THE NIMITZ STORY

the United States Army the big picture an official report produced for the Armed Forces and the American people now to show you part of the big picture here is sergeant Stewart Queen the United States Army is proud to focus the big picture camera on its sister service the United States Navy in telling the story of one of its most distinguished wartime leaders Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz the Nimitz story is not simply the account of an outstanding naval officer who rose to a position of greatness and honor it is also the chronicle of our modern Navy it's coming of age and its greatest triumph than the epic struggle for the Pacific during world war ii for just as many of our navy's greatest victories resulted from Nimitz brilliant planning and bold strategy so Nimitz himself is the embodiment of the finest tradition of naval service the Nimitz story begins before the turn of the century far from the ocean he would one day command Texas was a prospering state in 1885 when Chester Nimitz was born in the tiny town of Fredericksburg there was room on the Great Western Plains where a man could run cattle or farm and grow with America Nimitz's people were pioneers stuck and their faith in their country's future formed the bedrock of their children's heritage although his pioneering grandfather had once followed the scene there was little else in the boys landlocked environment to point him towards the Navy but while limits crew America's Navy grew to the 100 year old constellation was still in use to train men during the spanish-american war what our sea battles were fought by revolutionary armored steam warships there were many spokesman for the new Navy not the least of them Theodore Roosevelt hours was still a young country and it was a two ocean country the Navy which had sent the Spanish fleet to the bottom was necessary to our defense and to our future security the year Teddy Roosevelt entered the White House young Chester Nimitz entered the Naval Academy the future Fleet Admiral had never seen an ocean when he journeyed East but like all young men away from home he soon became accustomed to his new environment he learned the Navy from the Kela and grew to love the tough and demanding life he shared with his fellow Midshipmen the physical training was as rigorous as the bookwork and a school had the traditions of Jones and Decatur Porter and Joey governed a midshipman's life although American naval tradition ran back to the revolution the service itself during Nimitz's days at Annapolis look to the future new ideas on the importance of sea power new fighting techniques and weapons were making their mind a young man could not only see the world in the new Navy he could find the broadest possible challenge to his imagination the day of wooden ships had passed but iron men were needed more than ever Nimitz was graduated seventh in a class of 114 regulations required him to serve two years at sea as a past midshipman before becoming an ensign in the regular Navy this early technological marvel one of our first submarines was being tested for the Navy at the time Chester Nimitz joined the fleet after duty in the Far East during the first few years of his career Nimitz was selected with other outstanding young men to form what eventually became our Navy's submarine force in vessels not far removed from this primitive model lieutenant Nimitz learned a difficult and dangerous profession there were few books and no men of experience you learn the only way you could by doing it yourself lieutenant Nimitz wrote prophetically in a naval journal of 1912 improvement in the size motive power and speed of a submarine craft of the near future will result in a most dangerous offensive weapon his prediction would be borne out by the importance of submarine action in the first world war by 1918 Nimitz was one of the most experienced submariners in the service and a commandant but a broad and varied background was essential to a man's career in the complex Navy and the best place to acquire it was the surface weak limits when a captain went on to command major warships in the 20s and 30s including the cruisers Chicago and Augustine during these years he had full opportunity to study the kind of sea and air operations which later proved so successful in the war against Japan in these same decades the Japanese constructed one of the finest fleets the world had ever seen on the fateful day of December 7th 1941 at Pearl Harbor the Japanese Navy was ready the flames had hardly died before Chester Nimitz was called from a desk in Washington to take command of the Pacific Fleet it was a dark time and a formidable task it would take a man of vast experience and vigor to bring both hope and victory out of wreckage and chaos it would take an image the Japanese quickly followed their surprise success at Pearl Harbor with territorial grabs across the western Pacific as American forces fought and lost against overwhelming odds by the spring of 1942 Japan controlled most of the land and dominated the sea and air west of Pearl Harbor it was up to our Navy to hold the line but if we underestimated the Japanese they also underestimated us when they disabled the cream of our fleet at Pearl Harbor they did not realize that we could recover so quickly while we recovered strength our submarines carried the fight to the enemy's waters the silent service that nimitz had helped build now served him well it would become the lance that would cut the enemy's arteries the saga of these gallant vessels is among the most inspiring and the heroic annals of the Navy it was clear that we had to strike back in force but we're nimitz had a much smaller fleet than the enemy and he was determined to use it where the Coral Sea has met the enemy at Midway to the boldness and surprise of limited strategy in these two major engagements were enough to change the course of the war in the Pacific the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway were our first decisive victories nimitz express the gratitude of the nation when he decorated many of the navy pilots and sailors who helped turn back the enemy as the war in the Pacific slowly changed from one of desperate defense to one of confident offense the men who directed it found the need for careful coordination ever greater the combined Navy and Army forces under both Nimitz and MacArthur worked smoothly to batter down the walls of Japan's Pacific empire but the war could not be viewed on maps and the grand strategy which defeated the enemy could not all be planned within the conference room on an inspection tour with Admiral Halsey and Navy secretary Frank Knox Nimitz conferred with combat veterans in the Solomons following our bitter six-month struggle for Guadalcanal on Kwajalein Island Nimitz inspected what was left of Japanese defenses after the American fleet and ground forces at hit the island wrecked equipment and fire scorched beaches told the story of our success before the Pacific fighting entered its final phase with the recapture of the Philippines and the final thrust at the Japanese homeland MacArthur and President Roosevelt met with Nimitz at sink PAC headquarters in Hawaii our capture of Saipan immediately before the meeting meant that a major rupture had been accomplished in Japan's inner defense perimeter although limits and the other American leaders were unaware of it at the time the Japanese General Staff was already asking its government for a peace settlement with the United States the Americans did know however the premier Tojo had been forced to resign and their confidence was high plans for retaking the Philippines were submitted and approved at this meeting in spite of the enormous responsibility and pressure which bore down upon limits during these busy and critical days in spite of daily decisions involving thousands of lives he remained the same gentle dignified humble man he had always been Nimitz was always the ideal commander the quiet Texan who had begun his task in the Pacific with a shattered fleet a fleet which in less than two years was transformed into one of the world's great navies under his strong imaginative guidance men of the Navy for a sea war such as no man had ever fought before and many new names were added to the list of American naval great coaching them consoling them all in the epic struggle for victory was Nimitz on the third anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor Admiral Nimitz spoke to naval personnel and civilian workers who helped prepare many of our vessels construction enemy ships construction reconstruction destruction for Nimitz there was no relaxation of responsibility his life was filled with a critical business of my command as the tempo of the war increased and the relentless tide of American sea power swept forward and behind his task behind the decisions which moved the fleet ever closer to Japan was the constant evaluation the continuously examination of his strategy under his direction Halsey Spruance Turner and others use their forces with masterly precision and deadly effect setting the pace for subordinate commanders at New Guinea in the Marianas the enemy felt our power finally the day came for the Philippines the decision of Nimitz and MacArthur to skip the southern Philippine island paid off on October 20th 1944 American soldiers stormed the lady beaches as the Japanese prepared to defend themselves against the American attack their adherence to a cause already lost carry them to fanatical excess few men on either side realized that the Leyte Gulf action hoped for by Nimitz and earnestly sought by Halsey he would turn into one of the most far-reaching naval engagements of all time we threw everything we had at the enemy and his losses were staggering before the fighting ceased the Leyte Gulf adventure cost the Japanese Navy four aircraft carriers nine destroyers three battleships ten cruisers and all reasonable hope of ever winning a sea battle from the American fleet for some of our men - Leyte Gulf was the last fight many brave Americans who died in this action were honored at sea by their comrades the liberation of the Philippines soon became a certainty and minutes urged his commanders forward palsies carriers were both the cavalry and artillery of the Navy as they closed in upon the enemy island by Island American ground forces followed as the power of the Japanese war machine withered and began to die but the Japanese were desperate men and desperation breeds its own terrors one of the most destructive was kamikaze the spirit of the Divine Wind we called them suicide plans in the Philippines they came like fierce Hornets they attacked alone and they attacked him bunches for a while it seemed they would never stop coming just before Easter of 1945 Nimitz's ships hit Okinawa all told 183 thousand troops participated in this epic landing with a heaviest naval support in the Pacific Okinawa represented the final but by no means the easiest obstacle on the roads of Japan as a truthstream inland from the beaches the opposition still it was the last ditch for the Japanese American casualties were high at Okinawa but for men who had carried their strength and their feet so far in the 3 and 1/2 years since Pearl Harbor victory was now in sight ok now I became the death rattle of the Japanese resistance with one last convulsive effort enemy pilots drove their deadly planes in our fleet but we were ready in June it ended 4,000 enemy aircraft had found their graves and the only fire in the skies now came from the Setting Sun Nimitz went ashore in Okinawa to view the remains the hope and confidence which had been born at the Coral Sea and Midway during the dark and doubtful days of 1942 were here fulfilled these were the men who had suffered the hardships of Guadalcanal and the frustration of New Guinea men who had brought in ringing victories in the Philippines and on the tiny island of Iwo Jima this was their final triumph Okinawa the doorsill of Japan at Manila Nimitz conferred with MacArthur on the work yet to be done the concentrated naval and ground forces of the Elias were preparing for the final assault on the Japanese home islands from long experience both Nimitz and MacArthur expected that the Japanese would bite until driven into the sea but the Japanese did not with their military and naval might smash beyond recovery with a city's bomb to rubble the enemy's surrendered unconditionally for Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz it was a solemn moment a moment of grey reflection upon his return a jubilant nation greeted him a day was named in his honor and the whole city of Washington turned out to say thanks crowds jammed the streets to get a glimpse of the man who had done so much to bring them victory at the Capitol building he went before a special joint session of Congress where he expressed his feelings to the assembled lawmakers I am sensible of the fact that I do not come here as an individual and I acknowledge at the outset that I am here only as a representative of the brave men who fought under my command in the Pacific some of them are here with me today I pray that no future war may ever again find us unprepared most of all I pray that such a war does not begin an end to our disadvantage before we can even begin to fight this need not happen to us it will not happen to us if we exercise our intelligence our vigilance and use our good plain common sense and keep our fighting forces residence the Admirals welcome had it's lighter side when he smoked the pipe of peace before beginning his new role as America's post-war Chief of Naval Operations from Admiral Richard Byrd the new chief received a briefing on the 1946 Navy expedition to the South Pole one of the many honorary degrees he received was awarded in a colorful ceremony with other naval and military figures at Columbia University in 1947 after his tour as chief of naval operations ended in 1948 Nimitz accepted a United Nations appointment as plebiscite administrator for Kashmir few of Nimitz's experiences with the united nations yielded more pleasure than a visit from members of the japanese diet our one-time enemy had become our friend and the man who had been instrumental in their defeat joined in welcoming them to the community of free nations in 1951 nimitz were still not ready to relax after he resigned his United Nations post President Truman appointed him chairman of a special Commission on internal security in the Berkeley Hills not far from San Francisco Nimitz lives quietly with his wife but he continues to be active in naval affairs by serving as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Navy a weathervane with five stars in a submarine replicas are all that marked the Admirals quarters there is still much to keep him busy and for the first time in many years he also finds an opportunity to enjoy his garden limits is still bound to the sea and to the great American naval tradition his contribution in strategy and leadership will be long remembered in the Navy and his personal example admired by all men who follow the sea the big picture is an official report for the Armed Forces and the American people produced by the Army Coryell Center presented by the Department of the army in cooperation with this