Chester William Nimitz was born on 24 February 1885, in Fredericksburg, Texas. Chesters grandfather was a retired sea captain, however Chester, had his sights set on an Army career. While a student in high school, he tried for an appointment to West Point. When there was not one available, he took a competitive examination for Annapolis and was selected and appointed from Texas in 1901. He left high school to enter the Naval Academy, Class of 1905. It was many years later, after he had become a Fleet Admiral that he actually was awarded his high school diploma. At the Academy, Nimitz was an excellent student, especially in mathematics and graduated with distinction -- seventh in a class of 114. The Naval Academy's yearbook, "Lucky Bag", described him as a man "of cheerful yesterdays and confident tomorrows."After graduation, he joined USS Ohio in San Francisco and cruised to the Far East. On 31 January 1907, after the two years' sea duty then required by law, Nimitz was commissioned an Ensign, and took command of the gunboat USS Panay. He then commanded USS Decatur and was court martialed for grounding her, an obstacle in his career which he overcame.He returned to the U. S. in 1907, and was ordered to submarine duty, the branch of the service in which he spent a large part of his sea duty. His first submarine was USS Plunger (A- 1). He successively commanded USS Snapper, USS Narwal and USS Skipjack until 1912. On 20 March of that year, Nimitz, then a Lieutenant, and commanding officer of the submarine E-1 (formerly Skipjack), was awarded the Silver Lifesaving Medal by the Treasury Department for his heroic action in saving W.J. Walsh, Fireman second class, USN, from drowning. A strong tide was running and Walsh, who could not swim, was quickly being swept away from his ship. Lieutenant Nimitz dove in the water and kept Walsh afloat until a small boat picked both up. He had one year in command of the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla bef...
