As the most influential American World War II naval officer, Chester Nimitz planned, coordinated, and executed the operations that defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific Ocean. Nimitz displayed his diplomacy in collaborating with U.S. Army commander Douglas MacArthur and then exhibited his skill in tactics to achieve bold victories with limited resources. His experience in carrier and surface-fleet operations and his prior submarine service enabled Nimitz to lead the multifaceted Pacific naval command to total victory.
Born far from the sea on February 24, 1885, in Fredericksburg, Texas, Nimitz initially preferred admission to the U.S. Military Academy but accepted an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy when he learned that West Point had no remaining openings. Upon graduation, Nimitz joined the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, advancing in rank and taking command of the destroyer Decatur. His career almost came to an end on July 7, 1908, when he ran the Decatur aground. Although he was court-martialed for neglect of duty, his only punishment was a reprimand.
Back in the United States, Nimitz served in several submarine assignments before sailing to Europe in 1913 to study German and Belgium diesel-engine development. When he returned home, he used this information to supervise the construction of the diesel-powered USS Maumee and remained aboard as the ship’s executive officer and chief engineer after its 1916 launch.
Upon U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917, Nimitz and the Maumee joined the Adantic Fleet. In August, Nimitz, after being promoted to lieutenant commander, became an aide to Submarine Forces commander Adm. Samuel S. Robison. The admiral remained his mentor well into the next decade.
Following the war, Nimitz served on the Navy Department staff in Washington and in 1920 transferred to Pearl Harbor to oversee the construction of a new submarine base. Over the next twenty years he served in a wide variety of submarine billets as well as aboard batdeships and destroyers. He also spent several tours back in Washington and shared the responsibility of forming the first Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps programs in American universities.
Promoted to rear admiral in 1938, Nimitz commanded a cruiser division in San Diego and a battleship division in Hawaii, which included the USS Arizona, before returning to Washington as the chief of the Bureau of Navigation in June 1939. At the time of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Nimitz was the chief of naval personnel, responsible for the massive wartime buildup of manpower.
On December 31, 1941, on the recommendation of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Nimitz commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet and promoted him to full admiral. Although a single U.S. command in the Pacific would have been far more advantageous, neither the army nor General MacArthur would agree to serve under a naval officer. As a result, two commands emerged, with Nimitz and MacArthur sharing responsibility for the Pacific. Fortunately, the two officers, primarily because of Nimitz’s diplomacy, got along fairly well, apparendy agreeing that there were more than enough Japanese for both to fight.
Although the Allies made the war against Japan*secondary in their “Europe First” plan, Nimitz did not delay his strategy to stop Japanese expansion, retake their gains, and push the war to the Japanese homeland. Using information provided by American code breakers about Japanese plans, Nimitz engaged in the first stalemated batde in the Coral Sea in May 1942.
Again using intelligence data, Nimitz located the enemy, led by Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who had attacked Pearl Harbor, in the waters around Midway Island the following June. Attacking when most of the Japanese aircraft were on their carrier decks refueling and rearming, Nimitz achieved the first American naval victory of the war and the first Japanese naval defeat in 350 years. Batde losses for the Japanese included four of the nine carriers in their entire fleet, more than three hundred planes, and many of Japan’s best pilots.
The pivotal Batde of Midway transferred the initiative to die Americans. Nimitz and MacArthur cooperated in a series of island-hopping campaigns that progressed closer and closer to the Japanese mainland. Nimitz captured the Gilbert Islands in November 1943; the Marshall Islands in February 1944; and the Mariana Islands in August 1944. In October he joined MacArthur’s forces to retake the Philippines. The leadership of the United States recognized Nimitz’s accomplishments by promoting him to the newly established five-star rank of Fleet Admiral.
In early 1945, Nimitz directed the offensives against Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. He was preparing to invade Japan when the Japanese surrendered after the dropping of the atom bombs. On August 29, 1945, Nimitz sailed into Tokyo Bay aboard his flagship the USS South Dakota. At the surrender ceremony on the Missouri on September 2, Nimitz signed the agreement as the; representative of the United States.
The admiral returned to Washington to a welcome on October 5 known as “Nimitz Day.” Soon after the festivities, Nimitz assumed the position of chief of naval operations and for the next two years supervised the demobilization of men ,<and ships while also providing input into the development of nuclear-powered sub-marines. He retired on December 15, 1947. In the following years he briefly acted as an adviser to the secretary of the navy and for two years served as the UN commissioner for Kashmir. Nimitz died a few days before his eighty-first birthday of complications from surgery on February 20, 1966, and was buried in San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Cemetery.
Nimitz, a master at maintaining morale and gaining cooperation from all ranks and services, was the most influential American naval leader of World War II. His wide, diverse experience allowed him to execute bold actions that produced victory after victory. In their most significant batde, Nimitz at Midway mastered Ya-mamoto, Japan’s best admiral.