Chester W. Nimitz - Inactive Duty As A Fleet Admiral

Inactive Duty As A Fleet Admiral

On 15 December 1947, Nimitz retired from office of Chief of Naval Operations and received a third Gold Star in lieu of a fourth Navy Distinguished Service Medal. However, since the rank of Fleet Admiral is a lifetime appointment, he remained on active duty for the rest of his life, with full pay and benefits. He and his wife Catherine moved to Berkeley, California. After he suffered a serious fall in 1964, he and Catherine moved to US Naval quarters on Yerba Buena Island in the San Francisco Bay.

In San Francisco, he served in the mostly ceremonial post as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy in the Western Sea Frontier. After World War II, he worked to help restore goodwill with Japan by helping to raise funds for the restoration of the Japanese Imperial Navy battleship Mikasa, Admiral Heihachiro Togo's flagship at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. He was also suggested as a United Nations envoy to help mediate the Kashmir dispute, but due to the deterioration of relations between India and Pakistan, the mission did not take place.

Nimitz became a member of the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. In 1948, Nimitz sponsored a Bohemian dinner in honor of Army General Mark Clark, known for his campaigns in North Africa and Italy.

Nimitz served as a regent of the University of California during 1948–1956, where he had formerly been a faculty member as a professor of Naval Science for the NROTC program. Nimitz was honored on 17 October 1964, by the University of California on Nimitz Day.