The Admirals

Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet. In the closing days of World War II, this rank was accorded to a quartet whose achievements were so extraordinary that legislation proscribed future appointments to that rank. William D. Leahy, Ernest J. King, Chester W. Nimitz, and William F. Halsey led America's greatest generation to victory on the high seas during World War II. Interacting with each other over four decades, they played critical--and occasionally controversial--roles in the defining events that developed the modern American navy. Put together, these four men were the best and the brightest the Navy produced. And even though they were sometimes at odds with one other, they succeeded in making the United States the world's greatest sea power. In THE ADMIRALS, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full for the first time. Drawing upon ship logs, journals, and other primary sources, he shows us how Leahy, King, Nimitz, and Halsey revolutionized naval warfare forever by relying heavily on submarines and aircraft carriers for the first time. And he shows us how these men--who were both friends and rivals--worked together to ensure that the Axis fleets lay destroyed on the ocean floor at the end of World War II.