Ernest J. King
Ernest J. King | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | "Ernie" "Rey" |
Born | Lorain, Ohio, U.S. | 23 November 1878
Died | 25 June 1956 Kittery, Maine, U.S. | (aged 77)
Buried | |
Service/ | United States Navy |
Years of service | 1901–1956[note 1] |
Rank | Fleet Admiral |
Commands held | Chief of Naval Operations United States Fleet United States Atlantic Fleet USS Lexington Naval Station Norfolk USS Wright USS Bridge Naval Postgraduate School USS Terry |
Battles/wars |
|
Awards | |
Other work | President, Naval Historical Foundation |
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. He directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was the U.S. Navy's second-most senior officer in World War II after Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Born in
Shortly after
Early life and education
King was born in Lorain, Ohio, the son of James Clydesdale King, an Irish Immigrant,[2] and Elizabeth Keam King.[3] King graduated from what is now Lorain High School as valedictorian in the Class of 1897; his commencement speech was titled "Values of Adversity".[4]
King attended the
Surface ships
While still at the Naval Academy, King served in the
King returned to shore duty at Annapolis in 1912. He received his first command, the destroyer USS Terry in 1914, participating in the United States occupation of Veracruz.[7] He then moved on to a more modern destroyer, USS Cassin.
During
After World War I, King, then a captain, became head of the Naval Postgraduate School. Along with Captains Dudley Wright Knox and William S. Pye, King prepared a report on naval training that recommended changes to naval training and career paths. Most of the report's recommendations were accepted and became policy.[11]
Submarines
Prior to World War II, King served in the surface fleet. From 1923 to 1925, he held several posts associated with
King attended a short training course at the Naval Submarine Base New London before taking command of a submarine division, flying his commodore's pennant from USS S-20. He never earned his Submarine Warfare insignia (dolphins), although he did propose and design the now-familiar dolphin insignia. In 1923, he took over command of the Submarine Base itself.[13] During this period, he directed the salvage of USS S-51, earning the first of his three Navy Distinguished Service Medals.
Aviation
In 1926, Rear Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), asked King if he would consider a transfer to naval aviation. King accepted the offer and took command of the aircraft tender USS Wright with additional duties as senior aide on the staff of Commander, Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet.[14]
That year, the
King commanded Wright until 1929, except for a brief interlude overseeing the salvage of USS S-4. He then became Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics under Moffett. The two quarreled over certain elements of Bureau policy, and he was replaced by Commander John Henry Towers and transferred to command of Naval Station Norfolk.[19]
On 20 June 1930, King became captain of the carrier USS Lexington—then one of the largest aircraft carriers in the world—which he commanded for the next two years.[20] During his tenure aboard the Lexington, King was the commanding officer of science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, then Ensign Heinlein, prior to his medical retirement from the US Navy. During that time, Ensign Heinlein dated one of King's daughters.[21]
In 1932, King attended the Naval War College. In a war college thesis entitled "The Influence of National Policy on Strategy", King expounded on the theory that America's weakness was representative democracy:
Historically ... it is traditional and habitual for us to be inadequately prepared. This is the combined result of a number factors, the character of which is only indicated: democracy, which tends to make everyone believe that he knows it all; the preponderance (inherent in democracy) of people whose real interest is in their own welfare as individuals; the glorification of our own victories in war and the corresponding ignorance of our defeats (and disgraces) and of their basic causes; the inability of the average individual (the man in the street) to understand the cause and effect not only in foreign but domestic affairs, as well as his lack of interest in such matters. Added to these elements is the manner in which our representative (republican) form of government has developed as to put a premium on mediocrity and to emphasise the defects of the electorate already mentioned.[22]
Following the death of Admiral Moffet in the crash of the airship USS Akron on 4 April 1933, King became Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, and was promoted to rear admiral on 26 April 1933.[23] As bureau chief, King worked closely with the chief of the Bureau of Navigation, Rear Admiral William D. Leahy, to increase the number of naval aviators.[24]
At the conclusion of his term as bureau chief in 1936, King became Commander, Aircraft, Base Force, at
King hoped to be appointed as either Chief of Naval Operations or Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, but on 15 June 1939, he was posted to the General Board, an elephants' graveyard where senior officers spent the time remaining before retirement. A series of extraordinary events would alter this outcome.[29]
World War II
King's career was resurrected by his friend, Admiral
Historian
On 17 December 1944, King was promoted to the newly created rank of
Retirement and death
After retiring, King lived in Washington, D.C. He was active in his early post-retirement, serving as president of the Naval Historical Foundation from 1946 to 1949, and he wrote the foreword to and assisted in the writing of Battle Stations! Your Navy In Action, a photographic history book depicting the U.S. Navy's operations in World War II that was published in 1946. King suffered a debilitating stroke in 1947, and subsequent ill-health ultimately forced him to stay in naval hospitals at Bethesda, Maryland, and at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. King briefly served as an advisor to the Secretary of the Navy in 1950, but he was unable to return to duty in any long-term capacity as his health would not permit it. King wrote an autobiography, Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record, which he published in 1952.
King died of a heart attack in Kittery on 25 June 1956, at the age of 77.[41] After lying in state at the National Cathedral in Washington, King was buried in the United States Naval Academy Cemetery at Annapolis, Maryland. His wife, who survived him, was buried beside her husband in 1969.
Analysis
King served 55 years on active duty in the
Pointing to King's five-and-a-half decades in the Navy and his many accomplishments as one of the highest-ranked Allied military leaders of
His supporters see his ability to counter both British and
Military historian John Ray Skates described King as "perhaps the most disliked Allied leader of World War II", adding that only "British
One tongue-in-cheek remark about King, made by one of his daughters and repeated by Navy personnel at the time, was that "he is the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy. He is always in a rage." U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt described King as a man who "shaves every morning with a blow torch."[47]
It is commonly reported when King was called to be COMINCH, he remarked, "When they get in trouble they send for the sons-of-bitches." However, when he was later asked if he had said this, King replied he had not, but would have if he had thought of it.[48] On the other hand, King's view of press relations for the US Navy in World War II is well documented. When asked to state a public relations policy for the Navy, King replied "Don't tell them anything. When it's over, tell them who won."[49]
Response to Operation Drumbeat
At the start of U.S. involvement in World War II, commercial ships traveling the coastal waterways were not traveling under convoy. King's critics attribute the delay in implementing this measure not to strategic reasons or lack of material, but rather, to his Anglophobia, as the convoys and seaboard blackouts were British proposals, and King was supposedly loath to have the U.S. Navy adopt any ideas from the Royal Navy. He also refused, until March 1942, the loan of British convoy escorts when the Americans had only a handful of suitable vessels. He was, however, aggressive in driving his destroyer captains to attack U-boats in defense of convoys and in planning counter-measures against German surface raiders, even before the formal declaration of war in December 1941.[50]
Instead of convoys, King had the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard perform regular anti-submarine patrols, but these patrols followed a regular schedule. U-boat commanders learned the schedule, and coordinated their attacks to these schedules. Leaving the lights on in coastal towns back-lit merchant ships for the U-boats. As a result, there was a period of disastrous shipping losses—two million tons lost in January and February 1942 alone, and urgent pressure applied from both sides of the Atlantic. However, King resisted the use of convoys because he was convinced the Navy lacked sufficient escort vessels to make them effective. The formation of convoys with inadequate escort would also result in increased port-to-port time, giving the enemy concentrated groups of targets rather than single ships proceeding independently. Furthermore, blackouts were a politically sensitive issue—coastal cities resisted, citing the loss of tourism revenue.[citation needed]
In May 1942, King marshalled resources, including small cutters and private vessels that he had previously scorned, to establish a day and night interlocking convoy system running from
By August 1942, the submarine threat to shipping in U.S. coastal waters had been contained. The U-boats' "second happy time" ended, with the loss of seven U-boats and a dramatic reduction in shipping losses. The same effect occurred when convoys were extended to the Caribbean. Despite the ultimate defeat of the U-boats, critics of King believe that King's initial decisions in this theatre were flawed. Critics say that King had a bias which clouded his judgment, leading to excessive loss of life, ships and war materials. There was an existential threat posed to the United Kingdom by the war in the Atlantic. Whether King's decisions were strategic and a result of Roosevelt's decision not to build King's requested escorts[36] or part of King's advocacy of a "Japan First/Pacific First" policy, which Roosevelt believed, in part, was a bluff to scare the British into cross-Channel operations[52]), or the result of personal traits, such as Anglophobia, poor judgment, and stubbornness, some scholars believe that King's decisions put the entire outcome of World War II in serious jeopardy.[53]
As regrettable as the loss of many merchant mariners and ships was in the first six months of 1942, it did not threaten the outcome of World War II because it did not include any troops or armaments and did not make a major difference in the amount of products or fuel shipped to Europe and the Soviet Union. A review of U.S. Merchant Marine shipping data shows the tonnage lost as a proportion of the total amount transported never exceeded 3%.[54] Note is made of King's advocacy of the urgency of balancing Navy responsibilities on both the Atlantic and the Pacific theatres, including impending attacks by the Imperial Navy of Japan.
Other decisions
Other decisions widely regarded as controversial were his resistance to the employment of long-range
Employment of long-range maritime patrol aircraft in the Atlantic was complicated by inter-service squabbling over command and control (the aircraft belonged to the Army; the mission was the Navy's;
The deployment of British and Commonwealth forces in the Pacific was a political matter. The measure was forced on Churchill by the British Chiefs of Staff, not only to re-establish British presence in the region, but to mitigate any impression in the U.S. that the British were doing nothing to help defeat Japan. King was adamant that naval operations against Japan remain 100% American, and angrily resisted the idea of a British naval presence in the Pacific at the
However, King's animosity towards the British Navy was at least partially tempered later in the war. When Admiral James Somerville was placed in charge of the British naval delegation in Washington, D.C. in October 1944 he managed—to the surprise of almost everyone—to get on very well with the notoriously abrasive and anti-British Admiral King.[58]
General
... tough as nails and carried himself as stiffly as a poker. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness. At the start, he was intolerant and suspicious of all things British, especially the Royal Navy; but he was almost equally intolerant and suspicious of the American Army. War against Japan was the problem to which he had devoted the study of a lifetime, and he resented the idea of American resources being used for any other purpose than to destroy the Japanese. He mistrusted Churchill's powers of advocacy, and was apprehensive that he would wheedle President Roosevelt into neglecting the war in the Pacific.
Contrary to British opinion, King was a strong believer in the "
Following Japan's defeat at the
In spite of (or perhaps partly because of) the fact the two men did not get along,[63] the combined influence of King and General Douglas MacArthur increased the allocation of resources to the Pacific War.[64]
Another controversy involving King was his role in the court-martial of Captain Charles B. McVay III, commander of USS Indianapolis, possibly as retaliation for being reprimanded by McVay's father much earlier. King, effectively, ordered that McVay be court-martialed and convicted, to the dismay of Admiral Nimitz and others. The verdict of the court-martial was much later annulled.[65] In his book Abandon Ship, author Richard F. Newcomb posits a motive for Admiral King's ordering McVay's court-martial. According to Captain McVay III's father, Admiral Charles B McVay Jr., "'King never forgot a grudge". King had been a junior officer under the command of McVay's father when King and other officers sneaked some women aboard a ship. Admiral McVay had a letter of reprimand placed in King's record for that. "Now," he raged, "King's used [my son] to get back at me."[66]
Personal life
While at the Naval Academy, King met Martha Rankin ("Mattie") Egerton, a Baltimore socialite, whom he married in a ceremony at the Chapel at West Point on 10 October 1905.[67][68] King and Egerton had six daughters, Claire, Elizabeth, Florence, Martha, Eleanor and Mildred; and a son, Ernest Joseph King Jr. Ernest Jr also served in navy, retiring at the rank of Commander.[69] King was a practising Episcopalian, a faith he shared with his wife and made a point of raising all of their children in.[citation needed]
Dates of rank
- United States Naval Academy Midshipman – June 1901
Ensign | Lieutenant (junior grade)
|
Lieutenant | Lieutenant Commander
|
Commander | Captain
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
O-1 | O-2 | O-3 | O-4 | O-5 | O-6 |
7 June 1903 | Never Held | 7 June 1906 | 1 July 1913 | 1 July 1917 | 21 September 1918 |
Rear Admiral
|
Vice Admiral | Admiral | Fleet Admiral
|
---|---|---|---|
O-8 | O-9 | O-10 | Special Grade |
26 April 1933 | 29 January 1938 | 1 February 1941 | 17 December 1944 |
King never held the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) although, for administrative reasons, his service record annotates his promotion to both lieutenant (junior grade) and lieutenant on the same day.
- All dates of rank were referenced from Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, pp. xii–xv.
Awards and decorations
Naval Aviator Wings
| ||
Navy Cross | Navy Distinguished Service Medal with two award stars | |
Sampson Medal | Spanish Campaign Medal | Philippine Campaign Medal |
Mexican Service Medal | World War I Victory Medal with "Atlantic Fleet" clasp |
American Defense Service Medal with "A" Device |
American Campaign Medal | World War II Victory Medal
|
National Defense Service Medal |
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain Ernest Joseph King, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession during World War I, as Assistant Chief of Staff of the Atlantic Fleet during World War I.
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Captain Ernest Joseph King, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, as Officer in charge of the salvaging of the U.S.S. S-51, from 16 October 1925 to 8 July 1926.
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Captain Ernest Joseph King, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Commanding Officer of the Salvage Force entrusted with the raising of the U.S.S. S-4, sunk as a result of a collision off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 17 December 1927. Largely through his untiring energy, efficient administration and judicious decisions this most difficult task, under extremely adverse conditions, was brought to a prompt and successful conclusion.
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Second Gold Star in lieu of a Third Award of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States as Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet from 20 December 1941, and concurrently as Chief of Naval Operations from 18 March 1942 to 10 October 1945. During the above periods, Fleet Admiral King, in his dual capacity, exercised complete military control of the naval forces of the United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard and directed all activities of these forces in conjunction with the U.S. Army and our Allies to bring victory to the United States. As the United States Naval Member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Combined Chiefs of Staff, he coordinated the naval strength of this country with all agencies of the United States and of the Allied Nations, and with exceptional vision, driving energy, and uncompromising devotion to duty, he fulfilled his tremendous responsibility of command and direction of the greatest naval force the world has ever seen and the simultaneous expansion of all naval facilities in the prosecution of the war. With extraordinary foresight, sound judgment, and brilliant strategic genius, he exercised a guiding influence in the Allied strategy of victory. Analyzing with astute military acumen the multiple complexity of large-scale combined operations and the paramount importance of amphibious warfare, Fleet Admiral King exercised a guiding influence in the formation of all operational and logistic plans and achieved complete coordination between the U.S. Navy and all Allied military and naval forces. His outstanding qualities of leadership throughout the greatest period of crisis in the history of our country were an inspiration to the forces under his command and to all associated with him.[70]
Foreign awards
King was also the recipient of several foreign awards and decorations (shown in order of acceptance and if more than one award for a country, placed in order of precedence):
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom) 1945 | |
Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur (France) 1945
| |
Grand Cross of the Order of George I (Greece) 1946 | |
Knight Grand Cross with Swords of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) 1948 | |
Knight of the Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy 1948 | |
Order of Naval Merit (Brazil), Grand Officer 1943 | |
Estrella Abdon Calderon (Ecuador) 1943 | |
Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown with palm (1948) | |
Commander of the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Panama) 1929 | |
Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy 1933 | |
Order of Naval Merit (Cuba) 1943 | |
Order of the Sacred Tripod (China) 1945 | |
Croix de guerre (France) 1944 (attachment(s) unknown)
| |
Croix de Guerre (Belgium) (1948) (attachment(s) unknown)
|
Legacy
- The guided missile destroyer USS Kingwas named in his honor.
- Two public schools in his hometown of Admiral King High School) until it was merged with the city's other public high school to form Lorain High Schoolin 2010, and Admiral King Elementary School.
- In 2011, Lorain dedicated a Tribute Space at Admiral King's birthplace, and new elementary school in Lorain will bear his name.
- In 1956, schools located on the U.S. Naval Bases and Air Stations were given names of U.S. heroes of the past. E.J. King High School, the Department of Defense high school on Sasebo Naval Base, in Japan, is named for him.
- The dining hall at the U.S. Naval Academy, King Hall, is named after him.
- The auditorium at the Naval Postgraduate School, King Hall, is also named after him.
- Recognizing King's great personal and professional interest in maritime history, the Secretary of the Navy named in his honor an academic chair at the Naval War College to be held with the title of the Ernest J. King Professor of Maritime History.
- King Drive at Arlington National Cemetery is named in honor of Fleet Admiral King.
- One of the two major living quarters at Officer Training Command, Newport, RI is named King Hall in his honor.
- King was portrayed by Tyler McVey in The Gallant Hours, Russell Johnson in MacArthur (1977 film), John Dehner in War and Remembrance (miniseries), and Mark Rolston in Midway (2019 film)
Notes
References
Citations
- ISBN 978-1-85109-961-0.
- ^ "USNA Notable Graduate: Ernest J. King".
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 3.
- ^ Murray, A War to be Won, p. 336.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 12.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, pp. 10–12, 15–41.
- ^ Martin Folly, Historical Dictionary of US Diplomacy
- ^ Gannon, Operation Drumbeat, p. 168.
- ^ "Full Text Citations For Award of The Navy Cross to Members of the US Navy World War I". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
- ^ Young, Frank Pierce. "Pearl Harbor History: Building The Way To A Date Of Infamy". Retrieved 25 May 2013.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, pp. 54–55.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, p. 58.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, pp. 62–64.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 187.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, pp. 190–193.
- ISBN 1-58566-093-0.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, p. 76.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 228.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 211.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 214.
- ^ William H. Patterson, Robert A. Heinlein: A Learning Curve
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, pp. 226–227.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, pp. 240–242.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 249.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 266.
- ^ Morton, Gerard T. (1985). "Sixty Seconds to Live". Proceedings. 111 (9). United States Naval Institute: 70–72.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 279.
- ^ Rebekah. "The Day that Will Live in Infamy ... but it didn't have to". The USS Flier Project. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
- ^ King and Whitehill, A Naval Record, p. 295.
- ^ "Secret Revealed: America was at War with Nazi Germany Before 1941". December 2020.
- ^ "Undeclared War in the Atlantic". 23 November 2016.
- ^ "HyperWar: U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945 (Off. Reports to SecNav from CNO) [First Report]".
- Warren F. Kimball, David Reynolds: FDR's World: War, Peace, and Legacies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), p. 70.
- ^ "Navy Leader Development Framework" (PDF). U.S. Navy. May 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Holmes, James (20 June 2017). "Memorandum for ACC Commanders: Leadership, Initiative, and War" (PDF). U.S. Air Force. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-1557503626.
- ^ Ryan, Timothy J. and Copes, Jan M. (1994) To Die Gallantly – The Battle of the Atlantic. Westview Press, Chapter 7.
- ^ Robb-Webb, Jon (2001). "Convoy", in Richard Holmes (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- ISBN 978-1441186638
- ISBN 000216048X
- ^ Borneman. p. 463.
- ISBN 9781250100719.
- ^ a b "Sea Classics. Mike Coppock. September 2007. Ernest J. King: WWII's Saltiest Sea Dog?". Findarticles.com. p. 5. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- ISBN 0-06-092088-2.
- ^ Mike Coppock (September 2007). "Sea Classics. 'Ernest J. King: WWII'S Saltiest Sea Dog?'". Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- ISBN 0-87249-972-3.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, p. 223.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, p. 573.
- ISBN 0-87021-149-8.
- ISBN 9780307874375.
- ISBN 1-55750-096-7.
- ^ Stolee, Mark A. “The 'Pacific-First' Alternative in American World War II Strategy”. The International History Review Vol. 2, No. 3 (Jul., 1980), pp. 432-452 (21 pages). Published By: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
- ISBN 0-316-58311-1.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-606-3.
- ^ Gannon, Operation Drumbeat, 1990, pp. 391, 414–415.
- ^ Buell ch 22
- ^ Buell ch 30
- required.)
- ^ Lord Ismay, The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay (1974) p. 253
- ISBN 0-316-58311-1.
- ISBN 0-670-33694-7.
- ^ Bowen, James. Despite Pearl Harbor, America adopts a 'Germany First' strategy. The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal. Pacific War Historical Society. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help) - ^ Simkin, John. "Ernest King". Spartacus Educational. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ Gray, Anthony W. Jr. (1997). "Chapter 6: Joint Logistics in the Pacific Theater". In Alan Gropman (ed.). The Big 'L' – American Logistics in World War II. Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ^ "Captain McVay". USS Indianapolis.org. Archived from the original on 4 February 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2007.
- ISBN 9780380819041.
- ^ Borneman The Admirals pg. 69
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, pp. 12, 17, 26.
- ^ Buell, Master of Sea Power, 1980, pp. 56, 452.
- ^ "Ernest King - Recipient -". valor.militarytimes.com. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
General sources
- Barnes, Gary I. "Great Warriors of World War II: Admiral Ernest J. King and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz" (DTIC 1984) online
- Beckman, Kyle B. (2015) Personality And Strategy:: How The Personalities Of General MacArthur And Admiral King Shaped Allied Strategy In The Pacific In World War Two (2015) online.
- ISBN 0-397-00753-1.
- ISBN 978-0-316-09784-0.
- Borneman, Walter R. (2016). MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-40532-4.
- Buell, Thomas B. (1995). Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. ISBN 1-55750-092-4. online
- Coles, Michael. "Ernest King and the British Pacific Fleet: The Conference at Quebec, 1944 ('Octagon')." Journal of Military History 65.1 (2001): 105–129. excerpt
- ISBN 0-06-092088-2.
- Hall, George M. (1994). The Fifth Star: High Command in an Era of Global War. Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-94802-1.
- Hayes, Grace P. (1982). The history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in World War II.
- Jordan, Jonathan W. (2015). American Warlords: How Roosevelt's High Command Led America to Victory in World War II. NAL/Caliber.
- King, Ernest; ISBN 0-7858-1302-0.
- Marolda, Edward J., ed. (1998) FDR and the US Navy (Macmillan, 1998).
- ISBN 0-7858-1302-0.
- Stoler, Mark A. (2003) Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and US Strategy in World War II (UNC Press Books, 2003).
- Tallant, Shawn R. "Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. A Strategist, Leader and Clausewitzian" (DTIC 1994) online
- Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942. New York: W. W. Norton.
- ——— (2015). The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944. New York: W. W. Norton.
- ——— (2020). Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944–1945. New York: W. W. Norton.
External links
- "Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King". Naval Historical Center, Department of the Navy. 1 June 1996. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007. Ernest King's biography on official U.S. Department of the Navy website.
- O'Connor, Jerome (February 2004). "FDR's Undeclared War". Naval History Magazine. U.S. Naval Institute. Archived from the original on 19 December 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2007. An article documenting the "sons of bitches" quote and other relevant facts.
- 24 Armed Trawlers of the RNPS 'Churchill's Pirate's' were sent to protect the US coast in 1942.[permanent dead link]
- Ernest J. King Papers 1897–1981 (bulk 1897–1953), MS 437 held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy