Ernest J. King

Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was a fleet admiral in the United States Navy who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed King to command global American strategy during World War II and he held supreme naval command in his unprecedented double capacity as COMINCH and CNO. He was the U.S. Navy's second-most senior officer in World War II after Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief. King commanded the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Combined Chiefs of Staff.

King graduated fourth in the United States Naval Academy class of 1901. He received his first command in 1914, of the destroyer USS Terry in the occupation of Veracruz. During World War I, he served on the staff of Vice Admiral Henry T. Mayo, the commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet. After the war, King was the head of the Naval Postgraduate School and commanded submarine divisions. He directed the salvage of the submarine USS S-51, earning the first of his three Navy Distinguished Service Medals, and later that of the USS S-4. He qualified as a naval aviator in 1927, and was captain of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. He then served as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. Following a period on the Navy's General Board, he became commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet in February 1941.

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, King was appointed as COMINCH, and in March 1942, he succeeded Admiral Harold R. Stark as CNO, holding these two positions under wartime Executive Order. He also established the "numbered fleet" organizations under his direct authority, to include his personal commands of the First Fleet in global offensive submarine efforts and conversely the Tenth Fleet for global antisubmarine efforts. Through his remarkable authorities as COMINCH and CNO, all subordinate commanders acted under King's direct influence. King personally empowered the COMINCH Headquarters to execute global tactical operations, such as the campaign against the U-boats. He held paramount authority in representing the U.S. Navy during the top-level Allied World War II conferences. On the Combined Chiefs, King advocated means to attain speedy victory in Europe First in order to execute the final reconstruction strategy for global stabilization through the central Pacific War maritime offensive in Asia. Never preoccupied with land operations, King stood out as the paramount voice in advancing the naval view of global strategy.

Ernest Joseph King was born in Lorain, Ohio, on 23 November 1878, the second child of James Clydesdale King, a Scottish immigrant from Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire, and his wife Elizabeth (Bessie) née Keam, an immigrant from Plymouth, England. His father initially worked as a bridge builder, but moved to Lorain, where he worked in a railway repair shop. He had an older brother who died in infancy, two younger brothers and two younger sisters: Maude (who died aged seven), Mildred, Norman and Percy.

The family moved to Uhrichsville, Ohio, when his father took a position with the Pennsylvania Railroad workshops, but returned to Lorain a year later. When King was eleven years old, the family moved to Cleveland, where his father was a foreman at the Valley Railway workshops, and King was educated at the Fowler School. He decided to go to work rather than high school, and took a position with a company that made typesetting machines. When it closed he went to work for his father. After a year, the family returned to Lorain, and King entered Lorain High School. He graduated as valedictorian in the Class of 1897; his commencement speech was titled "Uses of Adversity". The school was a small one; there were only thirteen classmates in his year.

King secured an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from his local Congressman, Winfield Scott Kerr, after passing physical and written examinations in Mansfield, Ohio, ahead of thirty other applicants. He entered Annapolis as a naval cadet on 18 August 1897. He acquired the nickname "Rey", the Spanish word for "king".

During the summer breaks, naval cadets served on ships to accustom them to life at sea. While still at the Naval Academy, King served on the cruiser USS San Francisco during the Spanish–American War. During his senior year at the academy, he attained the rank of cadet lieutenant commander, the highest naval cadet ranking at that time. He graduated in June 1901, ranked fourth in his class of sixty-seven and he was elected to serve at the head of the brigade. In thinking about American maritime policy, King often recalled the influence of the graduation address as given by the Vice President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, who handed out the diplomas.

Graduates like King who went into the Navy had to serve for two years at sea before being commissioned as ensigns. King took a short course in torpedo design and operation at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island. He then became the navigator of the survey ship USS Eagle, which conducted surveys of Cienfuegos Bay in Cuba. An eye injury resulted in his being sent to the Brooklyn Naval Hospital. When he recovered, he was ordered to report to the battleship USS Illinois, which was berthed in Brooklyn. The Illinois was the flagship of Rear Admiral Arent S. Crowninshield, and King got to know Crowninshield's staff well. King hoped to find adventure, seeking orders to the cruiser USS Cincinnati, which was bound for the Asiatic Fleet.