Ernest King

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Ernest King
Ernest King

Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King (November 23, 1878 – June 25, 1956) was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) during World War II. As CNO, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the superior of all other admirals, such as Chester Nimitz, and served under Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and, later, James Forrestal.

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[edit] Career

King was born in Lorain, Ohio. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1897 until 1901. During that period, he also served on the USS San Francisco during the Spanish American War.

Before World War I he served in the surface fleet. From 1919 to 1925, he held several posts associated with submarine operations.

In 1926, he took command of the aircraft tender USS Wright with additional duties as Senior Aide on the Staff of Commander Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet. In January 1927 he began flying lessons. He was designated Naval Aviator 3368 in May 1927, when he resumed command of Wright. He commanded Wright until 1929 (with a brief interlude commanding the salvage operations of USS S-4) when he was assigned command of the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia. In June 1930, he became captain of the carrier USS Lexington which he commanded for the next two years. In 1932 he attended the Naval War College. In 1933, he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and, as a promoter of air warfare, was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. From 1936 until 1940, he commanded various aircraft forces. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1938.

In 1940, he served on the General Board. He was promoted to Admiral in February 1941 and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. On 30 December 1941 he became Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet. On 18 March 1942, he was appointed Chief of Naval Operations, relieving Admiral Stark. He is the only person to hold this combined command. On 17 December 1944 he was promoted to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral. He retired on December 15, 1945.

Admiral King at the Atlantic Conference in 1941
Admiral King at the Atlantic Conference in 1941

[edit] Dates of rank

King never held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade although, for administrative reasons, his service record annotates his promotion to Lieutenant, and Lieutenant J.G., on the same day.

[edit] Awards and decorations

King was also the recipient of several foreign awards and decorations.

[edit] Analysis

King was intelligent and extremely capable, but controversial. Some consider him to have been one of the greatest admirals of the 20th century[citation needed]; others, however, point out that he never commanded ships or fleets at sea in war time, and that his anglophobia led him to make decisions which cost many Allied lives. He was considered rude and abrasive; as a result, King was loathed by many officers with whom he served.

He was... perhaps the most disliked Allied leader of World War II. Only British Field Marshal Montgomery may have had more enemies... King also loved parties and often drank to excess. Apparently, he reserved his charm for the wives of fellow naval officers. On the job, he "seemed always to be angry or annoyed." (John Ray Skates, The Invasion of Japan, ISBN 0-87249-972-3).

There was a tongue-in-cheek remark carried about by Naval personnel at the time that "Admiral King was the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy: He was angry 100% of the time!"
Roosevelt once described King as "... a man who shaves with a blow torch".

King is famous for stating to a reporter at the beginning of WWII “When the shooting starts, they call for the sons-of –bitches” - 'On Seas of Glory'; 2001, John Lehman

King has the reputation of having been an anglophobe. This outlook and his strong preference that the Pacific war should take first priority coloured his decisions at various times. He was the greatest critic of the Allies' "Europe first" strategy and he constantly argued that resources should be diverted to the Pacific War.

At the start of US involvement in World War II, King decided not to request blackouts on the U.S. eastern seaboard and not to convoy ships. Many attribute these decisions to King's anglophobia, as the convoys and seaboard blackouts were British proposals, and he was loath to have his much-beloved U.S Navy adopt any ideas from the Royal Navy. He also refused the loan of British convoy escorts when the USN had only a handful of suitable vessels.

Instead of convoys, King had the U.S Navy and Coast Guard perform regular anti-submarine patrols, but these patrols followed a regular schedule. U-boat commanders learned the schedule, and cooordinated their attacks to these schedules. Leaving the lights on in coastal towns illuminated merchant ships to the U-Boats. As a result, there were disastrous shipping losses - two million tons lost in January and February 1942. However King resisted the use of convoys because he believed that he lacked sufficient escort vessels to make them effective and that the formation of convoys with inadequate escort would give the enemy larger targets. It was not until May 1942 that King could establish a day-and-night interlocking convoy system running from Newport, Rhode Island, to Key West, Florida (Lloyd J. Graybar, Quarterdeck & Bridge, ISBN:1-55750-096-7). By the end of 1942, the submarine threat to shipping in U.S. coastal waters was contained. The U-boats' "second happy time" ended, with the loss of seven U-boats and a dramatic reduction in shipping losses. The same effect occurred when convoys were extended to the Caribbean: this proved that King's initial decision in this matter had been flawed.[citation needed]

Other questionable decisions were the refusal to allow long-range Liberators to be allocated to Atlantic patrols (thus allowing the U-boats a safe area in the middle of the Atlantic - the "Atlantic Gap"), the denial of adequate numbers of landing craft to the Allied invasion of Europe and the reluctance to permit the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet any role in the Pacific. In all of these instances, circumstances forced a re-think or he was over-ruled.

Following Japan's defeat at the Battle of Midway, while the other Joint Chiefs urged that the Allies should fight a holding action to concentrate resources against Germany, King advocated the invasion of Guadalcanal. He won the argument, and the invasion went ahead. It was ultimately successful, and was the first time the Japanese lost ground during the War. For his attention to the Pacific Theatre he is highly regarded by some Australian war historians.[1]

General Hastings Ismay, chief of staff to Winston Churchill, described King as:

"tough as nails and carried himself as stiffly as a poker. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness. At the start, he was intolerant and suspicious of all things British, especially the Royal Navy; but he was almost equally intolerant and suspicious of the American Army. War against Japan was the problem to which he had devoted the study of a lifetime, and he resented the idea of American resources being used for any other purpose than to destroy Japanese. He mistrusted Churchill's powers of advocacy, and was apprehensive that he would wheedle President Roosevelt into neglecting the war in the Pacific."

Besides his actions during the Second Battle of the Atlantic, Ernest King's relations to:

[edit] Other

Grave of Admiral King
Grave of Admiral King

The USS King (DL-10) was named in his honor. A major high school in his hometown of Lorain, Ohio also bears his name -- Admiral King High School. Also named after him is the Department of Defense high school on Sasebo Naval Base, in Japan. Recognizing King's great personal and professional interest in maritime history, the Secretary of the Navy named in his honor an academic chair at the Naval War College to be held with the title of the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History.

Preceded by
Harold R. Stark		 United States Chief of Naval Operations
1942-1945		 Succeeded by
Chester W. Nimitz

[edit] External links

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