Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-26
Fleet Admiral Kinq

America has lost a victorious COM
mander, and the Navy salty and
respected Seadog of the old school, with
the death, at II, of Fleet Admiral Ernest
]. King. His fabulous career as
triple threat" neutrality-suspicious. in
submarine, surface and air operations
won him unique place Of distinction in
naval history.
No other naval hero ever commanded
so large and powerful fleet as that
which Admiral King led to victory in
World War II. It was fleet which had
its beginnings in the grim salvage of Pearl
Harbor. And in the miraculous building
of that formidable fleet the veteran sailor
from Ohio played major role. He was
picked for his unprecedented joint role of
Cominch-CNO Commander. in Chief of
the United States Fleet and Chief of
Naval OperationS) because the critical
period just after Pearl Harbor called for
leader who would run "a taut ship"
The times called for stern, relentless
attention to duty by all hands, and Ad-
miral King was that kind of skipper
1t was typical of him that when he
took over his heavy responsibilities he
wasted no words in his first message to
the Navy as chief. 'The way to victory is
long," he said. '"The going will be hard.
We will do the best we can with what
we've got" The latter sentence became
the watchword of every department, every
ship and very unit of the sea forces dur
ing the hard days of slow recovery from
the devastating Japanese blow of Deem
Der T. 1941. 1t was rugged going for all.
But all knew that Ernie King was waging
war of his own in Washington-a battle
for more and more planes and ships and
men with which, at first, to hold off the
enemy, and then to strike back boldly and
effectively when the tide began to turn
Admiral King won his little "war within
war" and the American Fleet eventually
was roaming the Pacific where it pleased.
In pressing for rapid buildup of naval
strength, however, the admiral en-
countered opposition from the British and
others who favored concentrating on the
European war at the expense of the
Pacific campaign. He stuck to. his guns
despite all criticiSm-and generally got
what he wanted.
Admiral King was particularly taut
about submarine operations. Having been
submariner himself and having seen
what death in submarine meant The
was in charge of the raising of the Sunken
S-51 and S-4 in the 1920s), he was ada
mant in refusing to permit publication Of
any information about our subsurface
operations that might be of benefit to the
enemy. This cloSe-mouthed policy was
resented by some reporters, but 1t kept
the Japanese in complete darkness as to
our submarine strength and operations
And 1t may have saved good many lives.
During and after the war, he partic-
ipated in number of conferences with
our Allies, but usually as byStander.
He distruSted the Russians and opposed
any major concessions to induce them to
enter the war against Japan. In his third
person autobiography, published in 1852,
he told of declining to join in Russian
vodka feast and of learning afterward
that his would-be hosts had planned to
get his signature on a paper promising
generous gifts of ships to the Soviet navy.
He took Enthusiastically stern at
titude, too, against postwar proposals for
uniflcation of the armed forces. He felt
that each of the services should be en-
couraged to specialize in its field
and that national defense would be the
stronger thereby. Having had his say on
the subject, he went into Semiretirement,
although his f1ve-Star rank made him al
ways available for active duty. He had
been in poor health for several years,
however, and his active naval career
actually came to an end some time ago.