No fighter ever won his fight by covering up—by merely fending off the other fellow’s blows. The winner hits and keeps on hitting even though he has to take some stiff blows in order to be able to keep on hitting.
—ADMIRAL ERNEST J. KING, Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, 1942
Nimitz, King, and Spruance on board Spruance’s Fifth Fleet flagship, the cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35), in the Marianas, July 18, 1944. (National Archives, 80-G-287121)