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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz
Chester William Nimitz was born on 24 February 1885, near a quaint hotel in Fredericksburg, Texas built by his grandfather, Charles Nimitz, a retired sea captain. Young Chester, however, had his sights set on an Army career and while a student at Tivy High School, Kerrville, Texas, he tried for an appointment to West Point. When none was available, he took a competitive examination for Annapolis and was selected and appointed from the Twelfth Congressional District of Texas in 1901.
He left high school to enter the Naval Academy Class of 1905.
It was many years later, after he had become a Fleet Admiral that
he actually was awarded his high school diploma. At the Academy
Nimitz was an excellent student, especially in mathematics and
graduated with distinction -- seventh in a class of 114. He was
an athlete and stroked the crew in his first class year. The Naval
Academy's yearbook, "Lucky Bag", described him as a
man "of cheerful yesterdays and confident tomorrows."
After graduation he joined USS Ohio in San Francisco
and cruised in her to the Far East. On 31 January 1907, after
the two years' sea duty then required by law, he was commissioned
Ensign, and took command of the gunboat USS Panay. He then
commanded USS Decatur and was court martialed for grounding
her, an obstacle in his career which he overcame.
He returned to the U. S. in 1907 and was ordered to duty under
instruction in submarines, the branch of the service in which
he spent a large part of his sea duty. His first submarine was
USS Plunger (A- 1). He successively commanded USS Snapper,
USS Narwal and USS Skipjack until 1912. On 20 March
of that year, Nimitz, then a Lieutenant, and commanding officer
of the submarine E-1 (formerly Skipjack), was awarded
the Silver Lifesaving Medal by the Treasury Department for his
heroic action in saving W.J. Walsh, Fireman second class, USN,
from drowning. A strong tide was running and Walsh, who could
not swim, was rapidly being swept away from his ship. Lieutenant
Nimitz dove in the water and kept Walsh afloat until both were
picked up by a small boat.
He had one year in command of the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla
before coming ashore in 1913 for duty in connection with building
the diesel engines for the tanker USS Maumee at Groton,
Conn. In that same year, he was sent to Germany and Belgium to
study engines at their Diesel Plants. With that experience he
subsequently served as Executive Officer and Engineering Officer
of the Maumee until 1917 when he was assigned as Aide and Chief
of Staff to COMSUBLANT. He served in that billet during World
War I.
In September 1918 he came ashore to duty in the office of
the Chief of Naval Operations and was a member of the Board of
Submarine Design. His first sea duty in big ships came in 1919
when he had one year's duty as Executive Officer of the battleship
USS South Carolina. After that he continued his duty in
submarines in Pearl Harbor as Commanding Officer USS Chicago
and COMSUBDIV Fourteen.
In 1922 he was assigned as a student at the Naval War College,
and upon graduation went as Chief of Staff to Commander Battle
Forces and later Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet (Admiral S. S.
Robinson) .
In the meantime, the ROTC program had been initiated and in
1926 he became the first Professor of Naval Science and Tactics
for the Unit at the University of California at Berkley. Throughout
the remainder of his life he retained a close association with
the University. After three years in that assignment, in 1929,
he again had sea duty in the submarine service as Commander Submarine
Division Twenty for two years and then went ashore to command
USS Rigel and decommissioned destroyers at the base in
San Diego. In 1933 he was assigned to his first large ship command,
the heavy cruiser USS Augusta which served mostly as flagship
of the Asiatic Fleet. Coming ashore in 1935 he served three years
as Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. His next sea command
was in flag rank as Commander Cruiser Division Two and then as
Commander Battle Division One until 1939, when he was appointed
as Chief of the Bureau of Navigation for four years. In December
1941, however, he was designated as Commander in Chief, Pacific
Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, where he served throughout the
war. On 19 December 1944, he was advanced to the newly created
rank of Fleet Admiral, and on 2 September 1945, was the United
States signatory to the surrender terms aboard the battleship
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
He hauled down his flag at Pearl Harbor on 26 Nov. 1945, and
on 15 December relieved Fleet Admiral E.J. King as Chief of Naval
Operations for a term of two years. On 01 January 1948, he reported
as special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western
Sea Frontier. In March of 1949, he was nominated as Plebiscite
Administrator for Kashmir under the United Nations. When that
did not materialize he asked to be relieved and accepted an assignment
as a roving goodwill ambassador of the United nations, to explain
to the public the major issues confronting the U.N. In 1951, President
Truman appointed him as Chairman of the nine-man commission on
International Security and Industrial Rights. This commission
never got underway because Congress never passed appropriate legislation.
Thereafter, he took an active interest in San Francisco community
affairs, in addition to his continued active participation in
affairs of concern to the Navy and the country. he was an honorary
vice president and later honorary president of the Naval Historical
Foundation. He served for eight years as a regent of the University
of California and did much to restore goodwill with Japan by raising
funds to restore the battleship Mikasa, Admiral Togo's
flagship at Tsushima in 1905.
He died on 20 February 1966.
PROMOTIONS
Graduated from the Naval Academy - Class of 1905
Ensign - 07 Jan. 1907
Lieutenant (junior grade) - 31 Jan. 1910
Lieutenant - 31 Jan. 1910
Lieutenant Commander - 29 Aug. 1916
Commander - 8 March 1918
Captain - 02 June 1927
Rear Admiral - 23 June 1938
Vice Admiral - Not held - promoted directly to Admiral
Admiral - 31 Dec. 1941
Fleet Admiral - 19 Dec. 1944
DECORATIONS and AWARDS
Distinguished Service Medal with two gold stars
Army Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Lifesaving Medal
Victory Medal with Escort Clasp
American Defense Service Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Nimitz's Essay on employment of naval forces,"Who Commands Sea--Commands Trade"
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10 April 2003