Follow the Leaders: Admiral Chester William Nimitz GCB Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy. Commander in Chief Keef, United States Pacific (Part 4) World War II Admiral Chester W. Nimitz pins the Navy Cross on Doris Miller, at ceremony on board a warship in Pearl Harbor, 27 May 1942 The surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Admiral Chester Nimitz, representing the United States, signs the instrument of surrender. Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 he was selected as Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), with the rank of Admiral, effective 31 December. He took command in a ceremony on the top deck of the submarine USS Grayling. The change of command ceremony would normally have taken place aboard a battleship, but every battleship in Pearl Harbor had been either sunk or damaged during the attack on 7 December. Assuming command at the most critical period of the war in the Pacific, Admiral Nimitz successfully organized his forces to halt the Japanese advance despite the losses from the attack on Pearl Harbor and the shortage of ships, planes and supplies. On 24 March 1942, the newly formed US-British Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive designating the Pacific theater an area of American strategic responsibility. Six days later the US Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) divided the theater into three areas: the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA, commanded by General Douglas MacArthur), and the Southeast Pacific Area. The JCS designated Nimitz as Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas with operational control over all Allied units (air, land, and sea) in that area. As rapidly as ships, men, and material became available, Nimitz shifted to the offensive and defeated the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the pivotal Battle of Midway, and in the Solomon Islands Campaign. By Act of Congress, approved 14 December 1944, the grade of Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy — the highest grade in the Navy – was established and the next day President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt appointed Admiral Nimitz to that rank. Nimitz took the oath of that office on 19 December 1944. In the final phases in the war in the Pacific, he attacked the Mariana Islands, inflicting a decisive defeat on the Japanese Fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and capturing Saipan, Guam, and Tinian. His Fleet Forces isolated enemy-held bastions of the Central and Eastern Caroline Islands and secured in quick succession Peleliu, Angaur, and Ulithi. In the Philippines, his ships turned back powerful task forces of the Japanese Fleet, a historic victory in the multi-phased Battle for Leyte Gulf 24 to 26 October 1944. Fleet Admiral Nimitz culminated his long-range strategy by successful amphibious assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. In addition, Nimitz also ordered the United States Army Air Forces to mine the Japanese ports and waterways by air with B-29 Superfortresses in a successful mission called Operation Starvation, which severely interrupted the Japanese logistics. In January 1945, Nimitz moved the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet forward from Pearl Harbor to Guam for the remainder of the war. Mrs Nimitz remained in the continental United States for the duration of the war, and she did not join her husband in Hawaii or Guam. On 2 September 1945 Nimitz signed for the United States when Japan formally surrendered on board the Missouri in Tokyo Bay. On 5 October 1945, which had been officially designated as Nimitz Day in Washington, D.C., Admiral Nimitz was personally presented a Gold Star for the third award of the Distinguished Service Medal by the President of the United States for exceptionally meritorious service as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Areas, from June 1944 to August 1945....
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 04:41:51 +0000
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