Nimitz, Chester William (1885–1965) American
admiral
Born in Fredericksburg, Texas, on 24 February 1885,
Chester William Nimitz was the son of Chester Bernard
Nimitz, who died before his son was born, and was raised
by his grandfather, Charles Nimitz, until his mother re-
married. Following a common school education, Nimitz
entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Mary-
land, and graduated in 1905 as a midshipman. He then
served on a series of warships and submarines until be-
coming commander of the destroyer Decatur, which ran
aground in 1908. Nimitz was court-martialed but only
received a reprimand, after which he again served on a
series of warships.
In 1911, Nimitz was named as commander of the
Third Submarine Division of the Atlantic Fleet, and in
1912 he became commander of the Atlantic Submarine
Flotilla. During the First World War, he introduced new
methods for destroyers to refuel at sea. He went on to
command the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. In 1939, he was
made commander of Task Force Seven, the leading ship
task force in the navy, and that same year he was appointed
as chief of the Bureau of Navigation of the U.S. Navy.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Ha-
waii (7 December 1941), Nimitz—then serving as chief
of naval personnel—was named commander in chief
of the Pacific Fleet. Historian Vincent Hawkins writes:
“Nimitz’s first priority in the Pacific was to defend the
Hawaiian Islands and Midway [Island] and to protect
the lines of communication from the United States to
Hawaii and Australia. His second priority was to launch
offensive operations against the Japanese in the Cen-
tral Pacific in an attempt to divert their attention from
Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. Facing superior
Japanese naval strength, Nimitz resolved to carry out a
series of naval hit-and-run actions designed to deplete
the enemy’s strength. While these operations inflicted
only minor losses, they did raise American morale.”
Nimitz’s first effort to restrain Japanese expansion
in the Pacific was at the battle of the Coral Sea (3–9 May
1942), but he saw that the island of Midway, in between
Hawaii and Japan, would be the key battle point in the
Pacific. Using intelligence sources and his own beliefs,
Nimitz transferred all of his resources to Midway, try-
ing to lure the Japanese into a trap. The battle of 3–6
June 1942 was a turning point in the war: The Japanese
lost four aircraft carriers against one carrier loss for the
Americans. For the remainder of the war, the Japanese
were on the defensive at sea and were gradually pushed
back towards the Japanese homeland.
Working with General Douglas macarthur,
Nimitz attacked the Japanese across the Pacific theater:
From the Solomon Islands (August 1942–February
1943) to the Gilbert Islands (20–23 November 1943)
to the Marshall Islands (31 January–23 February 1944),
the Japanese were rolled back. A series of actions in the
Marianas Islands (14 June–10 August 1944) and Leyte
Gulf (23–26 October 1944) also furthered the Allied
advance. The final battles on the islands of Iwo Jima (19
February–24 March 1945) and Okinawa (1 April–21
June 1945) gave the United States the ability to launch
full-scale raids on Japan itself. On 6 and 9 August 1945,
two atomic weapons were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, forcing the Japanese to capitulate on 14 Au-
Admiral of the Fleet Chester W. Nimitz gust 1945. Nimitz—who had been promoted to Fleet
nimitz, cheSteR williAm