Editing Husband E. Kimmel (section)

===After Pearl Harbor===
Kimmel was relieved of his command ten days after the attack. At the time he was planning and executing retaliatory moves, including an effort to relieve and reinforce [[Battle of Wake Island|Wake Island]] that could have led to an early clash between American and [[1st Air Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)|Japanese]] carrier forces. [[Vice admiral (United States)|Vice Admiral ]] [[William S. Pye]] (Commander, Battle Force, Pacific Fleet) became acting CINCPACFLT on December 17. He had reservations about Kimmel's plan and decided the Wake Island operation was too risky, recalling the relief force. Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz]] took over as CINCPACFLT on December 31 and by that time Wake Island had been invaded and occupied by the Japanese. Kimmel's CINCUS command was reassigned to Admiral [[Ernest J. King]] (at that time Commander in Chief, [[Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command|U.S. Atlantic Fleet]] [CINCLANTFLT]) in a wartime expanded role of Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (with the new acronym of COMINCH), which would also be combined with King's subsequent appointment as the Chief of Naval Operations.

In 1942, the [[Roberts Commissions#First Roberts Commission|Roberts Commission]], appointed by President Roosevelt to investigate the attack, determined that Kimmel and his counterpart, [[United States Army|Army]] [[Lieutenant General (United States)|Lieutenant General]] [[Walter Short]], were guilty of errors of judgment and [[dereliction of duty]] in the events leading up to the attack. Kimmel defended his decisions at several hearings, testifying that important information had not been made available to him.

Following the death of Secretary Knox in April 1944, his successor [[James V. Forrestal]] ordered that a [[Naval Board of Inquiry|Naval Court of Inquiry]] be convened to investigate the facts surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and to assess any culpability borne by members of the Navy. The court consisted of Admiral [[Adolphus Andrews]]; Admiral [[Orin G. Murfin]], who served as President of the Court, and Admiral [[Edward C. Kalbfus]].<ref name="Naval History and Heritage Command2">{{cite web | url = https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/research-guides/modern-biographical-files-ndl/modern-bios-a/andrews-adolphus.html | access-date = January 28, 2018 | work = history.navy.mil | title = Vice admiral Adolphus Andrews – Naval History and Heritage Command | publisher = Naval History and Heritage Command Websites}}</ref><ref name="Santa Cruz Sentinel, Volume 89, Number 168, 15 July 1944">{{cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19440715.1.1&srpos=38&e=-------en--20--21--txt-txIN-Vice+admiral+Adolphus+Andrews-------1|title=Pearl Harbor Inquiry ordered by Forrestal – Santa Cruz Sentinel, Volume 89, Number 168, 15 July 1944; page ONE|publisher=cdnc.ucr.edu|access-date=August 27, 2016}}</ref> The court convened on July 24, 1944, and held daily sessions in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Pearl Harbor. After interviewing numerous witnesses, it completed its work on October 19, 1944. Its report to the Navy Department largely exonerated Kimmel. The court found that Kimmel's decisions had been correct given the limited information available to him, but criticized then-Chief of Naval Operations Stark for failing to warn Kimmel that war was imminent. The court concluded that "based upon the facts established, the Court is of the opinion that no offenses have been committed nor serious blame incurred on the part of any person or persons in the naval service."<ref name=court>{{citation| series = Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Part 39: Reports, Findings, and Conclusions of Roberts Commission, Army Pearl Harbor Board, Navy Court of Inquiry, and Hewitt Inquiry, With Endorsements| first = Seventy-Ninth Congress | last = Congress of the United States| publisher = Government Printing Office| year = 1946| title = Report of Navy Court of Inquiry| pages = 297, 318–321| url = http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/navy/navy_0.html#9}}</ref> Because the court's findings implicitly revealed that [[Magic (cryptography)|American cryptographers]] had broken the Japanese codes, a critical wartime secret, the court's report was not made public until after the end of the war.

Upon reviewing the report, Forrestal felt that the court had been too lenient in assigning blame for the disaster. The court had found that the Army and Navy had adequately cooperated in the defense of Pearl Harbor; that there had been no information indicating that Japanese carriers were on their way to attack Pearl Harbor; and that the attack had succeeded principally because of the [[aerial torpedo]], a secret weapon whose use could not have been predicted. Forrestal disapproved of all of these findings, judging that Kimmel could have done more with the information he had had to prevent or mitigate the attack. Forrestal concluded that both Kimmel and Stark had "failed to demonstrate the superior judgment necessary for exercising command commensurate with their rank and their assigned duties."<ref name=secnav>{{citation| series = Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Part 39: Reports, Findings, and Conclusions of Roberts Commission, Army Pearl Harbor Board, Navy Court of Inquiry, and Hewitt Inquiry, With Endorsements| first = Seventy-Ninth Congress | last = Congress of the United States| publisher = Government Printing Office| year = 1946| title = Fourth Endorsement to Record of Proceedings of Pearl Harbor Court of Inquiry| pages = 373, 375–377, 381–383| url = http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/pha/navy/navy_0.html#17}}</ref>

Kimmel retired in early 1942, and worked for the military contractor [[Frederic R. Harris|Frederic R. Harris, Inc.]] after the war. In retirement, Kimmel lived in [[Groton, Connecticut]], where he died on May 14, 1968.<ref name="ww2db.com"/>

His son, [[Manning Kimmel|Manning]], died after the submarine he commanded, the {{USS|Robalo|SS-273|6}}, was sunk near [[Palawan]] on or around July 26, 1944. The Kimmel family at the time was informed that Manning had gone down with his ship. Though it was widely believed that Manning Kimmel died on board his boat, several sources (including Admiral [[Ralph Waldo Christie]], commander of submarine operations at [[Fremantle]] at the time) stated after the war that Manning was one of a handful of survivors from his submarine, having been swept overboard as the boat sank after hitting a mine. According to these sources, Manning was captured by Japanese forces, and along with several other survivors from the ''Robalo'' was pushed into a ditch, doused with gasoline and burned alive by his captors, who were enraged over a recent American air attack.<ref>{{cite book|author=Clay Blair|title=Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGjfqe6DcrEC| year=2001 |publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-55750-217-9|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=KGjfqe6DcrEC&pg=PA688 688]}}</ref>