Fleet Admiral King A Naval Record

“For forty years Ernest King prepared himself for the supreme test. From 1901 to 1941 he moved through the grades from ensign to admiral; he saw service in battleships, destroyers, submarines, supply ships, and aircraft carriers, in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean; he served in engineering, on the staff of the commander of the Atlantic fleet in World War I, on the General Board, in the Bureau of Navigation and as chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics; he taught at the Naval Academy and studied at the Naval War College where he worked on problems of Pacific strategy; and he commanded important units of the fleet. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, King was supervising convoy operations to Europe as commander of the Atlantic fleet. Within two weeks he was made Cominch, United States fleet, and three months later replaced Admiral Stark as chief of Naval Operations. No man in the United States navy was better equipped by training and experience to direct the global responsibilities of the navy in World War II; no man could have performed the job with greater success... The volume is a notable contribution to the history of the war... The amount of information on every aspect of the war — plans, operations, and logistics — is overwhelming. The European and Pacific phases are neatly interwoven. There are penetrating observations on leading personalities (of both world wars).” — The Mississippi Valley Historical Review “[A]n extremely important book... Fleet Admiral King is an important book because it enables us to appreciate the greatness of King. We get some idea of his logical mind, exceptional intellect, integrity, capacity for work, and wide range of professional knowledge. Without doubt this devoted public servant was the right man in the right place when the nation faced the greatest crisis in its history.” — Pacific Historical Review “The memoirs of Fleet Adm. Ernest J. King... have been eagerly awaited for many years. The Admiral was counted on to furnish a bluntly outspoken record of his stewardship, and in this respect his book comes up to expectations... they reward careful reading as the record of one of the most effective and successful war leaders in the history of our country. This book will undoubtedly take its place among the classic military documents in the war annals of the United States.” — Ordnance “Admiral King’s memoirs have been worth waiting for. As it stands, this book is one of the most useful contributions to American naval history.” — The American Historical Review “[An] important book... the best and most comprehensive discussion of the inner workings of the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff that has appeared... Fleet Admiral King is really two books in one: a skilfully drawn biographical study of the individual and, as a frank personal report of the highest United States naval commander in the war, a significant contribution to the history of World War II.” — The New England Quarterly “[A] valuable book.” — The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science “[T]his record of Fleet Admiral King’s naval career is essentially autobiographical. The latter half of the... narrative deals with the Second World War and is naturally of the greatest interest. It authoritatively presents the Navy’s position on a number of strategic controversies, and adds to our factual knowledge of certain key events, such as the Casablanca, Yalta, Quebec and Potsdam conferences.” — Foreign Affairs “The outstanding naval biography of the year, as well as the outstanding book.” — US Naval Institute Proceedings

A comprehensive biography of the most powerful naval officer in the history of the United States who was the controversial architect of the American victory in the Pacific. Someone once asked Admiral Ernest J. King if it was he who said, ""When they get in trouble they send for the sonsabitches."" He replied that he was not -—but that he would have said it if he had thought of it. Although never accused of having a warm personality, Ernest J. King commanded the respect of everyone familiar with his work. His is one of the great American naval careers, his place in history forever secured by a remarkable contribution to the Allied victory in the Second World War. ""Lord how I need him,"" wrote Navy Secretary Frank Knox on December 23, 1941, the day he summoned King to take control of the Navy at its lowest point, the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. Raised in a stern Calvinist home in Lorain, Ohio, Ernest King grew interested in a naval career after reading an article in a boys' magazine. After graduating from Annapolis fourth in his class (1901), King's early career was ""rather ordinary"" according to biographer Robert W. Love. But in 1909, at the end of a stint as a drillmaster at the Naval Academy, King distinguished himself by writing an influential essay entitled, ""Organization on Board Ship."" King performed well in a number of commands between 1914 and 1923, when he began a three-year stint as commander of the submarine base at New London, Connecticut. In 1926 his career took an important turn: he completed the shortened flight course at Pensacola, and from that point on, he would see aviation as the decisive element in naval warfare. This conviction deepened when he served as assistant bureau chief under Rear Admiral William Moffett, widely considered the father of American naval aviation. King's career received another boost when he ably commanded his first aircraft carrier, the Lexington, in the early 1930s. But as his prospects for advancement increased, so did his reputation as a difficult character. "He was meaner than hell," commented one junior officer, reflecting the general opinion that King was as much despised as he was respected. This didn't seem to bother him, though. Love observed that he "seemed almost to pride himself on the fact that he had earned his rank solely on his merits as a professional naval officer, rather than as a result of the friendship of others." In the spring of 1939, the sixty-year-old King coveted the job of Chief of Naval Operations. But his personality and decided lack of political skill or tact led President Roosevelt to pass him over in favor of Admiral Harold Stark. Seemingly banished to duty on the General Board in Washington, King's career was resurrected by the war that soon started in Europe. When Stark grew dissatisfied with the commander of his Atlantic Squadron, he looked to King, who took over in December, 1940. With his slogan ""do all that we can with what we have,"" King ably managed the undeclared war with Germany's U-boats. Although his command was limited to the Atlantic, it brought him to Washington frequently and he stayed abreast of developments in the Pacific. The morning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Stark called him to Washington; soon after he was running the Navy -—first as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet, soon adding the title Chief of Naval Operations, making him the first man to combine both jobs. In the early months of 1942, King's strategic brilliance earned him the complete confidence of President Roosevelt. When none of the British or American war planners even dared to think of going on the offensive in the Pacific in 1942-43, King successfully lobbied to do just that. "No fighter ever won his fight by covering up -—merely fending off the other fellow's blows," he wrote. "The winner hits and keeps on hitting even though he has to be able to take some stiff blows in order to keep on hitting." It's easy to see why even those who despised Ernest King were glad he was on their side.

At the beginning of World War II, in the midst of building the United States Navy into a "two-ocean fleet," the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor put the effectiveness of American sea power in doubt. Three and a half years later, the U.S. Navy was undoubtedly the strongest in the world. In that time, the Japanese fleet had been shattered, the U-Boat threat was a thing of the past, and the Navy had supported the greatest amphibious campaigns in history. "U.S. Navy at War: Official Reports by Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, U.S.N.," consisting of three reports submitted by Admiral King to the Secretary of the Navy in the course of the war, is an official account of the U.S. Navy's operations in World War II. It provides an authoritative contemporary account of the beginning of the fleet buildup prior to the outbreak of war; the campaigns in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean; naval research and development; submarine warfare; and many other aspects of the naval war. In addition, the book provides useful listings of all U.S. ships added to the fleet between December 7, 1941 and October 1, 1945, a list of U.S. ships lost in combat, and another that outlines the status of major combatant ships of the Japanese Navy at the end of the war - a sobering testimony to the overwhelming naval superiority achieved by the United States. Long out of print, "U.S. Navy at War" remains a unique source for anyone interested in the Second World War at sea. Originally published in 1946. 310 pages, ill.

This sweeping recasting of American naval history is a bold departure from the conventional “sea power” approach. Volume Two of History of the U.S. Navy shows how the Navy in World War II helped to upset the traditional balance in Europe and Asia. Days after Pearl Harbor, Admiral Ernest J. King took command of a navy overwhelmed by the demands of war. King devised grand strategies to defeat the Axis and promoted a cadre of fighting admirals—Halsey, Spruance, Hewitt, Kincaid, and Turner—who waged unprecedented in complexity and violence. New sources provide an entirely fresh look at the Battle of the Atlantic, the invasion of Europe, and the great naval campaigns in the Pacific. This book contains the first comprehensive interpretation of the U.S. Navy’s role in the Cold War, when the United States found itself the global bailiff. Love demonstrated that the Navy’s abiding priority was to capture and maintain a share of the strategic bombardment mission by building new ships, planes, submarines, and mission to deliver nuclear weapons. The dawn of the New World Oder found the Navy still on duty as the mailed fist of American foreign policy, standing watch in the Persian Gulf and, at the same time, off the coast of West Africa during Liberia’s violent civil war. Fresh challenges, the author argues, call for a newly balanced fleet and continued attention to America’s first line of defense.

This superb collection of biographical essays tells the story of the U.S. Navy through the lives of the officers who forged its traditions. The essayists are leading naval historians who assess the careers of these men and their impact on the naval service, from the Continental Navy of the American Revolution to the nuclear Navy of the Cold War.