Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Chester William Nimitz (February 24, 1885 –
February 20, 1966) was the Commander in Chief of
Pacific Forces for the United States and Allied
forces during World War II. He was the nation's
leading authority on submarines, as well as Chief
of the Navy's Bureau of Navigation (now called the
Bureau of Personnel) in 1939.

==Early life==

Chester William Nimitz, son of Chester Bernhard
and Anna (Henke) 
Nimitz, was born in Fredericksburg, Texas. He was
appointed to the United States Naval Academy from
the 12th Congressional District of Texas in 1901,
and graduated with distinction in January 1905.

== Military Career ==

===Dates of Rank===

* Midshipman|Passed Midshipman - January 1905
* Ensign - 7 January 1907
* Lieutenant Junior Grade - Never Held 
* Lieutenant - 31 January 1910
* Lieutenant Commander - 29 August 1916
* Commander - 1 February 1918
* Captain - 2 June 1927
* Commodore (rank)|Commodore - Never Held
* Rear Admiral - 23 June 1938
* Vice Admiral - Never Held
* Admiral - 31 December 1941
* Fleet Admiral (US)|Fleet Admiral for temporary
service - 19 December 1944
* Fleet Admiral rank made permanent in the United
States Navy - 13 May 1946

At the time of Chester Nimitz's promotion to Rear
Admiral, the United States Navy did not maintain a
one star rank.  Chester Nimitz was thus promoted
directly from Captain to 2 Star Admiral.  By
Congressional Appointment, he skipped the rank of
Vice Admiral and became a 4 Star Admiral in
December 1941.  

Chester Nimitz also never held the rank of
Lieutenant Junior Grade, as he was appointed a
full Lieutenant after three years of service as an
Ensign.  For administrative reasons, Chester
Nimitz's naval record annotates that he was
promoted to both Lieutenant Junior Grade, and
Lieutenant, on the same day.

===Decorations and Awards===
====United States Awards====

* Navy Distinguished Service Medal with three
award star|gold stars
* Distinguished Service Medal (USA)|Army
Distinguished Service Medal
* Silver Lifesaving Medal
* World War I Victory Medal with Campaign
clasp|Submarine Clasp
* American Defense Service Medal
* Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
* World War II Victory Medal
* National Defense Service Medal

====Foreign Decorations====

* Order of the Bath|Knight Grand Cross of the
British Order of the Bath
* Pacific Star|British Pacific Star
* French Legion of Honor
* Philippine Medal of Valor
* Philippine Liberation Medal with one bronze
service star
* Order of Orange Nassau|Netherlands Order of
Orange-Nassau with Swords
* Greek Order of George I
* Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy
* Chinese Grand Cordon of Pao Ting
* Guatemalan Cross of Military Merit
* Cuban Grand Cross of the Order of Carlos Manuel
de Cespedes
* Argentinian Order of the Liberator
* Equadorian Star of Abdon Calderon

=== Early Career ===

He joined battleship USS Ohio (BB-12)|Ohio (BB-12)
at San Francisco, and cruised in her to the Far
East. In September 1906, he was transferred to USS
Baltimore (C-3)|Baltimore (C-3); and, on 31
January 1907, after the two years at sea then
required by law, he was commissioned Ensign.
Remaining on Asiatic Station in 1907, he
successively served in USS Panay (1899)|Panay, USS
Decatur (DD-5)|Decatur, and USS Denver
(CL-16)|Denver.

Nimitz returned to the United States in the fourth
USS Ranger|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 USS
Plunger (SS-2)|Plunger, later renamed A-1.  He
commanded USS Snapper (SS-16)|Snapper (later
renamed C-5) when that submarine was commissioned
on 2 February 1910, and on 18 November 1910
assumed command of USS Narwhal (SS-17)|Narwhal
(later renamed D-1). In the latter command he had
additional duty from 10 October 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 USS Skipjack
(SS-24)|Skipjack and assumed command of that
submarine, which had been renamed E-1, at her
commissioning on 14 February 1912. On 20 March
1912 he rescued W. J. Walsh, Fireman, second
class, from drowning.

After commanding the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla,
from, May 1912 to March 1913, he supervised the
building of diesel engines for tanker USS Maumee
(AO-2)|Maumee (AO-2), under construction at the
New London Ship and Engine Building Company,
Groton, Connecticut.

In April 1913, he married Catherine Vance Freeman.

=== World War I ===
In the summer of 1913 he studied engines at the
diesel engine plants in Nuremberg, Germany, and
Ghent, Belgium. Returning to the New York Navy
Yard, he became Maumee's Executive Officer
and Engineer on her ship
commissioning|commissioning 23 October 1916. On 10
August 1917 Nimitz became aide to Commander
Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. On 6
February 1918 he was appointed Chief of Staff and
was awarded a Letter of Commendation for
meritorious service as Chief of Staff to the
Commander, U.S. Atlantic Submarine Fleet. On 16
September 1918, he reported to the Office of the
Chief of Naval Operations, and on 25 October was
given additional duty as Senior Member, Board of
Submarine Design.

=== Between the Wars ===

From May 1919 to June 1920 he served as executive
officer of USS South Carolina (BB-26)|South
Carolina (BB-26). He then commanded USS Chicago
(CA-14)|Chicago (CA-14) with additional duty in
command of Submarine Division 14, based at Pearl
Harbor. Returning to the United States in the
summer of 1922, he studied at the Naval War
College, Newport, Rhode Island, and in June 1923,
became Aide and Assistant Chief of Staff to
Commander Battle Fleet, and later to the Commander
in Chief, United States Fleet|U.S. Fleet. In
August 1926 he went to the University of
California, Berkeley to establish one of the
Navy's first Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps
Units.

In June 1929 he took command of Submarine Division
20. In June 1931 he assumed command of USS Rigel
(AR-11)|Rigel (AR-11) and the destroyers out of
commission at San Diego, California. In October
1933 he took command of USS Augusta
(CA-31)|Augusta (CA-31) and cruised in her to the
Far East, where in December she became flagship of
the Asiatic Fleet. In April 1935, he returned home
for three years as Assistant Chief of the Bureau
of Navigation, before becoming Commander, Cruiser
Division 2, Battle Force. In September 1938 he
took command of Battleship Division 1, Battle
Force. On 15 June 1939 he was appointed Chief of
the Bureau of Navigation.

=== World War II ===

Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on 7
December 1941 he was selected Commander in Chief,
U.S. Pacific Fleet, with the rank of Admiral,
effective from 31 December.  Assuming command at
the most critical period of the war in the
Pacific, Admiral Nimitz, despite the losses from
the attack on Pearl Harbor and the tragic shortage
of ships, planes and supplies, successfully
organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance.
 As rapidly as ships, men, and materiél became
available, he shifted to the offensive and, by his
brilliant leadership and outstanding skill as a
strategist, defeated the enemy in the Battle of
the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and in the
Battle of the Solomon Islands.

On 7 October 1943 he was designated Commander in
Chief, Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas. By
Act of Congress, approved 14 December 1944, the
grade of Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy
— the highest grade in the Navy — was
established and the next day President of the
United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt|Franklin
Roosevelt nominated and, with the advice and
consent of the Senate, appointed Admiral Nimitz to
that rank.  He took the oath of office 19 December
1944.


In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, he
attacked the Mariana Islands invading Saipan,
inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese Fleet
in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and capturing
Guam and Tinian (from which Col. Paul Tibbets flew
the Enola Gay to drop the Little Boy atomic bomb
on August 6, 1945).  His Fleet Forces isolated
enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern
Caroline Islands and secured in quick succession
Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi. In the Philippines
his ships turned back powerful task forces of the
Japanese Fleet, a historic victory in the
multi-phased Battle for Leyte Gulf 24 to 26
October 1944. Fleet Admiral Nimitz culminated his
long-range strategy by successful amphibious
assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  In addition,
Nimitz also persuaded the Army Air Force to mine
the Japanese ports and waterways by air in an 
successful mission called Operation Starvation
which severely disrupted enemy logistics.

On 2 September 1945 Fleet Admiral Nimitz signed
for the United States when Japan formally
surrendered on board battleship USS Missouri
(BB-63)|Missouri in Tokyo Bay. On 5 October 1945,
which had been officially designated as "Nimitz
Day" in Washington, DC, Admiral Nimitz was
personally presented a Gold Star in lieu of the
third Distinguished Service Medal
(USA)|Distinguished Service Medal by the President
of the United States "for exceptionally
meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S.
Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June
1944 to August 1945...."

=== Post War ===
On 26 November 1945 his nomination as Chief of
Naval Operations was confirmed by the Senate, and
on 15 December 1945 he relieved Fleet Admiral
Ernest J. King. With characteristic efficiency he
tackled the difficult task of reducing the most
powerful Navy in history to a fraction of its
war-time peak while establishing and overseeing
programs for maintenance of Active and Reserve
fleets with the potential strength and readiness
required to support national policy.

For the post-war trial of German Admiral Karl
Dönitz at the Nuremberg Trials, Admiral Nimitz
furnished an affidavit in support of Dönitz.

== Civilian Life ==
On 15 December 1947, he retired from the Navy as
Chief of Naval Operations. He and his wife
Catherine moved to Berkeley, California. After he
suffered a serious fall in 1964, they moved from
their Berkeley home to naval quarters on Yerba
Buena Island in San Francisco Bay.

In San Francisco, he served as Special Assistant
to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western Sea
Frontier. After the war, he worked to restore good
will with Japan -- the nation he did so much to
defeat in the War -- by helping raise funds for
the restoration of the battleship Japanese
battleship Mikasa|Mikasa, Admiral Heihachiro
Togo's flagship at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905.

Nimitz took an active interest in community
affairs, and served as a regent of the University
of California from 1948-1956.

Catherine and Chester Nimitz had four children:
Catherine Vance (b. 1914), Chester (1915-2002),
Anna (1919-2003) and Mary (b. 1931). Chester W.
Nimitz, Jr. graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy
in 1936, served as a submariner in the Navy until
his retirement in 1957, reaching the
(post-retirement) rank of Rear Admiral; he served
as chairman of PerkinElmer from 1969-1980. Anna
Elizabeth ("Nancy") Nimitz was an expert on the
Soviet Union|Soviet economy at the RAND
Corporation from 1952 until her retirement in the
1980s. Sister Mary Aquinas (Nimitz) became a nun,
working at Dominican University of California.

Fleet Admiral Nimitz died at home on the evening
of 20 February 1966. The place of death is
variously reported as Treasure Island or Yerba
Buena Island in San Francisco Bay.

==Memorials==
The following institutions and locations have been
named in honor of Nimitz:
* USS Nimitz (CVN-68)|USS Nimitz, the first of a
class of nuclear-powered supercarriers, which was
ordered in 1967 and commissioned in 1975
* Nimitz Foundation, established in 1970, which
funds the National Museum of the Pacific War
* Nimitz Freeway, a stretch of Interstate 880 in
the San Francisco Bay Area
* Nimitz Glacier in Antarctica for his service
during Operation Highjump
* Nimitz Highway, Hawaii|Hawaiian state route 92
in Honolulu
* Nimitz Library, the main library at the U.S.
Naval Academy
* Nimitz State Historic Site, a division of the
Texas state park system
plus various K-12 schools in Hawaii, California
and Texas.

start box
succession box|title=CNO|United States Chief of
Naval Operations|before=Ernest J. King|after=Louis
E. Denfeld|years=1945-1947
end box


==Reference==

DANFS

==External links==
*Nimitz biographies at the official
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq36-4.htm Naval
Historical Center and
http://www.militarymuseum.org/Nimitz.html
California State Military Museum
*http://www.nimitz-museum.com/ National Museum of
the Pacific War
*http://www.ussnimitzassociation.org/ USS Nimitz
Association
*http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/cvn-68.ht
m Nimitz-class Navy Ships at Federation of
American Scientists
*http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/nimitz/nimitz.ht
m Nimitz State Historic Site in Fredericksburg,
Texas