“Nimitz was gambling with just about all the sea power he had left. The guy had brass balls.”
Strangely Nimitz was a submarine guy, for most of the time between wars he commanded subs and sub flotillas.
He did serve on a couple of battleships, cruisers and destroyers but subs were his area of expertise.
During the years between wars Nimitz developed the Underway Replenishment system that would serve him so well in the Pacific.
When Nimitz took over command of the Pacific Fleet 10 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor the Change of Command ceremony had to be conducted on the deck of a submarine (some irony there) as all the battleships were sunk or damaged and the cruisers were either sunk, damaged or away with the carriers which were shuttling planes to Midway and Wake islands when the Japanese attacked.
Fortunately for the US Navy Nimitz was not a timid man. He went to war with the navy he had instead of the navy he wanted. It’s a testament to the mans aggressive attitude and aptitude that he quickly learned how to use the carriers as the workhorses of his navy.
He also had William “Bull” Halsey a great carrier proponent under his command. I wonder how much Halsey influenced Nimitz?
We were blessed by having the top admirals we had, IMHO, best ever. Of course, that’s difficult to judge given changes in technology etc.
Yes. All Nimitz had after Pearl Harbor was a few carriers and a submarine flotilla. And he intended to us them to the max.
He raised his flag on the USS Grayling, a submarine because there were no battleships available and he was, well, Nimitz.
Grayling did not make it through the War. Grayling's memorial is a few miles from my house on a lake at Sloan's Lake Park in Denver.