COVERT INTELLIGENCE GATHERING IS WELL-UNDERWAY WEEKS BEFORE THE US ENTERS WORLD WAR II

Typed letter signed by Rear Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (1885-1966) to Lt. Comdr. Paul Hammond, Office of the Special Naval Observer, American Embassy, London, England. Washington, D.C., 20 October 1941. On "Navy Department / Bureau of Navigation" letterhead. 1pp, X x X in.

Nimitz writes, in part: "I have just received from you two envelopes - one, a large one, containing six strategic charts, marked 'confidential'; and a small envelope containing a number of copies of the Soviet War News. The receipt of this material is greatly appreciated; and in order that you may be informed of what becomes of this material I turn it over to Admiral Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, for the use of his War Plans Division after I have had an opportunity of examining same."

Nimitz then continues with a word of caution to Hammond, urging him to consult his superior Vice Admiral Ghormley on the material being sent to the Navy Department. "I am always glad to receive your communications and find them of great interest," he writes. "I do not wish, however, for you to get in bad with your boss by sending me official material of an important nature which he, himself, may desire to send direct to the Chief of Naval Operations."

Though the United States remained officially neutral as World War II raged across Europe, North Africa, and Asia in October 1941, behind the scenes the United States Navy was actively planning and partnering with British naval command. Lieutenant Commander Hammond served with the Office of the Special Naval Observer (SPENAVO), a critical and highly secretive U.S. naval liaison office operating in London and headed by Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley. SPENAVO acted as a direct line from the U.S. Navy Department's Office of the Chief Naval Operations to British leadership. Nimitz was serving as the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation under Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Harold R. Stark, when he wrote this letter. Ten days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rear Admiral Nimitz was selected by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to be the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Written about 7 weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor, this letter demonstrates the ways in which critical wartime intelligence was already being gathered and transmitted to U.S. naval command well before the United States entered World War II.

An informative pre-war letter by one of the U.S. Navy's most important commanders.

[World War II, WWII, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Adolf Hitler, Axis, Allied, George S. Patton, Air Force, Navy, Naval History, War in the Pacific] [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs] 

Top-centered double file holes, pencil notation near center.