Manning Marius Kimmel was born in Washington, D.C., on 22 April 1913, the son of Lieutenant and Mrs. Husband E. Kimmel, USN. He received his higher education at the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in June 1935. During the next three years Ensign Kimmel served on board the battleship Mississippi. In the latter half of 1938 he received submarine training at Groton, Connecticut. He was an officer in USS S-38 from early 1939 until mid-1941. Lieutenant Kimmel then helped put the new submarine Drum into commission and served in her until November 1942, taking part in her first three war patrols.

Following brief duty with Submarine Squadron FOUR, in January 1943 Manning Kimmel joined the precommissioning crew of USS Raton, then under construction. When she commissioned in July 1943, he became her Executive Officer. Following two war patrols in Raton, in March 1944, Lieutenant Commander Kimmel assumed command of USS Robalo. His submarine completed one patrol in the South China Sea during the next few months, and was conducting a second when she was sunk near Palawan on 26 July 1944. Commander Kimmel was among those lost with the ship.