.^[126][128] Japanese cruisers sank the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra and the American heavy cruisers USS Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes, and damaged USS Chicago, while suffering negligible damage, although Mikawa withdrew without attacking the transports.^[126][128] Fletcher had withdrawn the carriers Enterprise, Saratoga, and Wasp earlier on 8 August, a hasty withdrawal to which some attributed the defeat at Savo Island; the Marines felt abandoned by the Navy and held a lasting resentment against Fletcher.^[126][127]

For six months, the Guadalcanal campaign was a battle of attrition..^[129] Land-based Marine, Navy, and Army pilots formed the Cactus Air Force at Henderson Field, controlling the skies by day, while Japanese destroyers and light cruisers ran troop reinforcements and supplies down New Georgia Sound at night, an operation American forces termed the 'Tokyo Express'.^[127] At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons on 24–25 August 1942, American carrier planes sank the light carrier Ryujo, while the Enterprise and Shokaku were damaged.^[130] In the waters south of the Solomons, termed 'Torpedo Junction', Japanese submarines achieved notable successes: on 31 August, I-26 torpedoed the Saratoga, injuring Vice Admiral Fletcher, and on 15 September, I-19 sank the carrier Wasp and damaged the battleship North Carolina and destroyer O'Brien.^[129]

In late September 1942, Nimitz flew to the South Pacific to inspect positions firsthand.^[131] His B-17 lost its bearings during bad weather, and the flight crew navigated to Guadalcanal using a copy of National Geographic.^[131] At Henderson Field on 30 September, Nimitz inspected perimeter defenses in heavy rain, decorated Marines, and conferred with Vandegrift, surviving an airplane slide during takeoff on muddy runways the next day.^[131] At Noumea, Nimitz found Vice Admiral Ghormley despondent and exhausted by supply bottlenecks.^[131][132] On 18 October 1942, Nimitz relieved Ghormley and appointed Vice Admiral William Halsey as Commander, South Pacific Area.^[133][134] Halsey adopted an aggressive posture, directing his commanders to attack repeatedly.^[133][134] At the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands (25–27 October), the carrier Hornet was sunk and the Enterprise damaged, while two Japanese carriers were damaged; Japanese aviation units lost roughly half of their surviving veteran aircrews from Pearl Harbor.^{[135][136][137]}

In the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal from 12 to 15 November 1942, both sides suffered heavy casualties in night actions.^[138] On the night of 12–13 November, a cruiser and destroyer force under Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan intercepted Vice Admiral Hiroaki Abe's bombardment group; both Callaghan and Rear Admiral Norman Scott were killed, and multiple warships were sunk, but the Japanese battleship Hiei was crippled and later scuttled following air attacks.^[138][139] On the night of 14–15 November, Rear Admiral Willis A. Lee, using SG radar aboard the battleship USS Washington, engaged Japanese warships off Savo Island.^{[140][141][142]} The Washington hit the battleship Kirishima with nine 16-inch shells at a range of 8,000 meters, wrecking the vessel, which was subsequently scuttled.^[142] Following the cruiser action at Tassafaronga on 30 November, Japan initiated Operation Ke, evacuating approximately 10,000 surviving troops from Guadalcanal in early February 1943.^[137][143]

Campaigns of 1943 and the Solomons advance

Following Guadalcanal, Allied forces executed Operation Cartwheel, a coordinated offensive to isolate Rabaul from two directions: MacArthur's forces advancing along northern New Guinea and Halsey's South Pacific forces advancing up the Solomon chain.^{[144][145][146]} On 18 April 1943, after Station HYPO decrypted messages detailing Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku's inspection itinerary to Bougainville, Nimitz secured authorization from Washington to conduct Operation Vengeance.^[147][148] Army P-38 Lightning fighters flying from Henderson Field intercepted and shot down Yamamoto's transport bomber, killing the Commander in Chief of the Combined Fleet.^[147][148]

In the North Pacific Area, Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid had replaced Theobald in January 1943.^[149] In March 1943, Rear Admiral McMorris fought the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, intercepting a Japanese reinforcement convoy bound for the Aleutians. American forces landed on Attu in May 1943, securing the island after three weeks of harsh arctic fighting, and occupied Kiska in August, where the Japanese garrison had evacuated under cover of fog.^[150]

In the Solomons, American forces assaulted New Georgia in June 1943.^[151][152] Facing heavy opposition at Munda airfield and stubborn Japanese defenses on Kolombangara, Halsey initiated the strategy of leapfrogging: bypassing Kolombangara to land directly on Vella Lavella in August 1943.^{[153][154][155]} At the Battle of Vella Gulf on 6–7 August, Commander Frederick Moosbrugger used radar-directed torpedoes to sink three Japanese destroyers without American loss.^[156] On 1 November 1943, the 3rd Marine Division landed at Cape Torokina on Bougainville.^[157][158] During this period, Nimitz intervened to resolve the Mark 14 torpedo defect crisis; after months of naval ordnance denial, Nimitz supported Commander, Submarine Force Pacific, Charles A. Lockwood, in conducting live testing at Pearl Harbor, which proved that the magnetic and contact exploders were defective, leading to modifications that improved submarine torpedo effectiveness by September 1943.^[159]

Dual-axis strategy and Central Pacific drive

At Allied strategic conferences in 1943, including the Trident Conference in Washington and the Quadrant Conference in Quebec, military leaders debated the primary axis of advance toward Japan.^[160][161] General MacArthur argued for a single axis advancing along New Guinea to Mindanao and Luzon, utilizing land-based aircraft.^[160] Admiral King and Nimitz argued that a Central Pacific advance through Micronesia was faster, made optimal use of naval carrier task forces, cut Japanese communication lines, and avoided narrow island passages vulnerable to land-based air attack.^[160][162] President Roosevelt approved a compromise maintaining both axes: MacArthur advanced along New Guinea, while Nimitz directed the Central Pacific drive.^{[160][162][163]}

To execute the Central Pacific campaign, Nimitz formed the Central Pacific Force under Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance in August 1943, which later became the Fifth Fleet.^[164][165] A unique command rotation system was instituted: when Spruance commanded the fleet, it was designated the Fifth Fleet, and the Fast Carrier Task Force was Task Force 58 under Rear Admiral Marc Mitscher; when Halsey relieved Spruance, the fleet became the Third Fleet, with the carriers designated Task Force 38 under Vice Admiral John S. McCain.^{[166][167][168]} Friction also emerged between surface admirals and naval aviators, led by Vice Admiral John H. Towers; Nimitz resolved this by establishing a policy that non-aviator commanders were paired with aviator chiefs of staff and vice versa, appointing Towers as his deputy commander in chief in early 1944.^[169][170]

Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign

The Central Pacific offensive opened in November 1943 with Operation Galvanic, targeting the Gilbert Islands.^[163][171] Nimitz bypassed heavily defended Nauru in favor of Makin Atoll, while the 2nd Marine Division assaulted Betio Island on Tarawa Atoll.^[163][172] The battle of Tarawa (20–23 November 1943) was fiercely contested; landing craft were stranded on shallow coral reefs due to neap tides, forcing Marines to wade hundreds of yards under heavy fire, suffering nearly 1,000 killed.^{[165][173][174]} Off Makin on 24 November, the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay was torpedoed by the submarine I-175 and sank with 250 killed from a crew of just over 900..^[173] Following Tarawa, Nimitz and amphibious commander Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner overhauled amphibious doctrine, increasing pre-invasion naval bombardment, expanding underwater demolition teams, and increasing the number of tracked landing vehicles (LVTs).^[165][174]

In planning Operation Flintlock for the Marshall Islands, Nimitz overrode the objections of Spruance, Turner, and Major General Holland Smith, who favored capturing outer atolls like Wotje and Maloelap.^[175][176] Having analyzed aerial reconnaissance showing airfields under construction at Kwajalein, Nimitz ordered an assault directly on the interior atoll of Kwajalein and the undefended deep-water anchorage of Majuro.^[165][176] American forces landed on Majuro and Kwajalein on 31 January 1944; Majuro was taken without any loss of life, Kwajalein was taken on 7 February with 1,954 American casualties, and the outer atolls of Wotje, Maloelap, Mili and Jaluit were bypassed..^{[176][177][178][179]}

On 17–18 February 1944, Mitscher's Task Force 58 executed Operation Hailstone, striking the major Japanese naval stronghold at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands.^{[169][180][181]} Carrier aircraft destroyed approximately 200,000 tons of merchant and auxiliary shipping, sank two light cruisers and several destroyers, and destroyed over 250 aircraft, rendering Truk useless as an advanced naval base.^{[180][182][183]} American amphibious forces then captured Eniwetok Atoll between 17 and 23 February 1944, providing the Pacific Fleet with forward staging bases for operations against the Marianas.^{[180][181][182]}

Marianas campaign and the Battle of the Philippine Sea

The capture of the Mariana Islands (Operation Forager) was intended to secure airfields within range of the Japanese home islands for the newly deployed Boeing B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers.^[161][184] On 15 June 1944, the V Amphibious Corps landed on Saipan.^[184][185] In response, Admiral Toyoda Soemu activated the A-Go defense plan, dispatching Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's 1st Mobile Fleet, comprising nine aircraft carriers and nearly 500 planes, into the Philippine Sea to force a decisive battle.^[186][187]

On 19–20 June 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea took place.^{[180][185][188]} Spruance adopted a defensive posture to protect the Saipan beachhead, placing the seven fast battleships of Task Group 58.7 under Vice Admiral Willis Lee as an anti-aircraft screen in front of the carriers.^[186][188] On the first day, American carrier fighters and anti-aircraft fire inflicted heavy losses on the Japanese carrier air groups, an episode known as the 'Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'; about 40 of the roughly 70 aircraft in the first wave and nearly 100 of almost 130 in the second were shot down.^{[184][185][188][189]} American submarines achieved fatal strikes: USS Albacore torpedoed Ozawa's flagship, the carrier Taiho, which exploded and sank hours later, while USS Cavalla sank the fleet carrier Shokaku.^[189][190]

Late on the afternoon of 20 June, American search planes located the retreating Japanese fleet at extreme range.^[191] Late in the afternoon, Mitscher launched an air strike of about 180 aircraft.^[191][192] American planes sank the carrier Hiyo and two oilers and damaged the Zuikaku and Chiyoda.^[191] Returning at night with depleted fuel, American aircraft endured disorderly landings in what was termed the 'Mission Beyond Darkness', during which Mitscher ordered carrier flight decks illuminated despite the submarine risk.^[191] The battle effectively dismantled Japanese carrier aviation.^[185][193] Saipan fell on 9 July, followed by Guam on 10 August and Tinian on 1 August.^[185][188] Vice Admiral Nagumo committed suicide on Saipan, while Prime Minister Tojo Hideki and his cabinet resigned.^[188]

Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Philippines

In July 1944, President Roosevelt traveled to Pearl Harbor to confer with MacArthur, Nimitz, and Admiral William D. Leahy regarding future strategy.^[194] King and Nimitz held that MacArthur should bypass Luzon, taking at most Mindoro, and that the Pacific Fleet should then take Formosa and move into eastern China, but MacArthur argued that failing to retake the Philippines first would have very serious political consequences..^{[162][194][195]} Roosevelt approved the liberation of the Philippines.^[194][195] While planning the invasion of Leyte for December, Halsey conducted carrier strikes across the Philippines in September, encountering weak aerial resistance.^[196] Halsey proposed cancelling the attacks on the Palaus, Yap, Morotai and Mindanao and invading Leyte directly; MacArthur's chief of staff, Richard Sutherland, agreed on his behalf and said the Leyte landing could be brought forward two months to 20 October..^[196] The Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Octagon Conference in Quebec approved advancing the Leyte landing, but Nimitz insisted on capturing Peleliu and Angaur to protect the fleet's southern flank.^[196][197] The Battle of Peleliu (15 September – 27 November 1944) resulted in nearly 10,000 American casualties against deeply entrenched Japanese defenses, leading later historians to criticize it as an unnecessary engagement.^{[30][196][197]} However, the uncontested occupation of Ulithi Atoll provided the Pacific Fleet with its principal fleet anchorage for the rest of the war.^[196][198]

The invasion of Leyte on 20 October 1944 triggered the Battle of Leyte Gulf (23–26 October), the largest naval battle in history.^{[199][200][201]} Command remained divided: Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet, supporting MacArthur, answered to MacArthur and the Army, while Halsey's Third Fleet answered to Nimitz.^[202][203] The Japanese Navy executed the Sho-Go 1 plan, deploying Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's Northern Force carriers as decoys to draw Halsey away from Leyte Gulf, while Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita's Center Force and Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force transited the Philippine straits to destroy American amphibious shipping in the gulf.^[200][204]

On 24 October, American submarines and carrier planes struck Kurita's fleet in the Sibuyan Sea, sinking the giant battleship Musashi.^[205][206] Believing Kurita was thoroughly battered and retreating, and having located Ozawa's decoy carriers to the north, Halsey took his entire Third Fleet, including Lee's fast battleships, north to attack Ozawa off Cape Engaño.^{[206][207][208]} This left the exit of San Bernardino Strait completely unguarded.^{[204][208][209]} In the early hours of 25 October, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's Seventh Fleet bombardment group annihilated Nishimura's Southern Force in the Battle of Surigao Strait, crossing the T of the Japanese column and sinking the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro.^[210][211]

Shortly before 07:00 on 25 October, Kurita's Center Force emerged from San Bernardino Strait and surprised the escort carriers and destroyers of Task Unit 77.4.3 ('Taffy 3') under Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague off Samar.^{[204][210][212]} Despite overwhelming odds against battleships and heavy cruisers, American escort destroyers launched torpedo charges, and aircraft from escort carriers attacked relentlessly.^[213] The carrier Gambier Bay and destroyers Hoel, Johnston, and Samuel B. Roberts were sunk, but Taffy 3 and air strikes from McCain's Task Group 38.1 sank three Japanese heavy cruisers.^[213] Confused by the fierce defense, expecting stronger American carrier forces, and receiving reports of air attacks, Kurita broke off his attack and retreated through San Bernardino Strait.^[214]

When news of the battle off Samar reached Pearl Harbor, Nimitz faced a dilemma: whether to keep leaving decisions to his commander at sea or to ask Halsey where his fleet was..^{[215][216][217]} At 10:00, Nimitz instructed his staff to send an inquiry to Halsey: 'Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty-Four?'.^{[215][216][218]} To confound Japanese decrypters, communication personnel added nonsensical padding phrases at the beginning and end of the text; the communications officer on duty chose a phrase adapted from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade, ending with 'the world wonders'.^[218][219] Aboard Halsey's flagship, radiomen failed to recognize the closing phrase as padding and delivered the message reading: 'Where is, repeat, where is Task Force Thirty-Four? The world wonders'.^[220] Halsey took this as a public insult, threw his hat onto the deck, and delayed turning south with his battleships until 11:15, missing the opportunity to intercept Kurita.^{[217][221][222]} Off Cape Engaño, Mitscher's aircraft sank four Japanese carriers, including the Zuikaku, the last surviving fleet carrier of the Pearl Harbor strike.^[223] During the battle off Samar, the Seventh Fleet also encountered the first organized suicide attacks by Japanese kamikaze aircraft, resulting in the sinking of the escort carrier St. Lo.^[223]

Five-star promotion and forward basing

On 14 December 1944, the United States Congress established the five-star rank of fleet admiral.^[224] President Roosevelt appointed Nimitz to the rank the next day, 15 December, and he took the oath of office on 19 December 1944..^[224] The rank was made permanent by Congress on 13 May 1946, establishing a lifetime appointment on active duty.^[225]

In December 1944, the Third Fleet encountered Typhoon Cobra in the Philippine Sea.^[226] Three destroyers, USS Hull, Spence, and Monaghan, capsized and sank, with the loss of nearly 800 officers and men, while multiple warships sustained structural damage.^[226] A naval court of inquiry at Ulithi found Halsey responsible for the disaster, but with the backing of Nimitz and King the court accepted that he had been eager to support the Philippine campaign in time, and he was not punished.^[226][227] In January 1945, Nimitz moved his advanced Pacific Fleet headquarters from Pearl Harbor forward to Guam to be in closer contact with operational theaters.^{[228][229][230]} His wife remained in the United States throughout the war.^[228]

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

In early 1945, the Fifth Fleet under Spruance initiated operations against the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands to secure staging bases and fighter escorts for B-29 raids against the Japanese home islands.^{[228][229][231]} On 19 February 1945, the V Amphibious Corps landed on Iwo Jima (Operation Detachment).^[228][232] Lieutenant General Kuribayashi Tadamichi had constructed an extensive network of subterranean bunkers, tunnels, and reinforced artillery positions in the volcanic rock, neutralizing pre-landing naval bombardments.^[232] A Pacific Fleet communique reported that by 6 p.m. on 21 February, 644 Americans had been killed, 4,108 wounded and 560 were missing.^[233] American forces declared the battle over on 26 March.^[233][234] Off the island, kamikazes sank the escort carrier Bismarck Sea and damaged the Saratoga.^[232][235] Nimitz famously observed that on Iwo Jima, 'uncommon valor was a common virtue'.^[236]

On 1 April 1945, American forces commenced Operation Iceberg, the amphibious assault on Okinawa, deploying the Tenth United States Army under Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., supported by over 1,400 Allied ships.^{[237][238][239]} Prior to the landings, Nimitz promulgated United States Naval Military Government Proclamation No. 1, known as the 'Nimitz Proclamation', suspending Japanese administrative and judicial authority south of 30 degrees north latitude and establishing American military governance over Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands. The British Pacific Fleet joined the operation as Task Force 57 under Vice Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings, operating against the Sakishima Islands; the armored flight decks of British carriers proved resilient against kamikaze strikes.^{[240][241][242]}

The Imperial Japanese Navy launched Operation Ten-Go on 6 April 1945, dispatching the giant battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers on a one-way mission to beach on Okinawa as a coastal artillery battery.^{[238][243][244]} On 7 April, aircraft from Mitscher's Task Force 58 intercepted the force in the East China Sea, sinking the Yamato, Yahagi, and four destroyers.^[238][244] Over the three-month campaign, Japanese forces launched ten massed kamikaze operations (Kikusui), deploying over 1,400 suicide aircraft.^[238] Counting British ships, 13 destroyers were sunk and 37 damaged, and nine fleet carriers were damaged.^[245] The fleet carrier Franklin was badly damaged on 19 March, and kamikazes struck the Bunker Hill on 11 May and the Enterprise on 14 May..^{[244][246][247][248][249]} Taking into account the fatigue of Spruance and Mitscher after two months of operations under kamikaze attack, Nimitz decided to replace them. On 26 May, Halsey and McCain replaced Spruance and Mitscher..^{[239][250][251]} American forces took Okinawa on 21 June 1945.^[245] Lieutenant General Buckner was mortally wounded by a shell fragment on 18 June while inspecting the front line.^[250]

Operation Starvation, bombardments, and surrender

Concurrently with fleet operations, Nimitz orchestrated Operation Starvation, a strategic aerial mining campaign directed against Japanese ports and coastal waterways.^{[245][252][253]} Between March and August 1945, B-29 Superfortresses of the 313th Bombardment Wing under Major General Curtis LeMay dropped thousands of magnetic and acoustic mines into the Shimonoseki Strait, Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay, and other ports, sinking or damaging approximately 670 vessels totaling 1.25 million tons and severing maritime food and resource imports from the Asian mainland.^[253][254] In July and August 1945, Halsey's Third Fleet, accompanied by British warships, carried out air strikes and naval gun bombardments against the Japanese home islands, attacking naval facilities at Kure, Yokosuka, and Kobe, and shelling industrial facilities at Kamaishi, Muroran, and Hamamatsu.^{[245][255][256]}

In the spring and summer of 1945, planning proceeded for Operation Downfall, the Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands, scheduled to begin with Operation Olympic in southern Kyushu in November 1945.^[257][258] Nimitz personally did not favor a direct ground invasion of Japan, believing that a naval blockade could force a surrender.^[257] Informed of the atomic bomb development in early 1945, Nimitz privately doubted the ethical necessity of deploying nuclear weapons, but after his intelligence officer Layton advised him that the bomb was needed because not even the Emperor could order the Japanese Army to surrender, he accepted that its use was necessary.^[259] Following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration on 15 August 1945.

On 2 September 1945, the formal instrument of surrender was signed aboard Halsey's flagship, the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63), anchored in Tokyo Bay.^[260][261] General Douglas MacArthur signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, and Fleet Admiral Nimitz signed as the official representative of the United States.^[260][261] On 5 October 1945, celebrated as 'Nimitz Day' in Washington, D.C., President Harry S. Truman presented Nimitz with a third Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership of the Pacific Fleet.^[260][262]

Chief of Naval Operations and the postwar Navy

On 26 November 1945, the United States Senate confirmed Nimitz's appointment as Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), and he assumed office on 15 December, succeeding Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King.^[263] Nimitz conditioned his acceptance on serving a single two-year term.^[264] As CNO, he reduced the Navy to a fraction of its wartime strength while establishing and overseeing active and reserve fleets.. He opposed proposals, backed by the President and the Army, to merge the Navy and the Army into a single department, arguing that such a merger would limit the Navy's development and reduce its role in national defense.^[265]

Anticipating technological developments in modern warfare, Nimitz created the office of Coordinator of Undersea Warfare in January 1946.^[266] He predicted that future naval forces would rely on guided missiles launched from surface vessels and submarines and atomic bombs delivered by carrier-based aircraft.^[266] In 1947, Nimitz endorsed Captain Hyman G. Rickover's proposal to develop nuclear propulsion, bypassing the traditional naval chain of command and enabling the construction of the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine.^{[266][267][268]} He also supervised early atomic weapons tests during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1946.^[268]

During the 1946 International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Nimitz provided an official affidavit in defense of German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.^[269][270] Dönitz was charged with violating the 1936 Second London Naval Treaty by waging unrestricted submarine warfare and issuing orders not to rescue survivors.^[269][270] Nimitz certified that from the first day of the war against Japan, the United States Navy had practiced unrestricted submarine warfare across the Pacific, sinking merchant ships without warning and declining to rescue survivors whenever doing so endangered submarines.^[269][270] This testimony is widely credited as one reason Dönitz was not sentenced for his submarine operations, receiving a ten-year sentence on other charges.^[269][270]

Later life, diplomacy, and public service

Nimitz left the post of Chief of Naval Operations on 15 December 1947.^[271] He received a third Gold Star in lieu of a fourth Navy Distinguished Service Medal.. The five-star rank granted by Congress meant he never had to retire, but he chose to step away from the Navy.^[271] As fleet admiral is a lifetime appointment, he formally remained on active duty with full pay and benefits.. He and his wife relocated to Berkeley, California.^[259] In San Francisco, he held the mostly ceremonial post of special assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western Sea Frontier. It was a title in name only, and almost no one came to him for advice..^[271] In 1951, he was elected honorary president of the Naval Historical Foundation.^[27]

In 1949, the United Nations appointed Nimitz as Plebiscite Administrator for Jammu and Kashmir to supervise a planned referendum on the region's political future.^[272][273] However, diplomatic disagreements between India and Pakistan regarding demilitarization prevented the plebiscite from occurring, and the mission was not realized.^{[273][274][275]} From 1948 to 1956, Nimitz served as a regent of the University of California, supporting the expansion of higher education and naval scholarship.^[273] On 17 October 1964, the university observed 'Nimitz Day' in his honor.

Following World War II, Nimitz took an active interest in restoring relations between the United States and Japan.^[29][276] Learning that the Japanese battleship Mikasa, Admiral Togo Heihachiro's flagship at Tsushima, had fallen into disrepair and was being used as an entertainment hall, Nimitz stationed Marine guards to protect the ship and published an essay in 1958 in the Japanese magazine Bungeishunju titled 'The Mikasa and I'.^[276][277] He donated his writing fee of 20,000 yen toward its restoration, arranged for the donation of an obsolete American landing ship whose scrap value raised 30 million yen, and contributed 100,000 yen from his book royalties to rebuild the Togo Shrine in Tokyo, which had burned down during air raids.^{[29][276][278]} For the dedication of the restored Mikasa on 27 May 1961, Nimitz sent an inscribed portrait designating himself as Togo's disciple and admirer.^[278]

Nimitz never tried to profit from his part in the war. He wrote no memoirs, saying that history is best written by professional historians, because a wartime commander is too emotionally involved to portray himself and the others concerned objectively..^[279] However, he collaborated with naval historian E. B. Potter of the United States Naval Academy to co-author and edit several historical volumes, including The Great Sea War (1960), Sea Power: A Naval History (1960), and Triumph in the Pacific: The Navy's Struggle Against Japan (1963).^[29]

Personal life and family

Nimitz and his wife, Catherine Vance Freeman, had four children: Catherine Vance ('Kate'), Chester William Jr. ('Chet'), Anna Elizabeth ('Nancy'), and Mary Manson.^{[280][281][282]} Kate graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, worked as a music librarian at the District of Columbia Public Library, and married naval officer James Thomas Lay.^{[283][284][285]} Chester Jr. graduated from the Naval Academy in 1936, commanded submarines during World War II, retired in 1957 as a rear admiral, and served as chairman of the PerkinElmer Corporation from 1969 to 1980.^[30][286] Nancy became an economist at the RAND Corporation, where she worked for about 30 years from the early 1950s until she retired. Her field there was the Soviet economy.. Mary joined the Dominican Order as Sister Mary Aquinas, teaching biology at the Dominican University of California and serving as academic dean and acting president.^[287][288]

Nimitz was a Freemason.^[289] In his personal habits, he was known for punctuality, a dry sense of humor, an appreciation for classical music, target shooting with handguns, and walking with his schnauzer, Mak.^[30] He took long swims, maintaining an endurance that matched or exceeded that of younger staff officers until Spruance joined his staff.

Illness, death, and burial

After suffering a serious fall in 1964, Nimitz and his wife moved from Berkeley to naval quarters on Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay.. In late 1965, he suffered a stroke complicated by pneumonia.^[290] In January 1966, he was discharged from the Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland to spend his final weeks at home.^[290][291] Nimitz died at his residence on the evening of 20 February 1966, four days before his eighty-first birthday.^[290][291]

His funeral took place on 24 February 1966 at the chapel of the Treasure Island Naval Station.^[292] Although entitled to a state funeral and burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Nimitz had left written instructions requesting burial among his officers at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California, specifying that his headstone should bear only the five stars of his rank.^[292][293] He was buried with full military honors beside his wife and close wartime colleagues, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, and Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, an arrangement agreed upon by the four commanders during their lifetimes.^{[294][295][296]}

Memorials and popular culture

In 1968, the United States Navy authorized the construction of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the lead ship of a class of ten nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, commissioned in 1975.^[297] The Admiral Nimitz Museum and National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas, was developed around his grandfather's hotel.^[7] Numerous public facilities and landmarks bear his name, including the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880) in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Nimitz Highway (State Route 92) in Honolulu, the Nimitz Glacier in Antarctica, the Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy, and Nimitz Hill on Guam.^[298][299] The Postal Service featured him on a 50-cent stamp in the Great Americans series.^[300]

Nimitz has been portrayed in film.^[301] In the 1965 film In Harm's Way, Henry Fonda played the character 'CINCPAC II', who is most likely based on Nimitz.. Fonda played Nimitz directly in the 1976 film Midway, and Woody Harrelson portrayed him in the 2019 film Midway.^[301]

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87. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 156
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93. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 106-107
94. Macintyre 1975, p. 140
95. Morison第3冊，第398页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 - April 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 3, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-730, （原始内容存档于2023-10-30）)
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98. Potter（1976年），第114页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
99. Morison第4冊，第13页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 4, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-951)
100. USS Yorktown (CV-5) DANFS
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102. Morison第4冊，第62頁，企業號與大黃蜂號在5月11日抵達新赫布里底群島外海，在16日返航珍珠港，於26日抵達。 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 4, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-951)
103. Morison（1988年），第63页
104. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 158
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106. Preston 1980, p. 108-113
107. Potter（1976年），第128页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
108. Midway militaryhistory.about.com
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113. Polmar（2006年），第223页 (Polmar, Norman, 航空母艦 1909-1945：航空母艦發展史及航空母艦對世界的影響, 上海科學技術文獻出版社, 2006, ISBN 978-7-5439-3950-9)
114. Macintyre 1975, p. 142-143
115. Hone 2013, p. 244. (Thomas C. Hone (a cura di), The Battle of Midway, Annapolis (MA), Naval Institute Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-68247-030-5.)
116. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 160
117. Macintyre 1975, p. 144
118. Potter（1976年），第166页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
119. Potter（1976年），第172页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
120. Morison第4冊，第259頁，後來美軍實力加強後，索性繞過拉包爾 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 4, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-951)
121. Prados 2012, pp. 235-236. (John Prados, Islands of Destiny. The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun, New York, Penguin Group, 2012, ISBN 978-0-451-41482-3.)
122. Plan Orange The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
123. Morison第4冊，第260页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 4, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-951)
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125. Morison第4冊，第261-263页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942, History of United States naval operations in World War II 4, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-951)
126. FJ Fletcher militaryhistory.about.com
127. Ireland 2004, p. 71
128. Macintyre 1975, p. 144-145
129. Murray The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
130. Macintyre 1975, p. 145-147
131. Frank 1990, pp. 276-277. (Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, New York, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58875-4.)
132. Prados 2012, p. 104. (John Prados, Islands of Destiny. The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun, New York, Penguin Group, 2012, ISBN 978-0-451-41482-3.)
133. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 165
134. Frank 1990, pp. 333-335 e segg. (Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, New York, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58875-4.)
135. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 165-168
136. Macintyre 1975, p. 147-149
137. Morison第5冊，第182-185页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 - February 1943, History of United States naval operations in World War II 5, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-069-96X)
138. Preston 1981, p. 147-148
139. Macintyre 1975, p. 94-96
140. Spector 1985, p. 212
141. Morison 1948, p. 270
142. Macintyre 1975, p. 97-98
143. Frank 1990, p. 597; Prados 2012, p. 226. (Richard B. Frank, Guadalcanal. The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle, New York, Random House, 1990, ISBN 0-394-58875-4.)
144. Bismarck Archipelago The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
145. Morison第6冊，第96页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
146. Morton 1962, pp. 357-363, 370-399. (Louis Morton, United States Army in World War II. The War in the Pacific. Strategy and Command: The First Two Years, Washington, Department of the Army, 1962, ISBN non esistente.)
147. Operation Vengeance militaryhistory.about.com
148. Morison第6冊，第128-129页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
149. Morison第7冊，第17页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
150. Morton 1962, pp. 427-432; Prados 2012, pp. 240-242, 279. (Louis Morton, United States Army in World War II. The War in the Pacific. Strategy and Command: The First Two Years, Washington, Department of the Army, 1962, ISBN non esistente.)
151. Nouvelle-Géorgie The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
152. Morison第6冊，第93-95页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
153. Vella_Lavella The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
154. Island_Hopping The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
155. Morison第6冊，第225页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
156. Preston, Destroyers 1980, p. 166
157. Morison第6冊，第279-284页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
158. Millot 2002, pp. 500-502, 514-530; Prados 2012, pp. 306-307, 312-323. (Bernard Millot, La Guerra del Pacifico, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2002 [1967], ISBN 88-17-12881-3.)
159. Morison第8冊，第15-26页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944 - August 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 8, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-380)
160. Morison第7冊，第80-84页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
161. Morison第8冊，第3-10页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944 - August 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 8, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-380)
162. Thomas B. Buell (2013). Master of Seapower: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. Naval Institute Press. pp. 166–68. ISBN 9781612512105.
163. Morison第7冊，第84-85页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
164. Morison第6冊，第97页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Breaking the Bismarck's Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 6, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988 [2021-06-13], ISBN 0252-069-978, （原始内容存档于2024-05-24）)
165. Millot 2002, pp. 545-549, 594-600. (Bernard Millot, La Guerra del Pacifico, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2002 [1967], ISBN 88-17-12881-3.)
166. TF 58 Forager
167. Morison第8冊，第161页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944 - August 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 8, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-380)
168. Millot 2002, pp. 703-705. (Bernard Millot, La Guerra del Pacifico, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2002 [1967], ISBN 88-17-12881-3.)
169. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 148
170. MacIntyre 1971, pp. 73-74.
171. TF 52 Galvanic
172. Cartwheel:The Reduction of Rabaul US Army in World War II
173. Bataille de Tarawa World War II
174. Morison第7冊，第202-203页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
175. Bataille de Kwajalein World War II
176. Morison第7冊，第203-207页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
177. Morison第7冊，第225-229页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
178. Morison第7冊，第230-281页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
179. TF 58 Flintlock et Catchpole
180. Samuel Eliot Morison, The Two-Ocean War; A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (1963) pp 222-291.
181. Morison第7冊，第282-304, 315-332页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 7, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-372)
182. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 180
183. Shuppan Kyodo-sha, Bat&Cru 1968, p. 128, 134, 140
184. Millot 2002, pp. 653-690. (Bernard Millot, La Guerra del Pacifico, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2002 [1967], ISBN 88-17-12881-3.)
185. Morison第8冊，第186-402页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944 - August 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 8, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-380)
186. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 152
187. Morison第8冊，第145页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944 - August 1944, History of United States naval operations in World War II 8, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-380)
188. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 182-183
189. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 155
190. Blair 1975, p. 628
191. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 156
192. Masson 1983, p. 184
193. (en) Thomas B. Buell, The quiet warrior: a biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, Little, Brown, 1974 (ISBN 978-0-316-11470-7), p. 303.
194. Morison第12冊，第3-12页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
195. Ernest J. King The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
196. Morison第12冊，第14-18页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
197. Gailey 1983, pp. 21-23, 189. (Harry A. Gailey, Peleliu: 1944, Annapolis (MA), The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company of America, Inc., 1983, ISBN 0-933852-41-X.)
198. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 184
199. Samuel Eliot Morison, Leyte, June 1944-January 1945 (1958)
200. Woodward 1947, p. 25
201. Morison第12冊，第55-61页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
202. Woodward 1947, p. 29
203. MacIntyre 1971, pp. 25, 33-36.
204. MacIntyre 1971, pp. 70, 76-77.
205. Woodward 1947, p. 47
206. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 186
207. Woodward 1947, p. 71-72
208. Morison第12冊，第193-197, 290-291页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
209. Willis A. Lee The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
210. TF 77 “King II”
211. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 186-187, 190
212. Morison第12冊，第292-294, 329页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
213. Woodward 1947, p. 161.
214. Woodward 1947, p. 158
215. Potter（1976年），第531页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
216. Woodward 1947, p. 119-120.
217. Millot 2002, pp. 772-788, 799. (Bernard Millot, La Guerra del Pacifico, Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 2002 [1967], ISBN 88-17-12881-3.)
218. Potter 1976，第532頁 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
219. Potter（1976年），第533页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
220. Potter 1976，第534頁 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
221. Potter 1976，第534-535頁 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
222. Morison第12冊，第329页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Leyte, June 1944 - January 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 12, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-631)
223. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 158
224. Thomas Alexander Hughes (2016). Admiral Bill Halsey. Harvard UP. p. 401. ISBN 9780674049635.
225. Archival service record of Chester Nimitz, "Awards and dates of rank", National Personnel Records Center, released 2008
226. Morison第13冊，第82-87页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 13, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-64X)
227. MacIntyre 1971, pp. 154-155.
228. Megan Tzeng, "The Battle of Okinawa, 1945: Final turning point in the Pacific". History Teacher (2000): 95-117. Online
229. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 195
230. Morison第13冊，第156页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 13, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-64X)
231. Polmar（2006年），第449页 (Polmar, Norman, 航空母艦 1909-1945：航空母艦發展史及航空母艦對世界的影響, 上海科學技術文獻出版社, 2006, ISBN 978-7-5439-3950-9)
232. Morison第14冊，第13页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Victory in the Pacific, 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 14, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-658)
233. Potter（1976年），第568页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
234. Morison第14冊，第68页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Victory in the Pacific, 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 14, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-658)
235. USS Bismarck Sea (CVE-95) DANFS
236. Potter（1976年），第574页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
237. TF 58 Iceberg
238. Potter（1976年），第582页 (Potter, E.B, 尼米茲傳, 麥田出版社, 1976, ISBN 9577-083-404)
239. Ford 2017, pp. 281-284; Millot 2002, pp. 852, 943. (Douglas Ford, La guerra del Pacifico, Bologna, il Mulino, 2017 [2012], ISBN 978-88-15-26426-8.)
240. TF 57 Iceberg
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242. Polmar（2006年），第474页 (Polmar, Norman, 航空母艦 1909-1945：航空母艦發展史及航空母艦對世界的影響, 上海科學技術文獻出版社, 2006, ISBN 978-7-5439-3950-9)
243. Ireland 2004, p. 73, 83
244. Warner, Bennett et alii 1976, p. 196
245. Morison第14冊，第310页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Victory in the Pacific, 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 14, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-658)
246. Preston, Porte-avions 1980, p. 159
247. Lenton, US Bat, Cru & Car 1968, p. 108-114
248. USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) DANFS
249. Macintyre 1975, p. 157
250. Potter 2005, p. 257–258
251. Morison第14冊，第270, 272页 (Morison, Samuel Eliot, Victory in the Pacific, 1945, History of United States naval operations in World War II 14, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, ISBN 0252-070-658)
252. Morison, The Two-Ocean War pp 434-81.
253. Mines The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
254. Caldwell 1978, p. 33-34
255. Philip Vian (trad. de l'anglais par R. Jouan, préf. Olivier Warner), Exécution immédiate, Presses de la Cité, 1960, p. 268-269.
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