Image Source: U.S. Navy
In December 1944, Nimitz was promoted to the newly established five-star rank of Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy, one of only four officers ever to hold the rank. On September 2, 1945, he signed the Instrument of Surrender aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay as the official representative of the United States, formally marking the end of the Second World War.
Later that year, Nimitz was appointed Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s highest-ranking officer, a post he held until December 1947. In this role he guided the dramatic downsizing and reorganization of the Navy from its wartime peak to a smaller peacetime force, while advocating for continued investment in naval aviation and submarine technology that would shape the Cold War-era fleet.