""Admiral, asked McCrea, "is this story true that I hear about?" "Well, John, I don't know," replied King, deadpan. "Which story is it?" "They tell me," McCrea went on, "you were heard to say recently, 'Yes, damn it, when they get in trouble they send for the sons of bitches.'" King couldn't help but smile. "No, John, I didn't say it. But I will say this: If I had thought of it, I would have said it.""
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Conversation between Captain John L. McCrea and King in 1942, shortly after the latter's appointment as Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet. As quoted in The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy and King- The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea (2012) by Walter R. Borneman, p. 212