--- title: Ernest J. King url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/ernest-j-king/ description: 4 verified quotes from Ernest J. King, Fleet Admiral; Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations (1942-1945), with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: a Second World War naval-intelligence collage of a Pacific theatre map, aerial reconnaissance photographs and radar plots.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-wwii-pacific.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · United States # Ernest J. King ![Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King in 1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/roosevelt-administration/ernest-j-king.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fleet_Admiral_Ernest_J_King-1945.jpg): Unknown (U.S. Navy), Public domain (U.S. federal government work) Fleet Admiral; Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations (1942-1945) · United States On the regime page: [Roosevelt administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/roosevelt-administration/#ernest-j-king) 4 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=ernest-j-king). 1. > “We were therefore placed in an unfavorable strategic position, in that our naval forces at that time were not adequate to meet the demands in both oceans should we be forced into the war. The sudden treacherous attack by Japan, which resulted in heavy losses to us, made our unfavorable strategic position at the outbreak of war even worse than we had anticipated. Had we not suffered those losses, however, our fleet could not have proceeded to Manila as many people supposed and there relieved our hard pressed forces.” — March 27, 1944 · Statement — King's first published report on the Navy's war covered operations to 1 March 1944. In the strategy section he answered the public question of why the fleet had not relieved the Philippines after Pearl Harbor. — Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (Washington: Navy Department, 1946), First Report (letter to Secretary Knox dated 27 March 1944; issued 23 April 1944), chapter III, "Strategy," pp. 37-38 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/index.html) 2. > “Our submarines, operating thousands of miles from their bases and deep within enemy-controlled waters, began their campaign of attrition on Japanese shipping immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and continued to fight with telling effectiveness until the Japanese capitulated.” — December 3, 1945 · Statement — With the war over, King's final report revealed the scale of the submarine campaign against Japanese merchant shipping, which the chapter says accounted for almost two thirds of Japanese merchant tonnage lost. — Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (Washington: Navy Department, 1946), Third Report (issued 3 December 1945; letter to Secretary Forrestal), chapter IV, "Submarine Operations," p. 201 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/index.html) 3. > “We now have before us the essential lessons of the war. It is my earnest conviction that whatever else may have been learned as to the most effective relationship of the ground, naval and air forces, the most definite and most important lesson is that to attempt unity of command in Washington is ill-advised in concept and would be impracticable of realization.” — December 3, 1945 · Statement — King's report was issued while Congress and the services were debating a merger of the War and Navy Departments. This passage states his position on a single command in Washington. — Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (Washington: Navy Department, 1946), Third Report (issued 3 December 1945; letter to Secretary Forrestal), chapter I, "Introduction," p. 172 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/index.html) 4. > “The price of victory has been high. Beginning with the dark days of December 1941 and continuing until September 1945, when ships of the Pacific Fleet steamed triumphant into Tokyo Bay, the Navy's losses were severe. The casualties of the United States Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard reached the totals of 56,206 dead, 80,259 wounded, and 8,967 missing.” — December 3, 1945 · Statement — From the concluding chapter of King's final report as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, and Chief of Naval Operations. — Ernest J. King, U.S. Navy at War, 1941-1945: Official Reports to the Secretary of the Navy (Washington: Navy Department, 1946), Third Report (issued 3 December 1945; letter to Secretary Forrestal), chapter VIII, "Conclusion," p. 232 [Source](https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USNatWar/index.html) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Ernest J. King’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Ernest J. King’s words. - > “When they get into trouble, they send for the sons of bitches.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Admiral King, on being appointed Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, in December 1941. — Widely repeated in magazines (for example Time, 10 November 1952; Foreign Service Journal, August 1960) and in later books about King. I found no contemporary or first-person record of him saying it, and it is not in his official reports, so it is not published as his words.