CHESTER W. NIMITZ

(1885-1966)

"God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right,

even though I think it is hopeless." 

 http://www.afa.org/magazine/March2006/yamamoto04.jpg

A Modest Beginning:

Chester W. Nimitz was born February 24, 1885, the small German community of Fredericksburg, Texas. Until he was six, Chester and his widowed mother lived at his grandfather's steamboat-shaped hotel. He had a very strong relationship with his grandfather, the man who would influence his drive to join the military. His mother married her deceased husband's younger brother in 1891, moving the family to Kerrville, Texas.

U.S. Naval Academy / Naval Exploits / World War I:

In 1901, Chester was accepted to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He had studied hard for the three-day entrance examination, and earned early acceptance before he completed high school. Because of the need for junior officers in Theodore Roosevelt's expanding Navy, Chester's class was graduated ahead of schedule in 1905. While on duty in the Philippines in 1907, Nimitz was given control of the USS Decatur. After running the ship aground on a mud bank, the future Fleet Admiral received a court-martial for "hazarding" a ship of the U.S. Navy.

In 1913, Nimitz was sent to Germany to study diesel engines and upon his return was instrumental in supervising the building of the Navy's first diesel-powered ships. He was offered a well-paying job with an engineering firm, but rejected the offer because he preferred the duties of being a Naval Officer.

During World War I, Nimitz served on the staff of the commander of submarines in the Atlantic. Between the two world wars, he commanded the battleship South Carolina, the cruisers, Augusta and Chicago, and the construction of the Pearl Harbor submarine base. He was then appointed to Chief of the Bureau of Navigation in 1939, and was serving in Washington, D.C., when Pearl Harbor was attacked and war began. President Theodore Roosevelt picked Nimitz from 28 flag officers senior to him to relieve Admiral Husband E. Kimmel at Pearl Harbor. 

Attack on Pearl Harbor 

World War II:

On the morning of December 31, 1941, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz hoisted a four-star flag on the mast of the submarine Grayling, thereby assuming command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Nimitz had assumed his position on a submarine instead of a ship because the Japanese had not left a suitable deck for him.

During World War II, Nimitz commanded some five thousand ships and two million men--the most military power controlled by one man than in all previous wars. Nimitz planned to use the power of submarine ships instead of normal ships to sever the Japanese hold on the Pacific. He led the "island hopping" amphibious drive toward Japan. Nimitz was instrumental in defeating the Japanese fleet at the Battle of Midway in June 1942 and in molding together the diverse administrative elements for the war against Japan.

Chester also played a large role in the battles in Okinawa and Iwo Jima, which would eventually lead to the surrender of the Japanese in 1945. The atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the Japanese to admit defeat, and on September 2, 1945, on board the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Fleet Admiral Nimitz signed the surrender document on behalf of the United States. He was to the Navy what Dwight D. Eisenhower was to the Army. Shortly after the war Nimitz relinquished his command at Pearl Harbor and took on the task of demobilizing the very Navy he had helped to build and lead.

(Signing Japanese Surrender; Results of Nagasaki Atomic Bomb)

http://www.rjgeib.com/heroes/tanimizu/nimitz.jpg                       http://japanfocus.org/images/UserFiles/Image/2501.hasegawa.endgame/nagasaki_bomb.jpg

Nimitz was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Congress, among many other awards from many other countries including Britain, France, and China.

A Modest End:

Admiral Nimitz refused to take part in the literary autopsies of World War II. He believed that no one would be helped and that his beloved Navy would be hurt the most in the end. During his last years, he was often approached with business opportunities and high-salaried positions, but refused them. He is remembered most for his dedication to the Navy that he so greatly served. On February 20, 1966, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz died at his home in San Francisco as the last surviving five-star admiral.

The USS Nimitz:

http://samaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/uss_nimitz.jpg                         http://www.nimitz.navy.mil/_links/shipgallery.html    

To honor his accomplishments, the United States Navy named its largest and most powerful class of aircraft carrier after Fleet Admiral Nimitz. The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) was christened by Admiral Nimitz' oldest daughter Catherine on May 3, 1975. The ship has served in many engagements with distinction and honor, lending to the reputation of her namesake and motto: "Teamwork, a Tradition". Since 2005 the USS Nimitz has been residing in San Diego, California. 

Tidbitz about the USS Nimitz

• Nimitz reaches over 23 stories high from the keel to the top of the mast
• Nimitz' Food Services Dept. provides 18,000-20,000 meals a day
• The Post Office processes more than one million pounds of mail each year
• The ship has a fully-equipped dental facility staffed by five dentists, along with a 53-bed hospital ward
• Nuclear power allows the ship to store fifty percent more ammunition and almost twice as much aviation fuel as the largest conventional carrier

Relation to Another Prominent Individual:

In the second World War, there were two main fronts: the front in Europe and the front in Asia. The European front was led by Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Marshall, two leaders of the Army. The Asian front was lead by Nimitz and Douglas MacArthur. While Eisenhower and Marshall fought on a land front, Nimitz and MacArthur fought on a mainly naval front. The many leaders of the fronts are all connected for the obvious reason that they were in the war.

Worksheet 

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Page created by:  Jacob S.

Avon High School, Avon, Indiana

Date created: 3/21/2008

M=4

not 2 deep