Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
Admiral Chester Nimitz took command of the Pacific Fleet on 31 December 1941, three weeks after Pearl Harbor, and led it to victory over Japan in 1945. A calm, steady Texan with a German background, he managed a theatre of war of oceanic scale — over 65 million square miles — directing the island-hopping strategy from Midway (June 1942) through Guadalcanal, the Marianas, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima to the door of the Japanese home islands. His most consequential decision was acting on intelligence — specifically the decrypted Japanese plans — to set an ambush at Midway that turned the war's tide in a single day. He commanded from Pearl Harbor, delegating fighting commands to Halsey and Spruance, and accepted Japan's formal surrender aboard USS Missouri on 2 September 1945. He later served as chief of naval operations and was promoted to Fleet Admiral, the Navy's highest rank.
- Lived: 1885 CE – 1966 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: admiral, fleet commander
