In 1915 Kimmel briefly served as an aide to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt therefore knew Kimmel's name and had direct experience of his work decades before Pearl Harbor. Kimmel soon chose to return to sea as gunnery officer with Battleship Division Nine, which joined the Grand Fleet as the Sixth Battle Squadron. Their connection gives the later argument over responsibility a personal and institutional dimension because it began long before Roosevelt's wartime presidency and Kimmel's removal from command.
Notable Point · 12:37-13:35
Kimmel's 1915 assignment under Franklin D. Roosevelt
Kimmel briefly served as an aide to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, giving their later Pearl Harbor relationship a much longer history.