Ernest J. King
Ernest J. King (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs)
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This article is about Fleet Admiral Ernest King, the second most senior US Navy officer in World War II. This nomination is the result of the recent drive to upgrade vital articles and this is a level 5 vital article. Unfortunately, I was unable to nominate it in time owing to other commitments. I already worked on Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy, the most senior naval officer, but this article was more difficult. King has three biographies, all fairly good, but coming to grips with King requires an understanding of the United States Navy. I hope I have been able to do it and King justice. The article had passed an A-class review. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:39, 25 May 2026 (UTC)
MSincccc
- My examinations run till the end of the month, but I'll be happy to leave comments when possible. MSincccc (talk) 09:01, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
- Early life and education
- with the Pennsylvania Railroad workshops" → "at the Pennsylvania Railroad workshops"
- "there were only thirteen others in his class." → "there were only 13 others in his class."
- "ahead of thirty other applicants." → "ahead of 30 other applicants."
- "ranked fourth in his class of sixty-seven" → "ranked fourth in his class of 67"
- MOS:NUMERAL: "Integers greater than nine expressible in one or two words may be expressed either in numerals or in words." Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:03, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- We could link to valedictorian.
- Surface ships
- "having taken his examination while the Cincinnati was in Europe." → "having taken his examinations while the Cincinnati was in Europe."
- "the Commander in Chief, of the Atlantic Fleet." → "the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet."
- Link to midshipman?
MSincccc (talk) 14:18, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- Aviation
- The science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein served aboard Lexington as communications officer, and was deeply impressed by him.
- We could link "flag rank" to Flag officer.
- Link "Naval War College" on its first independent mention?
- We could link to Marine salvage.
- "the now-familiar dolphin insignia" → "the now familiar dolphin insignia"
- Drop the hyphen?
- MOS:HYPHEN: "a hyphen may be used in the predicative form as well (hand-fed turkeys, the turkeys were hand-fed)." Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:03, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- Drop the hyphen?
A fine read so far. We will continue (and possibly conclude tomorrow). MSincccc (talk) 14:41, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- World War II (General Board)
- Link Hollywood?
- He prepared a request for $300 million to carry out the program.
- Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet
- "which is still cited widely in today's armed forces" → "which is still widely cited in today's armed forces"
- Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet
- "Ten days later he hoisted his flag" → "Ten days later, he hoisted his flag"
- "When the American chiefs of staff, which included King and Stark," → "When the American chiefs of staff, who included King and Stark,"
- "Roosevelt was not above micromanaging the navy." → "Roosevelt was not above micromanaging the Navy."
- "However King gave way to Roosevelt" → "However, King gave way to Roosevelt"
MSincccc (talk) 14:37, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
- War in the Atlantic
- Do we need the commas around "Vizeadmiral Karl Dönitz"?
- "Another answer to the U-Boat menace" → "Another answer to the U-boat menace"
- Retirement and death
- Link lying in state?
- Legacy
- We could link to maritime history.
- Lead
- and assistance to China in Asia.
- Bottom line
Metalicat
Reviewing as a non-specialist; the points below are general observations and questions rather than specialist objections, so please push back where I have misunderstood.
Lead
- The final sentence of paragraph 3 was hard for me to follow: On the Combined Chiefs, King advocated means to attain speedy victory in Europe First in order to execute the final reconstruction strategy for global stabilization through the central Pacific War maritime offensive in Asia. I struggled to parse "final reconstruction strategy for global stabilization" as a non-specialist. Would something like On the Combined Chiefs, King supported the "Europe first" strategy as a means to swift victory in Europe, with the central Pacific maritime offensive to follow as the path to victory over Japan work? Open to a different formulation if I have misread the underlying claim.
- I think is is too easy to misread. I have changed it to "On the Combined Chiefs, King advocated a speedy victory in Europe under the "Europe first" strategy, a maritime offensive in the Central Pacific, and assistance to China in Asia" which I think is clearer. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:36, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
- "Europe First" appears in the lead and the War in Europe section but is not wikilinked, and the capitalisation differs from the Wikipedia article at Europe first (lowercase). I would suggest wikilinking on first mention and matching the lowercase form with quotation marks: the "Europe first" strategy. - If this is indeed the correct way.
- Never preoccupied with land operations, King stood out as the paramount voice in advancing the naval view of global strategy. "Paramount" reads strong in Wikipedia's voice; if this is paraphrasing a specific historian, in-text attribution might help.
Early life
- He decided to go to work rather than high school: small thing, but He decided to go to work rather than attend high school reads slightly more natural.
- King hoped to find adventure, seeking orders to the cruiser Cincinnati: the participial structure was slightly awkward to me; King hoped to find adventure and sought orders to the cruiser Cincinnati would split it cleanly.
- However, he upset many superiors by being cocky, perhaps excessively confident, and certainly uninterested in fitting in...: the "perhaps excessively confident" parenthetical reads as an authorial hedge rather than source-attributed characterisation. Is this Buell's or Kohnen's own qualifier, or is it Wikipedia's?
- Buell: "In addition to his drinking, King's tempestuous behavior repeatedly provoked his senior officers. What King regarded as forthrightness, they regarded as stubbornness, belligerence and arrogant insubordination." Two examples follow, including the one with Rodman.
- Kohnen: "Drunk and missing his cap upon appearing at the quarterdeck with his collar undone, the executive officer on Cincinatti, Lt. Cmdr. Hugh Rodman, threatened to see King Dismissed from the service. Rodman barked a series of insults, which prompted King to respond impertinently"
- I had originally wrote: "Bouts of heavy drinking led to King being put under hatches, and a forthright and arrogant attitude bordering on insubordination led to adverse comments in his fitness reports" but another editor changed it to the text above. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:36, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
World War I
- King was the last to continue this tradition.: last what? Last serving officer? Last to do so in the US Navy? A couple of extra words would help.
- The source says: "paradoxically, a very junior officer who was a fervent Anglophobe -- was the only one of them who persisted all his life in wearing that affrontive jacket pocket hankie memento." Re-worded. (The hands in packets stance in the image is also in emulation of Beatty.)Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:36, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
- Compare the infobox portrait with that of David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 10:16, 29 May 2026 (UTC)
Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet
- Legend has it that King said: "When they get into trouble, they call for the sons-of-bitches.": "Legend has it" is informal; An often-repeated story holds that King said... or similar might fit Wikipedia voice better.
- The Dauntless cost paragraph: the Roosevelt quotation about "Saint George" needed a footnote or aside for me to realise this referred to Marshall. A non-specialist might miss it.
Joint Chiefs of Staff
- King had thirty-two official meetings with Roosevelt at the White House in 1942, but only eight in 1943, nine in 1944 and just one in 1945.: striking statistic, but the article doesn't tell the reader what to make of it. Was this a function of the JCS structure, of changing presidential attention, of King falling out of favour, or of wartime travel patterns? Even one sentence of interpretation would help.
Relations with the British
- Such a characterization failed to reflect the historical understanding and deeper commitment King demonstrated as a strategist...: this reads as Wikipedia voice doing rebuttal work; attributing it explicitly to Kohnen would strengthen the framing.
That is what I have. Happy to be corrected on any of these. A very interesting article. Metalicat (talk) 19:07, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
Comments from Noleander
- Image caption "King stands behind Roosevelt at the Octagon Conference in Quebec in September 1944." Some readers may not know what Roosevelt looks like; and even those that do have to pick 1 of 2 people who are kinda behind Roosevelt . Consider "Standing 3rd (4th?) from left" or similar.
- "When he examined the war plan in the safe, he found it was for a war with Mexico." - Some may read "the war plan" to mean the ship's current, valid plan. Consider rewording to "When he examined the safe, he found an old plan for a war with Mexico." or similar.
- "... had Willson retired in August 1942 due to heart conduction " Is that supposed to be "a heart condition"? Even if the source says "conduction" (meaning an electrical issue with the heart) no reader will know that, so consider a wikilink or more understandable term.
- Source details? Patterson, William H. Mr. Science. p. 365. Can more details be added (e.g. publisher name? external link?) so curious readers can track-down the book?
- Is this big quote essential for the article?
- He expounded on the theory that America's weakness was representative democracy: "Historically, despite Washington's (and others') experienced and cogent advice to make due preparations for war, it is traditional and habitual for us to be inadequately prepared. This is the combined result of a number of 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 emphasize the defects of the electorate already mentioned."
- That's a large paragraph. It looks like the source is a primary source: a work by King, correct? Meaning a biographer did not quote that passage? (1) The article should be in encyclopedia's voice, quote only if it is super important; (2) if no 2ndary source emphasiszes that quote, it is sorta OR for a WP editor to select it for special emphasis; (3) the article is rather large, so any quotes should be small, unless there is a compelling reason. Consider replacing the quote with a paraphrase in encyclopedia's voice.
- The quote is from King's essay. It is the subject of commentary in the secondary sources. Rather than quote them or editorialise in Wikipedia's voice, I chose to use King's own words. The problem is that what critics regarded as shocking twenty years ago now sounds more like common sense. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 23:00, 26 May 2026 (UTC)
- Confusing: "Stories of and about the popular image of King often obscured the remarkable history underlying the pivotal events, which later shaped his command persona within the context of the U.S. Naval services in his era. Fidelity to the service also required fidelity within the context of the service monoculture. King's wife and seven children usually accompanied him to his various assignments ashore. King purchased several homes, along the way."
- I'm not sure what this is trying to tell me: "Stories of and about the popular image of King often obscured the remarkable history underlying the pivotal events" It's as if a key sentence after this have been deleted. Can some words be added to explain what was so "remarkable" and what "obscured" what?
- I have no idea what this is telling me: "Fidelity to the service also required fidelity within the context of the service monoculture." Can it be re-worded in plainer terms so lay reader can understand?
- So what? "King purchased several homes, along the way." Isn't that common for military personnel, at least ones that can afford it? Is the article trying to tell the reader that King kept ownership of all the home and accumulated a lot of real estate wealth? In any case, consider adding words to explain why this sentence is significant.
- Went thru the article again, after the changes related to reviewer notes below. All looks good. Support on prose and MOS. Great article! Noleander (talk) 01:05, 12 June 2026 (UTC)
Support Comments by A.Cython
Overall an excellent written biography of an important navy officer in WWII. I have some minor comments from a casual reader.
- his remarkable authorities as is "authority" better?
- arrend high school spelling?
- in white naval uniform in a white
- who saw it a challenge who saw it as a challenge
- formulating strategy formulating a strategy
- the multiple complexity either "the complexity" or "the multiple complexities"
- biography on official biography on the official
- after they died the add comma before "the"
- securing the sustainable remove "the"
- add {{clear}} right after goods to British ports. as the figure is displacing the subsection title
- (The present was a framed photograph.) is the parenthesis needed?
- DCNO (Air) acronyms if not used then there is no need to define them
- King's great personal I feel "great" can be viewed as subjective and thus not needed
A.Cython(talk) 04:27, 29 May 2026 (UTC)
Thanks for that. I found King a difficult subject. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 04:59, 29 May 2026 (UTC)
- Support: I re-read the article and overall I think it is in very good shape. Challenging biographies is something we should strive to write/improve and should not be a barrier to FA. The only remaining concern from my part is the order of citations, e.g., Wright.[49][50][45] and Standley's proposals.[64][65][62][66], but this can be tackled at the end after addressing all other pending comments. A.Cython(talk) 00:14, 12 June 2026 (UTC)
Image review
- File:FADM_Ernest_J._King.jpg: source link is dead. Ditto
- File:Atlantic_Conference_Between_Prime_Minister_Winston_Churchill_and_President_Franklin_D_Roosevelt_10_August_1941_A4817.jpg
- File:King,_Forrestal,_Nimitz_1945.jpg
- File:Kingfull.jpg
- Updated. No objection to replacing with File:Tombstone of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King at Annapolis.jpg
- File:NH_41834_RADM_Philip_Andrews,_Secretary_Curtis_D._Wilbur,_CAPT_Ernest_J._King,_and_LT_Henry_Hartley_during_salvage_work_of_USS_S-4.jpg: source link is for a different image
- File:ADSM_A.png is missing a tag for the design. Ditto File:Legion_Honneur_GC_ribbon.svg, File:GRE_Order_of_George_I_-_Grand_Cross_BAR.png, File:Order_of_Orange-Nassau_ribbon_-_Knight_Grand_Cross.svg, File:Order_of_Naval_Merit_-_Grand_Officer_(Brazil)_-_ribbon_bar.png, File:BEL_Kroonorde_Grootofficier_BAR.svg. Nikkimaria (talk) 02:48, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
- No idea what is required here. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:49, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
- What are the copyright statuses of the award designs? Nikkimaria (talk) 01:56, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- They fall below the threshold of originality in the United States. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 02:36, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- If that's the case, why would reproducing them garner a copyright? Nikkimaria (talk) 02:47, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- Reproduction does not garner a copyright. I have tagged them with template:PD-ribbon Hawkeye7 (discuss) 00:53, 2 June 2026 (UTC)
- If that's the case, why would reproducing them garner a copyright? Nikkimaria (talk) 02:47, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- They fall below the threshold of originality in the United States. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 02:36, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- What are the copyright statuses of the award designs? Nikkimaria (talk) 01:56, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
- No idea what is required here. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:49, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
Comments by Wehwalt
- "holding these two positions under wartime Executive Order." If you are saying that it took the executive order for him to be able to hold both simultaneously I might say "able to hold both positions by wartime Executive Order" or similar.
- "He had an older brother" Ernest or his father? The paragraph is about Ernest but the father is the last male referred to.
- "valedictorian in the Class of 1897;" I think "of" instead of "in" is more common.
- "only thirteen classmates in his year" I would say "only thirteen others in his class".
- It might be worth mentioning that TR was a naval historian.
- "Graduates like King who went into the Navy had to serve for two years at sea before being commissioned as ensigns." Perhaps "Naval Academy graduates like King had to serve for two years at sea before being commissioned as ensigns."
- It's a little unclear where he joined the Cincinnati. I see from our article on same that it was in the Med and then went east.
- "promoted to ensign" or "commissioned as an ensign"? You mention a bit later that he had been a passed midshipman, maybe put that info here?
- Changed to "commissioned as an ensign".
- "the prevailing wardroom culture of the era." Feels a little redundant?
- Asiatic Fleet is linked on second use, rather than first.
- "although his missteps as a junior officer required the approval of the Navy Retention Board." Maybe "although his promotion required the approval of the Navy Retention Board due to his missteps as a junior officer." A few more dates scattered in this section would be useful.
- "as chaired by the President of the Naval War College," Cut "as". I take it he would have been out had he not been promoted?
""More soon. Very interesting.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:34, 22 June 2026 (UTC)
- "fleeted up" A bit jargony.
- "10 USC Sec. 5942" Putting on my lawyer hat for a moment, and after consulting the "blue book" of legal citation, I would say "10 U.S.C. § 5942".
- "but his solo flying was eliminated by a naval regulation prohibiting them". I might change "flying was" to "flights were".
- "blue laws were flouted". The most usual US blue law is restriction on Sunday trading. How do naval officers at a remote farmhouse violate that?
- "had many affairs" but before you said, "King from that point on remained faithful to Mattie". "That point on" does not imply a forward limit.
- "However, Claude A. Swanson, the new Secretary of the Navy, recommended King, having been impressed by his work in the salvage of the S-51 and S-4, pressed the appointment for King to stand as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, with the requisite Congressional approval pending for the permanent promotion to rear admiral on 26 April 1933.[61][62][63]" This sentence, which should probably be divided, is a bit unclear as well. What is the significance of 26 April 1933. I'm guessing he was appointed chief with his permanent rank still pending, but that's just a guess.
- Yes. Divided sentence. The practice in the US Navy is for senior officers to be appointed to a position with temporary rank, pending Congressional confirmation. King's assignment was a bit unusual, being due to the sudden death of his predecessor. These days, the confirmation process takes a lot longer than it used to, but until recently it was exceedingly rare for an officer not to be promoted. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:15, 23 June 2026 (UTC)
- "ordered a restructure on 28 May." Unless it's particularly military, I would say "restructuring" rather than restructure.
- "were on station of the East coast between January and June 1942.[139]" I think that's "off" not "of". I would cap East Coast.
- "Axis Tripartite" Something wrong with Axis powers?
Joko2468: sourcing review
Not an experienced reviewer, but I'm going to take a stab at the sourcing review, which was requested on the FAC talk page. It's not clear to me that the article went through a citations spot check at GA (this is the second time I've seen this at FAC, is there something I'm missing?), so I'll be doing a full one. Buell (1995), seemingly the only biography of King, and Kohnen (2024), an indepth analysis of his WWII career, are well utilised. I would consider almost all the sources used to be WP:BESTSOURCES. Joko2468 (talk) 12:05, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- Tagging @Gog the Mild to see if this review satisfies the talk page request. Joko2468 (talk) 12:09, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- Per Kohnen (2024; start of ch. 37), King's autobiography was largely written by his aide (who happened to be a medievalist historian?) and involved archival research as well as interviews. It's potentially misleading that King's name is first in the authorship, you may wish to clarify this in the prose.
- Whitehill worked at COMINCH Headquarters during the war. He prepared a wartime history of the headquarters before leaving the Navy in June 1946. After the war he became the director of the Boston Athenæum. The book was his idea. Ghost written autobiographies are now very common, and ghost writer often gets no credit at all. I follow the practice of listing books as the publisher does, which is necessary for the reader attempting to locate a copy in a library. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:27, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- I see thank you, though I was suggesting a passing mention in the Retirement and death section, clarifying how the co-authorship worked rather than changing the bibliographic entry. Your rationale for why this isn't notable nevertheless makes sense (it wouldn't have precluded a support regardless). Joko2468 (talk) 23:26, 30 June 2026 (UTC)
Citations spot check - pass
This table lists 20 random passages from throughout the article (9.7% of 206 total passages). These passages contain 25 inline citations (9.5% of 263 in the article). Generated with the Veracity user script. WP:AGF for Stoler (2003) and Hone & Utz (2023). The cited page numbers could be tightened in places but this is a nitpick. Please correct me if I make a mistake at any point here. Joko2468 (talk) 12:05, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- My copy of Kohnen (2024) isn't paginated, could you provide quotations for 27 and 64b?
- fn 27:
Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:27, 29 June 2026 (UTC)Mattie ran the ship within the King family- all in accordance with the basics outlined in the manual published by their old friend Anne Briscoe Pye, the wife of King's pal Capt. William S. Pye, within the text of a manual for new spouses, The Navy Wife.
- fn 64b: Removed. Somebody also without access to the pages added this, but it is not necessary and 25 pages is too many. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:27, 29 June 2026 (UTC)
- fn 27:
- 50: I'm not seeing
with additional duties as senior aide on the staff of Commander, Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet
. - I initially interpreted "second chief of the BuAer" to mean deputy chief, I'll leave it to your discretion whether this needs clarification (i.e. removal or "since its founding").
- 84a:
influenced by King's heavy drinking
is presented in WP:Wikivoice but only attributed to "rumours" in the source. - 137: he cancelled 205 destroyers and aborted the cancellation of 200.
- 187: I think this is more nuanced than the material suggests, it doesn't seem to explicitly say that Roosevelt overruled him.
- Source:
The President, the record reads, responded "that the offer was accepted on the largest possible scale." ... When he [Churchill] subsequently asked about the the use of the British Fleet, Mr. Roosevelt replied generously that "his thought was to use it in any way possible." Admiral King said only that the matter was being studied.
- Source:
- 213: perhaps a date here, specifying that it was in 1953?
| Reference # | Letter | Source | Archive | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| During the summer breaks, naval cadets served on ships to accustom them to life at sea. While still at the Naval Academy, King served on the cruiser USS San Francisco during the Spanish–American War. | |||||
| 8 | King & Whitehill 1952, pp. 18–23. | ⏳ | |||
| When he recovered, he was ordered to report to the battleship USS Illinois, which was berthed in Brooklyn. | |||||
| 12 | b | Buell 1995, pp. 16–20. | ⏳ | ||
| Mattie was the enabler of King's rise within the ranks, as she presided within the social culture described by her friend Anne Briscoe Pye in the manual, The Navy Wife. | |||||
| 27 | Kohnen 2024, pp. 149. | ⏳ | |||
| with the rank of captain on 21 September 1918. | |||||
| 15 | f | Buell 1995, pp. xxii–xxv. | ⏳ | ||
| He assumed command of the seaplane tender USS Wright, with additional duties as senior aide on the staff of Commander, Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet. | |||||
| 50 | King & Whitehill 1952, p. 187. | ⏳ | |||
| The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral William V. Pratt, listed King as his fourth choice for Chief of the BuAer, after Rear Admirals Joseph M. Reeves, Harry E. Yarnell and John Halligan Jr., hoping to install King at the Naval War College instead. However, Claude A. Swanson, the new Secretary of the Navy, recommended King, having been impressed by his work in the salvage of the S-51 and S-4. King became the second chief of the BuAer and was promoted to the substantive rank of rear admiral on 26 April 1933. | |||||
| 63 | b | King & Whitehill 1952, pp. 240–242. | ⏳ | ||
| 64 | b | Kohnen 2024, pp. 161–186. | ⏳ | ||
| 65 | b | Buell 1995, pp. 96–97. | ⏳ | ||
| He survived the crash of his Douglas XP3D transport on 8 February 1937. | |||||
| 73 | Morton 1985, pp. 70–72. | ⏳ | |||
| King looked over the plans for each type of ship and made recommendations as to what kind of guns could be installed, where they should be located, and what should be removed to make way for them. He prepared a request for $300 million to carry out the program. Edison was impressed, and wrote to Roosevelt, recommending that King be appointed CINCUS, but Roosevelt did not make the appointment, influenced by King's heavy drinking. | |||||
| 84 | a | Buell 1995, pp. 125–127. | ⏳ | ||
| From 1 September, convoys were escorted to a mid-ocean meeting point, where they met escorts from the Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy. The United States was now engaged in an undeclared war, although it was still restricted by the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s. | |||||
| 96 | Morison 1947, pp. 79–85. | ⏳ | |||
| they agreed to merge their organizations to form the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS), which held its first meeting in Washington, D.C., on 23 January 1942. To parallel the British chiefs, the Americans formed the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), which held its first meeting on 9 February 1942. The Joint Chiefs of Staff initially consisted of Stark, King, General George C. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, and Lieutenant General Henry H. Arnold, the Chief of the United States Army Air Corps. In his role as a member of the CCS and JCS, King became engaged in the formulation of grand strategy, which came to occupy the majority of his time. | |||||
| 111 | Stoler 2003, pp. 64–65. | ⏳ | |||
| 112 | King & Whitehill 1952, pp. 366–368. | ⏳ | |||
| King and Marshall retained their direct access to the President, but with Leahy acting as a conduit, there was less requirement for discussion of routine matters. There was also less need to discuss strategy, as the course became set after the May 1943 Trident Conference. King had thirty-two official meetings with Roosevelt at the White House in 1942, but only eight in 1943, nine in 1944 and just one in 1945. | |||||
| 122 | Buell 1998, p. 171. | ⏳ | |||
| In 1943, with the war against the U-boats being won, King canceled 200 of the 1,000 destroyer escorts on order, but backed off canceling another 200 when the Bureau of Ships protested. | |||||
| 137 | Davidson 1996, pp. 100–101. | ⏳ | |||
| Meanwhile, the German Navy added an extra wheel to its Enigma machines in April and the Allies lost the ability to decrypt its signals for ten months. | |||||
| 144 | Miller, Jappert & Jackson 2023, p. 133. | ⏳ | |||
| He also established, on the advice of Royal Navy officers, an operational intelligence center that tracked U-boat movements and provided warning to merchant shipping. | |||||
| 150 | Miller, Jappert & Jackson 2023, p. 135. | ⏳ | |||
| Landing ships and landing craft enjoyed the highest priority for construction in 1942, | |||||
| 162 | Love 1980, p. 151. | ⏳ | |||
| On 25 September 1943, King traveled to Pearl Harbor for his first meeting with Nimitz there. First item on the agenda was Operation Galvanic, the campaign to capture Tarawa Atoll and Nauru. Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, the commander of the Fifth Fleet, surprised King with a paper from the commander of the V Amphibious Corps, Major General Holland M. Smith, which argued that Nauru was too well-defended. Smith and Spruance recommended seizing Makin Atoll instead. King was reluctant to do so but eventually agreed, and secured the concurrence of the other Joint Chiefs. | |||||
| 172 | Buell 1995, p. 411. | ⏳ | |||
| Roosevelt and Leahy overruled him, and the Joint Chiefs accepted the British offer provided that the fleet would be fully self-supporting. | |||||
| 187 | Hayes 1982, pp. 637–639. | ⏳ | |||
| President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9635 of 29 September 1945 revoked Executive Orders 8984 and 9096 and restored the primacy of the Secretary of the Navy and the CNO. The office of COMINCH was abolished on 10 October. | |||||
| 196 | Hone & Utz 2023, pp. 168–169. | ⏳ | |||
| 197 | presidency.ucsb.edu | web.archive.org | ⏳ | ||
| He died of a heart attack in Kittery on 25 June 1956, at the age of 77. His body was flown to Washington, D.C., and after lying in state at the National Cathedral, was buried in the United States Naval Academy Cemetery at Annapolis, Maryland. His wife Mattie was buried beside him in 1969. | |||||
| 204 | Borneman 2012, pp. 463–464. | ⏳ | |||
| 205 | Whitehill 1957, pp. 224–226. | ⏳ | |||
| Recognizing King's 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. | |||||
| 213 | Hattendorf 2023, p. xii. | ⏳ | |||
Source review
Well, that's for sure a prominent personality. Nothing that jumps out to me, but am I missing any biography specifically about King? Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 14:18, 1 July 2026 (UTC)
- There are three:
- King, Ernest J.; Whitehill, Walter Muir (1952). Fleet Admiral King: A Naval Record. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. This is a biography written by a historian who was a member of King's wartime staff, who worked closely with King on it. Despite King's co-authorship, it is written in the third person.
- Buell, Thomas B. (1995). Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-092-4. OCLC 5799946. A more recent biography that provides a more critical view of the subject.
- Kohnen, David (2024). King's Navy: Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King and the Rise of American Sea Power, 1897–1947. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer. ISBN 978-0-7643-6837-0. A hefty and very recent biography.
- All three are used in the article, but the third only became available after most of it was written. Reviewers noted that King has received less attention than other US naval officers of high rank like Nimitz and Halsey. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:15, 1 July 2026 (UTC)
- Hi Jo-Jo, how is this one looking? Gog the Mild (talk) 13:31, 4 July 2026 (UTC)