Admiral Chester Nimitz 8x10 B&W Photo
8x10 Black & White Photo of Admiral
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.
This is a Real Photograph printed on
glossy photographic paper.
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