Transcript copies of correspondence, orders, reports, speeches (1943-1948), and press clippings. Speeches also on microfilm. CINCPAC (Comander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet) reports from Nimitz on operations and battles. Includes 79 photographs (1885-1957) of Nimitz' career and signed photographs of Navy ships.

Chester William Nimitz (1885-1966) was Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. At the age of 15 he received a congressional appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy from which he graduated with distinction in 1905. After two years of duty in the U.S. Asiatic Fleet, Nimitz was sent to the Philippines, where he commanded a gunboat, and later a destroyer. When the destroyer ran aground, Nimitz was court-martialed and found guilty, but was let off with a reprimand. Returning to the U.S. in 1908 he commanded a succession of submarines and became an expert on diesel engines and undersea warfare. During World War I, Nimitz was Chief of Staff to the Commander of the Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Following the War he organized the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps at the University of California, was Assistant Chief at the Bureau of Navigation and commanded a battleship division. In 1938 he was promoted to Rear Admiral.

Collection is open for research.