Nimitz, Chester William

(1885-1966)

   Chester Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg, Texas. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1905 and served in the navy in the Far East until 1908 when he began working in submarines. During World War I, Nimitz was an engineering aide and chief of staff to the commander of the U.S. submarine force. He held various posts between 1918 and 1922 and was director of the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of California at Berkeley, in 1926. He was made captain in 1927 and served in San Diego, California, from 1929 to 1933.

   Nimitz became a rear admiral in 1938 and after Pearl Harbor in 1941 was appointed to replace Admiral Husband Kimmel by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. Nimitz became commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, and when it was divided, he led the Pacific Ocean Fleet though the battles in the Coral Sea in 1942, Midway in 1942, and Leyte Gulf in 1944 and oversaw the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He was made admiral of the fleet in 1944. From 1944 to 1946, he was chief of naval operations, and he signed the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945 on behalf of the U.S. government. He retired in 1947.