Early life Husband Kimmel was born in
Henderson, Kentucky, on February 26, 1882, to Sibella "Sibbie" Lambert Kimmel (1846–1919) and Major
Manning Marius Kimmel (1832–1916), a graduate of
West Point who fought with the
Union side during the
American Civil War before switching allegiance to the
Confederate States Army to fight alongside his neighbors. Kimmel was a descendant of
Herman Husband. Kimmel was known by various
nicknames throughout his life: "Kim" and "Hubbie", contractions of his given and family names, and later, "Mustafa", the last being a reference to
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, due to the similar sounding (
homophony) "Kimmel" and "Kemal". He married Dorothy Kinkaid (1890–1975), sister of Admiral
Thomas C. Kinkaid, with whom he had three sons:
Manning, Thomas K. Kimmel and Edward R. Kimmel.
Naval career Kimmel graduated in 1904 from the
United States Naval Academy in
Annapolis,
Maryland.
Pearl Harbor ; and operations officer and assistant chief of staff, Captain
Walter S. DeLany (left), at Pearl Harbor, 1941. After Admiral
James O. Richardson was relieved of command in February 1941, in part for protesting that the Pacific Fleet if based in
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, would be the logical first target in the event of war with Japan, Kimmel was appointed in his place as
Commander in Chief,
United States Fleet (CINCUS). Kimmel was also appointed Commander in Chief,
United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT), a position reestablished on February 1, 1941, when General Order 143 was issued, and Kimmel assumed command with the temporary rank of
admiral starting on that date. Kimmel earned a reputation as a hard worker who inspired subordinates, but some later criticized him for over-attention to detail, claiming it portrayed a lack of self-confidence. These critics asserted that Kimmel constantly revisited minute tasks he had done previously when he could have delegated the work to others. The base for the fleet had been moved from its traditional home at
San Diego, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in May 1940. Richardson had been relieved of command for his vocal opposition to this move and concerns about the fleet's vulnerability. On February 18, 1941, Kimmel wrote to the
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral
Harold Raynsford Stark: I feel that a surprise attack (
submarine,
air, or combined) on Pearl Harbor is a possibility, and we are taking immediate practical steps to minimize the damage inflicted and to ensure that the attacking force will pay. On April 18, 1941, Kimmel wrote to the CNO requesting additional resources for base construction at
Wake Island and for a
Marine Corps defense battalion to be stationed there. In November Kimmel ordered to ferry Marine fighters and pilots to Wake Island to reinforce the garrison, and for to depart Pearl Harbor on December 5 to ferry Marine
dive bombers to Midway. Because of these missions, neither
aircraft carrier was in Pearl Harbor during the later Japanese attack. Japan's
attack on Pearl Harbor occurred in an air raid on December 7, 1941, and caused the deaths of 2,403 U.S. military personnel and civilians.
Edwin T. Layton related that during the attack: Kimmel stood by the window of his office at the
submarine base, his jaw set in stony anguish. As he watched the disaster across the harbor unfold with terrible fury, a spent
.50 caliber machine gun bullet crashed through the glass. It brushed the admiral before it clanged to the floor. It cut his white jacket and raised a welt on his chest. "It would have been merciful had it killed me," Kimmel murmured to his
communications officer, Commander
Maurice "Germany" Curts. In
The World at War, a naval serviceman—who had been alongside Admiral Kimmel during the attack—recalled that as Kimmel watched the destruction of the fleet, he tore off his four-star
shoulder boards in apparent recognition of the impending end of his command.
After Pearl Harbor Kimmel was relieved of his command ten days after the attack. At the time he was planning and executing retaliatory moves, including an effort to relieve and reinforce
Wake Island that could have led to an early clash between American and
Japanese carrier forces.
Vice Admiral William S. Pye (Commander, Battle Force, Pacific Fleet) became acting CINCPACFLT on December 17. He had reservations about Kimmel's plan and decided the Wake Island operation was too risky, recalling the relief force. Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz took over as CINCPACFLT on December 31 and by that time Wake Island had been invaded and occupied by the Japanese. Kimmel's CINCUS command was reassigned to Admiral
Ernest J. King (at that time Commander in Chief,
U.S. Atlantic Fleet [CINCLANTFLT]) in a wartime expanded role of Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (with the new acronym of COMINCH), which would also be combined with King's subsequent appointment as the Chief of Naval Operations. In 1942, the
Roberts Commission, appointed by President Roosevelt to investigate the attack, determined that Kimmel and his counterpart,
Army Lieutenant General Walter Short, were guilty of errors of judgment and
dereliction of duty in the events leading up to the attack. Kimmel defended his decisions at several hearings, testifying that important information had not been made available to him. Following the death of
Secretary Knox in April 1944, his successor
James V. Forrestal ordered that a
Naval Court of Inquiry be convened to investigate the facts surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and to assess any culpability borne by members of the Navy. The court consisted of Admiral
Adolphus Andrews; Admiral
Orin G. Murfin, who served as President of the Court, and Admiral
Edward C. Kalbfus. The court convened on July 24, 1944, and held daily sessions in
Washington, D.C.,
San Francisco, and
Pearl Harbor. After interviewing numerous witnesses, it completed its work on October 19, 1944. Its report to the Navy Department largely exonerated Kimmel. The court found that Kimmel's decisions had been correct given the limited information available to him, but criticized then-
Chief of Naval Operations Stark for failing to warn Kimmel that war was imminent. The court concluded that "based upon the facts established, the Court is of the opinion that no offenses have been committed nor serious blame incurred on the part of any person or persons in the naval service." Because the court's findings implicitly revealed that
American cryptographers had broken the Japanese codes, a critical wartime secret, the court's report was not made public until after the end of the war. Upon reviewing the report, Forrestal felt that the court had been too lenient in assigning blame for the disaster. The court had found that the Army and Navy had adequately cooperated in the defense of Pearl Harbor; that there had been no information indicating that Japanese carriers were on their way to attack Pearl Harbor; and that the attack had succeeded principally because of the
aerial torpedo, a secret weapon whose use could not have been predicted. Forrestal disapproved of all of these findings, judging that Kimmel could have done more with the information he had to prevent or mitigate the attack. Forrestal concluded that both Kimmel and Stark had "failed to demonstrate the superior judgment necessary for exercising command commensurate with their rank and their assigned duties." Kimmel retired in early 1942, and worked for the military contractor
Frederic R. Harris, Inc. after the war. In retirement, Kimmel lived in
Groton, Connecticut, where he died on May 14, 1968. ==Posthumous reputation and debate==