18. Chester Nimitz and the United States Pacific Fleet in World War II
Chester Nimitz was the Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) from shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when its commander was Husband Kimmel, until after the surrender of Japan. He oversaw the Central Pacific island campaigns, as well as the great naval victories at Midway, the Marianas, and in the sea lanes around the Philippines. A submariner himself, he was also responsible, through his deputies, for the American submarine campaign against the Japanese Navy and merchant marine. Nimitz was one of the architects of the victory in the Pacific War, and deservedly holds the reputation of being one of the United States’ greatest naval leaders in history. But it was nearly not so, had Nimitz accepted the command of the Pacific Fleet when it was first offered he would have shared the blame for Pearl Harbor.
In the summer of 1941, it was decided to keep the fleet in Hawaii, rather than return it to its West Coast anchorages at San Pedro and San Diego. The fleet commander, Admiral James Richardson, complained about leaving the fleet in the forward position in Hawaii and was fired. Nimitz was offered the job by President Roosevelt and turned it down, later telling his son that he wanted to be away from the use of the fleet as a political pawn in the negotiations with Japan, in the event of a catastrophic event. Husband Kimmel was given the job instead. After the surprise Japanese attack and the devastation of the fleet, Kimmel was used as a scapegoat for the disaster, and relieved. Had Nimitz been on the job at the time of the attack he too would likely have been sacrificed for the political disaster, and today remembered altogether differently.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
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“Was Carnegie Right About Philanthropy?” Russ Juskalian, The New Yorker. February 9, 2014
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“How Russia Really Won – Russia’s war against Napoleon”. Dominic Lieven. 2010
“Amelia Earhart: Pilot and feminist”. Laura Edwins, The Christian Science Monitor. July 24, 2012
“The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich”. Nicholas A. M. Rodger. 1994