Like Father Like Son

Comparing the Naval Academy Experiences of Nimitz Jr. and Sr.

By MIDN 3/C Alex Hooker ’23

Lieutenant Chester W. Nimitz Jr., USN, is congratulated by his father Admiral Chester W. Nimitz after Lieutenant Nimitz was presented the Silver Star Medal by Vice Admiral A.S. Carpender on 28 January 1943.

Regarding the possibility of a naval school to train future officers, one salty critic is quoted as saying, “You could no more educate sailors in a shore college than you can teach ducks to swim in a garret.”¹

Considering the long line of brave, consequential officers produced by the Naval Academy since opening its doors, it would seem that this “shore college” is doing something right. 175 years’ worth of graduates prove annually the value of the Academy as an indispensable resource for the United States. Every year, 1,000 young men and women are called from across the country and world to attend this great institution, but only a fortunate few have made service here a family tradition.

One of the most famous multigenerational duos is father and son Fleet Admiral Chester William Nimitz Sr., USN (Ret.) Class of 1905 and Chester William Nimitz Jr., Class of 1936. Chester Nimitz Sr. earned an appointment to the Naval Academy in 1901, although his dream school was West Point.² In the 1902 edition of Lucky Bag , the class of 1905 was paid homage with a clever poem called “The Tale of Nineteen-Five” that is applicable to every class of midshipmen:

This is the class of Nineteen-five;
In May its life began;
In June new members swelled its ranks--
Were sworn in man by man.
[...]
So, gentle reader, glancing here,
Forgive this tale of woe.
And feel sincerest sympathy
For the plebes you do not know.

Although it seems difficult to imagine in retrospect, even the Fleet Admiral was once a plebe!

Chester Nimitz Sr. was at the Academy during the same time as Fleet Admiral William Halsey Jr., USN (Ret.), Class of 1904, who would serve alongside him during World War II. Halsey was also the member of a father/son duo; his father, Captain William Halsey Sr., USN (Ret.), Class of 1873, served as the Department of Seamanship head during Halsey Jr.’s time at the Academy.

Another notable Naval Academy alumnus, Admiral Raymond Spruance, USN (Ret.), Class of 1906, attended during Nimitz Sr.’s time, achieving the rank of admiral and becoming the namesake of the Spruance-class destroyers. Chester Nimitz Jr. was described similarly to his father.

“Red headed and radical came this conspicuous individual who, born and bred a Navy Junior, was early destined to enter the Academy. [...] he is always ready for a nice noisy rough-house,” said one of his peers in the 1936 “Lucky Bag.”

Evolving Academy

Due to the fast-evolving nature of the Academy during the early 1900s, Chester Nimitz Sr. and Jr. experienced largely different academics and training, traditions, and lifestyles during their time as midshipmen. The Naval Academy rapidly improved during the early twentieth century, and two of the most drastically transformed aspects were academics and training.

During the time Nimitz Sr. attended the Academy, midshipmen were required to complete a four-year course of study followed by two years at sea, during which they were designated “passed midshipmen.”³ In 1912, the policy requiring midshipmen to serve two years at sea was omitted. Along with the changes to the academic courses, students at the Naval Academy have been called a host of different titles to include naval cadet, cadet engineer, cadet midshipman, and acting midshipman; however, both Nimitz men were referred to as midshipmen since they both attended the Academy after Congress approved that title in 1902.⁴

Admission into the Academy has also changed over the years. In 1904, midshipmen candidates were required to pass both physical and mental examinations to gain admission. Today, the Academy uses SAT and ACT exam scores. In 1904, once a midshipman was accepted to the Academy, he immediately signed a contract which bound him to the military for eight years, and during his time as a midshipman, he would be paid $500 per year. It is important to note that the majors program at the academy would not be introduced until 1969, so every midshipman within a given class was required to take the same courses.

Classes for a 1/C midshipmen at the Academy during Nimitz Sr.’s time included seamanship, navigation, ordnance, naval construction, boilers, physics, and a language. In contrast, a class of 1935 1/C midshipman would have taken still taken seamanship, navigation, a language, and ordnance, but instead of boilers, physics and naval construction, he would have taken gunnery, marine engineering, mathematics, electrical engineering, history, economics and government.

The Academy was moving away from navy-specific technical courses and toward a wider breadth of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects as well as a larger focus pertaining to the liberal arts. Proving the Academy recognized the importance of graduate education, Secretary of the Navy Curtis Wilbur, Class of 1888, authorized graduates to compete for the Rhodes Scholarship in 1929, Nimitz Sr. and his classmates never received this opportunity.⁵

Arguably, however, the most impactful change to daily midshipmen academics occurred in 1923 when the Academy established the physical training department. The physical training department required midshipmen to take specialized classes to improve their general fitness and fulfill the Academy’s physical mission. During Nimitz Jr.’s time, the 4/C midshipmen were required to be proficient in swimming, strength, gymnastics, posture, boxing, wrestling, and dancing.⁶

On 30 October 1930, the Association of American Universities accredited the Academy's curriculum, and on 25 May 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law an act to provide bachelor degrees for the three major service academies. Luckily, Nimitz Sr. and his contemporaries did not miss out because, in 1937, the superintendent was granted the power to award all living graduates with a bachelor of science degree.

Traditions emerge

Between the years of Nimitz Sr. and Nimitz Jr., the Academy transformed into a real university, began to place a more rigorous emphasis on physical fitness, and altered the training of midshipmen. If there is one thing the United States Naval Academy has no shortage of, it is traditions. From the climbing of Herndon at the conclusion of plebe year to the cover toss which occurs at graduation, these memorable occasions are often the most cherished memories which graduates hold onto from their time at the Academy.

The first Army-Navy football game was played in 1890, so both Nimitz had the pleasure of enjoying this tradition, however, it didn’t become an annual game until 1930, well after Nimitz Sr. attended the Academy.¹² In a stroke of good luck, Nimitz Jr. watched Navy beat Army during his 1/C year for the first time in 14 years. Disappointingly, Nimitz Sr. also missed out on the very first singing of Anchors Aweigh at the 1906 Army-Navy football game. Six years later, in 1912, the hat toss tradition began at graduation.¹³ The hat toss has been a staple of graduating seniors since then and is mimicked annually by thousands of other schools across the country.

Nimitz Sr. never experienced this triumphant culmination of his four years on the shore of the Severn. Another tradition equally as cherished among midshipmen is the 2/C Ring Dance. This formal event for juniors marks the first time midshipmen may wear their class ring. While class rings and class crests have been part of Naval Academy heritage since 1869¹⁴, the tradition of Ring Dance dates back to 1925, meaning that--once again--Nimitz Sr. missed out.

One year later, in 1926, “Navy Blue & Gold” by J.W. Crosley was sung for the first time, becoming the school’s alma mater.

The Academy’s developing campus and emerging clubs meant that Nimitz Sr. and Nimitz Jr. lived remarkably different lifestyles during their time as midshipmen. During Nimitz Sr.’s time at the Academy, the Brigade of Midshipmen expanded from four to eight companies. A change like this signaled the Academy was prospering and growing. Nimitz Jr. and his classmates, who belonged to one of 12 companies, would probably have a difficult time imagining the brigade with only four. The campus grew significantly during the four years Nimitz Sr. was a midshipman to accommodate the rapidly increasing size of the brigade. For example, he saw the completion of Dahlgren Hall and Macdonough Hall on 7 March 1903 and the placing of the present chapel’s cornerstone by George Dewey on 3 June 1904.¹⁵

These buildings alone define the modern Naval Academy campus. The year after Nimitz Sr. graduated, the Academy completed the first and second wings of Bancroft Hall, and the year after that, Mahan Hall, Maury Hall and Sampson Hall were built. Mahan Hall housed the library in which all midshipmen were required to spend at least one and a half hours weekly during their

Unfortunately for Nimitz Sr. and his classmates, however, they graduated two years too early to see the founding of the Masqueraders. The Masqueraders are a group of theatrical performers who bring light to the Academy with their plays and musicals. The Naval Academy Drum & Bugle Corps also was available to Nimitz Jr. but not Nimitz Sr.

While Nimitz Jr did not partake in either organization, he and his classmates were at least able to march to the rhythmic cadences of the Drum and Bugle Corps at noon meal formations and attend a Masqueraders show on select evenings.

Many more changes to the landscape of the Academy came during the years between which the Nimitzs attended, opening opportunities for Nimitz Jr. that did not exist for his father. For example, Nimitz Sr.  wouldn’t have been able to visit John Paul Jones at his final resting place in the chapel because the body wasn’t moved there until 1913; however, the bandstand across the road from the chapel, constructed in 1922, likely served as an excellent venue from which Nimitz Sr. watched his son climb Herndon.

Two additional wings were added to Bancroft in 1917 as the modern Academy continued to take shape. Also, Nimitz Jr. had the privilege of taking his seamanship and navigation classes in the relatively new Luce Hall, built in 1920. Finally, unlike his father, he was able to experience the Naval Academy natatorium, the largest indoor pool in the country at the time.¹⁷

Due to the shifting academic focuses, the forming of new traditions, and the quickly expanding Brigade of Midshipmen, Chester Nimitz Sr. and Chester Nimitz Jr. had many dissimilar experiences during their time here. Notably, however, no change or cluster of changes to the Academy over the years has made it unrecognizable.

By-and-large, the Academy is still the same place, and its core values will continue to stand unflinchingly. Midshipmen over the years have more in common than what first meets the eye, and perhaps it is those similarities that should be celebrated. At the end of the day, no amount of class pride can reduce the fact that each graduate has walked the same path, trying not to step on the same seal.

This article has been edited for style and brevity. It was originally submitted in April 2020 as a Fourth Class Naval History term paper to Commander David Winkler, USNR (Ret.). Winkler served as the Naval Academy Class of 1957 Chair of Naval Heritage during the 2019-20 academic year.

1USNA X3. “USNA 150 Years.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuTabiMk1jU.
2 “Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Biography” National Museum of the Pacific War. Accessed April 24, 2020. web.archive.org/web/20070424172641/www.nimitz-museum.org/nimitzbio.htm.
3 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1904. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904.
4 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1936. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
5 “USNA Timeline.” The U.S. Naval Academy. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php.
6 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1936. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
7 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1904. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904.
8 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1936. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
9 J ohnston, John. “John Porter Merrell Johnston Letters.” USNA Digital Collections. February 17, 1934. https://cdm16099.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16099coll21/id/100/rec/2
10 Prudente, Tim. “Superintendent: Fewer Dropouts Seen at Naval Academy.” Capital Gazette. December 1, 2020. https://bit.ly/2KDmyUS.
11 “USNA Timeline.” The U.S. Naval Academy. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php.
12 “The Army-Navy Game.” www.army.mil. US Army. December 6, 2016. https://bit.ly/3cRKeRG.
13 “You Won't Believe What Happens After The Naval Academy Hat Toss.” Maryland. Southern Living. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://bit.ly/3aM6gUm.
14 “Ring Dance Tradition.” USNA Class Rings Fan Club. September 13, 2019. http://usnaclassrings.com/about/.
15 “USNA Timeline.” The U.S. Naval Academy. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php.
16 Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1936. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
17 “USNA Timeline.” The U.S. Naval Academy. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php.

Works Cited
Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1904. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904.
Annual Register of the United States Naval Academy . Vol. 1936. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936.
“Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Biography .” The National Museum of the Pacific War. web.archive.org/web/20070424172641/www.nimitz-museum.org/nimitzbio.htm.
Hughes, Thomas Alexander. Admiral Bill Halsey: a Naval Life . Harvard University Press, 2016.
Johnston, John. “John Porter Merrell Johnston Letters.” USNA Digital Collections. Feb 17, 1933. https://cdm16099.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16099coll21/id/100/rec/2
Lucky Bag . Vol. 1905. First Class, United States Naval Academy, 1905.
Lucky Bag . Vol. 1936. First Class, United States Naval Academy, 1936.
Prudente, Tim. “Superintendent: Fewer Dropouts Seen at Naval Academy.” Capital Gazette. December 1, 2014. https://bit.ly/2KDmyUS.
“Ring Dance Tradition.” USNA Class Rings Fan Club. September 13, 2019. http://usnaclassrings.com/about/.
“The Army-Navy Game.” www.army.mil. US Army. December 6, 2016. https://bit.ly/3cRKeRG.
“USNA Timeline.” The U.S. Naval Academy. Accessed April 28, 2020. https://www.usna.edu/USNAHistory/History.php.
USNA X3. “USNA 150 Years.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuTabiMk1jU.