Oh, oh... I have heard quite a bit about the loss of the SEAWOLF to a US destroyer - "friendly fire". I didn't cover it in the video because I was trying to keep the video short. The loss of the SEAWOLF is a bitter story. I honor your uncle and the others who went down with her...
Thank you Bruce. I really enjoy your historical dialogue, its great and I appreciate this video, really well done and good for our future generations to know these histories. Thank you so much.
Do you have any stories about the loss of the SEAWOLF? As a relative, there may have been family stories circulating. I was going to tell a story that my father told me in 1944, but some parts of it didn't jibe with what I read on the Internet, so I'm not sure what the truth is. I would be interested in anything you know.
As a boy I heard a lot of stories about submarine warfare in World War II. My dad was a submariner during the war and knew Freddy Warder well. Freddy Warder became Fearless Freddy for his exploits commanding the submarine U.S.S. Seawolf during the first year of the war. My dad was stationed at the Submarine Base and Training School at New London, Connecticut serving on the old O Class subs from World War I, which were being used to train sailors and officers as submariners. He had volunteered for submarine duty from the battleship, U.S.S. Maryland in 1940, before the start of the war and sent to the New London training base in mid-1941, where he was given the choice of which training sub to serve on, the O-9 or the O-10. Dad told us he asked the chief in charge, which sub he recommended and the chief replied that he would avoid the O-9 like the plague - that it had many problems. Dad was on the O-10 when the O-9 dived on a training mission and never resurfaced. All hands were lost. Dad served on other training subs during his tour at New London as a yeoman, handling the administrative paperwork of the vessel under the skipper. In 1942, after his legendary run of successes sinking Japanese ships, FreddyWarder was sent to New London in his new role as the commander of a submarine division to choose and command new sub skippers for combat in the Pacific. Dad was told that upon arrival at the submarine training base, his first task was to choose his staff and he told the Personnel Commander he wanted the best yeoman on the New London base on his staff. He was told "that would be Reed", my dad. Dad served directly under Fearless Freddy for much of the war, first going to Brisbane, Australia, then Freemantle, near Perth, where Freddy's submarine division were based for much of the war. Later in the war, Freddy's division was transferred to Subic Bay, in the Philippines and dad went with him. As the war wound down, Freddy Warder was moved to higher positions and dad was sent to Midway Island, where submarine crews were taken off of sub duty. He was eventually assigned to duty outside of submarines in San Diego. Sometime soon after the war, my dad ran into Freddy Warder on the base in San Diego. When Freddy learned dad was no longer in submarines, he was shocked and immediately had dad put back into the submarine service, although he never served under Warder again. My dad told me a number of time that Freddy Warder was the finest officer he ever knew and was always proud he served under Fearless Freddy during much of the war. They remained friends for many years. Mike Reed
Wow! Mike, that's an amazing story! Your father was a hero of our submarines! Too few people have written down their stories. Did he have any specific stories that he told you!?
@@spiritofattack Hi Bruce. Thanks for providing the information about Freddy Warder on this site. My dad loved to tell stories from those days. He did not have a lot of personal stories of submarine combat because he did not go out on patrol much after becoming Freddy Warder's yeoman. Freddy ran his show pretty much from submarine tenders in the Pacific. I don't think squadron commanders went on many patrols being busy commanding the boats from shore and tenders. Dad mentioned serving on the Pelius, the Nereus and the Sperry, I recall. Dad told us about an incident while he was patrolling in the Atlantic, off the east coast when a German U-Boat fired torpedos at his boat, the USS Mackerel. The traded several torpedo shots at each other before the U-Boat left the scene. That was his only real combat incident. I did not get the full stories of dad's wartime adventures and later regretted that I did not ask for more information from him about them before he passed away in 2007. In his later years he did not want to discuss his time in the Pacific any more. He had some kind of dementia for a few years before he died and did not talk much after it began to affect him. I remember suggesting to him that he volunteer for a project I had read about that involved submariners providing verbal or written accounts of their experiences, but he told me he was not interested anymore. I think the dementia had something to do with his decision. Too bad. Most of dad's stories involved his administrative duties under Freddy Warder and others during the war. Dad was a talented administrator (I was told by a friend of his at dad's memorial service) and was held in high esteem by others for his organizational skills. That explains why he was chosen by Freddy to be his yeoman when he was appointed squadron commander. In that capacity, dad dealt with and personally knew many of the submarine ace skippers in the Pacific. He did not explain how he interacted with them because it did not occur to me to ask but he seemed to know them all (an exaggeration by me). I became very familiar with many of the names because they were the heroes celebrated in the history. Men like Mush Morton and Dick O'Kane and others, who I did not know by name. We used to watch the TV show, Silent Service every week in the 1950s and dad seemed to have a story about many of them. Jake La Boone (Father La Boone to me) was a good friend of dad's. I remember the episode about La Boone on Silent Service where he made a vow to become a priest after a particularly dangerous incident that his sub survived. He did become a priest and was the Catholic chaplain at Yokosuka Navy Base in Japan during our long stay there. Father La Boone was a frequent guest at our family dinner table during those years. My brother and I served as his altar boys frequently on ships that docked in Yokosuka in the early 1960s. He was the "cool priest" to us. During the Viet Nam war, Father La Boone became something like "Fighting" Father La Boone as a combat priest in land battles the Marines fought. His bravery and dedication in the face or danger won him much honor. A hall at the Naval Academy in Anapolis is dedicated to him and a modern destroyer was named the Jake La Boone in his honor. We spent four years living in Japan, at which time dad was the Flag Secretary to the Commander of Naval Forces, Japan. In that capacity, dad had a lot of responsibility for visiting dignitaries like, high level admirals, political leaders, foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. My mother was expected to play the role of the wife in some of the events and visits by dignitaries (as a kind of hostess, I think). He even involved me a few times when it seemed advantageous to him. In early 1963, dad asked me to be a companion to Admiral James Kirk Ret., who was served as ambassador to Taiwan a few years before. President Kennedy had sent Admiral Kirk to Taiwan to discuss the Quemoy Island crisis that threatened the stability of relations with mainland China when Chang Kai Shek threatened to fight over the island. Admiral Kirk suffered a heart attack during his Taiwan visit and was evacuated to the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka to recover before returning to Washington DC to brief President Kennedy on the talks with Chang. So I sat with Admiral Kirk for several days and we talked until he was well enough to fly back to the US. Admiral Kirk was a fascinating guy to a 12 year old like me. He was in charge or the Naval forces supporting the Normandy invasion and had been the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. We spoke of President Kennedy and he told me that he was responsible for JFK's commissioning as a Naval Officer in the war. I was impressed, but he had not told me the whole story, which I learned in the past year. Apparently, JFK was rejected by the Navy for health reasons. I read last year that Joe Kennedy knew Admiral Kirk from his time in England and Joe got Admiral Kirk to help JFK get commissioned and posted to Naval Intelligence. Sorry I cannot finish this now. I have a flight to catch and have to leave. Mike Reed
@@mikereed3218 Mike, that's a wonderful story! You were in many critical places, knowing Admirals closely, as the Quemoy crisis threatened war. I'm sure you developed your own ideas about submarine warfare, and the role of naval power in the Cold War. How good were the Soviet submarines? There weren't many Chinese submarines then, but there are many now. What do you see as the future of naval power in the world?
@@spiritofattack Hi Bruce. I am afraid events have overtaken my intention to respond to you. I appreciate your interest in the stories of the submarine force my father told us. Dad's friendships with submariners he knew during the war gave me small opportunities to meet some of these men and get a personal tour of a few of the submarines that made names for themselves in the war and were still patrolling in the early 1960's. In Japan, dad always knew which submarines came into Yokosuka Naval Base and often paid visits to old WWII friends who were the skippers of the boats. I will always remember dad taking me with him to visit his friend who was skipper of the Archerfish at the time of our visit. Sitting in the wardroom drinking hot chocolate of the sub that sank the largest aircraftcarrier of the Imperial Navy was an awesome experience for a 12 year old boy. There were also surprises as I learned just who dad knew in the submarine force. My sister graduated from high school in Japan and left on one of the passenger ships the Navy used for troops and dependents traveling to and from duty stations across the Pacific. At the dock dad ran into Admiral Tommy Dyker, who at the time was the host of the TV show, The Silent Service. That time I knew who he was since Silent Service was one of the shows we watched every week in our home. He was such a nice guy and so friendly with dad. He was traveling back to the US on the ship and told my dad he would keep an eye on my sister during the voyage. The bonds forged during the war by submariners remained strong long after the war. It was a lesson for me. As an adult, I have read with great interest many books from the Pacific War but my attention was focused in other areas. I did not follow the fortunes of our submarines in the nuclear age so I regret that I do not have much to say about contemporary submarine warfare.
@@mikereed3218 I love your story -- it is a great story of America at its best! Yes, I remember the story of the Archerfish sinking the largest carrier of the war -- I read it in the book "Shinano!" which told the story very well. The largest ship ever sunk by a submarine! I salute all those heroes you mentioned!
Bruce, I thought that I had seen all of your videos....nope, missed this one. These bad torpedoes and the Navy finally addressing the problem, and the testing of these bad ones and the development of the new style ones, were part of one of the many WWll movies that were made, but I cannot remember which movie it was. I'm thinking that it was one with John Wayne...who better to solve the problem....Ha.. I remember a scene where they have one of these defective torpedoes hanging up by it's tail at a dock, the torpedoe is released and it hits the deck, and the dummy fuse doesn't go off. Uhh...Houston, we have a problem..!!
@@seanmorris No sure if if was "Operation Pacific" but one of my friends, who graduated from Annapolis, said that the torpedo fiasco is used in Annapolis as an example of how bureaucrats defended their decisions instead of looking after the troops fighting the war.
The USS SEAWOLF was very interesting to me because it's Captain was my father's friend --- and I actually went into the SEAWOLF during WW II as it was at Pear Harbor preparing for another sortie against the Japanese. I was about 11 years old, and it made a deep impression on me...
@@spiritofattack ya that's really cool! I take it you live/lived in Hawaii from your video. Also, I think many nations had problems with the magnetic fuzes on their torpedoes such as Germany if I recall correctly.
@@dominicmauro7203 Yes, I livd in Hawaii at the time. I was seven years old, and remember it clearly. The problem was not so much the magnetic fuzes on the torpedoes as the depth the torpedoes went. They would go too deep and go under the ship without activating the fuzes. Sometimes they would go on the surface, very visible to the target ship which could maneuver and be in a position to attack the submarine. When they did hit the ship, the contact fuzes were only tested for direct hits, while the torpedoes often were running nose-up and the fuzes would not detonate. The testing had been done in a laboratory, so the Navy in Hawaii tried shooting torpedoes against a rock cliff in Hawaii. The torpedoes hit the rock without exploding. I have heard that a major scandal erupted because the Naval weapons lab refused to believe that the torpedoes were defective, and blamed the submarine crews for false reporting. When they finally tested in realistic conditions, they also found that NONE of their aerial torpedoes worked. During the Battle of Midway, all our torpedo planes were shot down -- but the test showed that the torpedos would not have detonated even if they hit the Japanese ships! Those men had lost their lives to deliver defective weapons! For years, it was taught as a bad example of how a bureaucracy will refuse to believe that it is wrong.
Great video, Bruce! I coincidentally finished that "Seawolf" book about two weeks ago. I had heard in the past a little about the issues the torpedoes had, but without much detail. Thanks for explaining, and for continuing to put out these videos. Your youtube channel is one of my favorites, and I really enjoyed your book as well!
MS90 I just ran across this video about the Seawolf -- it's outstanding - I suggest you view it. It is free on Amazon Prime. www.amazon.com/Fearless-Freddie-Hugh-Fordyce/dp/B07Y295G47
@@georgebarden4818 I also was told that the Seawolf was sunk by friendly fire. I found this on Wikipedia: "Seawolf and Narwhal exchanged radar recognition signals at 0756 on 3 October in the Morotai area. Shortly thereafter, a 7th Fleet task group was attacked by Ro-41. The destroyer escort Shelton was torpedoed and sunk, and Richard M. Rowell began to search for the enemy. Since there were four friendly submarines in the vicinity of this attack, they were directed to give their positions and the other three did, but Seawolf was not heard from. On 4 October, Seawolf again was directed to report her position, and again she failed to do so. One of two planes from the aircraft carrier Midway sighted a submarine submerging and dropped two bombs on it even though it was in a safety zone for American submarines. The site was marked by dye. Rowell's commanding officer knew he was in a safety lane,[11] but, having failed to get word Seawolf was behind schedule,[12] believed there was no U.S. submarine nearby and chose to attack. Rowell established sonar contact on the submarine, which then sent a series of dashes and dots which Rowell stated bore no resemblance to the existing recognition signals. Believing this an attempt to jam her sonar,[13] Rowell attacked with Hedgehog. The second attack was followed by underwater explosions, and debris rose to the surface. Post-war examination of Japanese records shows no attack listed that could account for the loss of Seawolf. While it is possible Seawolf was lost to an operational casualty or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack, it is more likely she was sunk by friendly fire. 83 officers and men as well as 17 Army passengers were lost. She was the thirty-fourth U.S. submarine lost in the Pacific War, the second (after Dorado in the Caribbean) to friendly fire.[14] One of the Army passengers was Captain Howell S. Kopp, an Alamo Scout. Kopp was en route to an undisclosed location in the Philippines to conduct a clandestine mission in support of the upcoming Allied landing on Leyte.[15][16]
@@spiritofattack yes he had two brothers, one Richard Chapman U.S.M.C , who was older , and Eugene Chapman, U.S.N., Gene was on destroyer escort duty when Pearl Harbor was bombed , Gene was the youngest of the three, Richard was a Marine tanker in the Pacific theater,
Bruce, thanks very much for the video. "Fearless Freddie" was my Dad's oldest brother and just "uncle Fred" to our family. The TH-cam video you mention at the end of your video was actually part of a TV series in cooperation with the US Navy that ran 1957-1958 called "The Silent Service". I remember us all watching that episode when it was shown then on TV. There's a description of the series at www.imdb.com/title/tt0050061/ and there's a Wiki page about it too. I also have my family's copy of the original 1945 printing of the "USS Seawolf" book. I was pleasantly surprised last year when I noticed that they had printed another edition in 2017. Regards, Mike Warder
Mike Warder! Wonderful to hear from a relative of Fearless Freddie! I remember him having dinner at our home in Honolulu several times. He was an impressive man! The story on the Web of the death of the Seawolf is different from what my father told me at the time. I'm inclined to believe the official accounts online, but was wondering if you have any family unofficial accounts. It would not be unusual in wartime for the Navy to put out a story which covers up a "friendly fire" loss which would be bad publicity.
Bruce, no, I've never heard anything in the family about the later demise of the Seawolf. I've read about it online, of course, & have just accepted that it was due to friendly fire.
@@mikew6009 My father lost his brother on the U.S.S Sea Wolf. Sargent Patrick Hammill U.S. Army. The oral history I was taught was that the Sea Wolf was on a mission to drop him and 3 others off at Luzon as observers. In doing so they had to come close to shore in shallow water which left them exposed and very visible from air and it was at this point and time they were spotted by an American Aircraft that bombed it thinking it was the enemy. I believe there was a reason why it was not clearly marked as American which I cannot recall at the moment. I also have the telegram,a copy of the mentioned book and several correspondents btw the Navy and family.Although I was born approximately 22 yrs later this event had a great influence in the shaping of my own life starting with the story of how my mother and father met . Dad recounted what he knew with me shortly before he passed last year at 93 yrs old stating it was like yesterday to him.
Fearless Freddie Warder took me into a submarine which was in dock at Pearl Harbor in 1944 when I was 10 years old. I thought it was the Seawolf, but it may have been a different sub. I mostly remember the men were sleeping on top of torpedoes in cramped quarters and they wondered what a little kid was doing on their submarine. I saw the Captain's Quarters, and it was surprisingly small. There was about room for three men at one time, if they sat close. I was told that the Captain had to have a private space where he could discuss personnel issues which are private from others in the crew. It may have been private, but it wasn't comfortable.
Lots of good videos here. These are true stories; I made videos because I didn't want these great stories to be lost as the people die off! I'm 82 years old now, and wrote my book "Spirit of Attack" and made these videos to be sure that these great stories would be remembered!
I have just been given this link on Amazon Prime to an outstanding video about the Seawolf and Captain "Fearless Freddie" Warder. I highly recommend you watch the video to hear about a true American hero: www.amazon.com/Fearless-Freddie-Hugh-Fordyce/dp/B07Y295G47
My great uncle Edward john Szendrey worked his way up to lt junior grade and sank with the ship. I was told by my aunt that my great grandmother didn't find out about his death until she read it in the paper.
The Wikipedia story does not match the story that I remember Freddie Warder telling us at our home, but I was only 11 years old and my memory could be wrong. What have you heard?
I didn't know about Albert Einstein working on the torpedo problems, but they didn't get fixed until quite late -- about 1943. There were apparently a number of different problems. The initial problem was that the designers and testers of the torpedos did not admit that there was something wrong with their design - they blamed the submarine crews and torpedo plane pilots.
Thank you Mr. Gordon, my uncle S1 Edward Jack Kenney died onboard the Seawolf SS-197 in 1944, really great to hear your history.
Oh, oh... I have heard quite a bit about the loss of the SEAWOLF to a US destroyer - "friendly fire". I didn't cover it in the video because I was trying to keep the video short. The loss of the SEAWOLF is a bitter story. I honor your uncle and the others who went down with her...
Thank you Bruce. I really enjoy your historical dialogue, its great and I appreciate this video, really well done and good for our future generations to know these histories. Thank you so much.
Do you have any stories about the loss of the SEAWOLF? As a relative, there may have been family stories circulating. I was going to tell a story that my father told me in 1944, but some parts of it didn't jibe with what I read on the Internet, so I'm not sure what the truth is. I would be interested in anything you know.
As a boy I heard a lot of stories about submarine warfare in World War II. My dad was a submariner during the war and knew Freddy Warder well. Freddy Warder became Fearless Freddy for his exploits commanding the submarine U.S.S. Seawolf during the first year of the war. My dad was stationed at the Submarine Base and Training School at New London, Connecticut serving on the old O Class subs from World War I, which were being used to train sailors and officers as submariners. He had volunteered for submarine duty from the battleship, U.S.S. Maryland in 1940, before the start of the war and sent to the New London training base in mid-1941, where he was given the choice of which training sub to serve on, the O-9 or the O-10. Dad told us he asked the chief in charge, which sub he recommended and the chief replied that he would avoid the O-9 like the plague - that it had many problems. Dad was on the O-10 when the O-9 dived on a training mission and never resurfaced. All hands were lost. Dad served on other training subs during his tour at New London as a yeoman, handling the administrative paperwork of the vessel under the skipper. In 1942, after his legendary run of successes sinking Japanese ships, FreddyWarder was sent to New London in his new role as the commander of a submarine division to choose and command new sub skippers for combat in the Pacific. Dad was told that upon arrival at the submarine training base, his first task was to choose his staff and he told the Personnel Commander he wanted the best yeoman on the New London base on his staff. He was told "that would be Reed", my dad. Dad served directly under Fearless Freddy for much of the war, first going to Brisbane, Australia, then Freemantle, near Perth, where Freddy's submarine division were based for much of the war. Later in the war, Freddy's division was transferred to Subic Bay, in the Philippines and dad went with him. As the war wound down, Freddy Warder was moved to higher positions and dad was sent to Midway Island, where submarine crews were taken off of sub duty. He was eventually assigned to duty outside of submarines in San Diego. Sometime soon after the war, my dad ran into Freddy Warder on the base in San Diego. When Freddy learned dad was no longer in submarines, he was shocked and immediately had dad put back into the submarine service, although he never served under Warder again. My dad told me a number of time that Freddy Warder was the finest officer he ever knew and was always proud he served under Fearless Freddy during much of the war. They remained friends for many years. Mike Reed
Wow! Mike, that's an amazing story! Your father was a hero of our submarines! Too few people have written down their stories. Did he have any specific stories that he told you!?
@@spiritofattack Hi Bruce. Thanks for providing the information about Freddy Warder on this site. My dad loved to tell stories from those days. He did not have a lot of personal stories of submarine combat because he did not go out on patrol much after becoming Freddy Warder's yeoman. Freddy ran his show pretty much from submarine tenders in the Pacific. I don't think squadron commanders went on many patrols being busy commanding the boats from shore and tenders. Dad mentioned serving on the Pelius, the Nereus and the Sperry, I recall.
Dad told us about an incident while he was patrolling in the Atlantic, off the east coast when a German U-Boat fired torpedos at his boat, the USS Mackerel. The traded several torpedo shots at each other before the U-Boat left the scene. That was his only real combat incident. I did not get the full stories of dad's wartime adventures and later regretted that I did not ask for more information from him about them before he passed away in 2007. In his later years he did not want to discuss his time in the Pacific any more. He had some kind of dementia for a few years before he died and did not talk much after it began to affect him. I remember suggesting to him that he volunteer for a project I had read about that involved submariners providing verbal or written accounts of their experiences, but he told me he was not interested anymore. I think the dementia had something to do with his decision. Too bad.
Most of dad's stories involved his administrative duties under Freddy Warder and others during the war. Dad was a talented administrator (I was told by a friend of his at dad's memorial service) and was held in high esteem by others for his organizational skills. That explains why he was chosen by Freddy to be his yeoman when he was appointed squadron commander. In that capacity, dad dealt with and personally knew many of the submarine ace skippers in the Pacific. He did not explain how he interacted with them because it did not occur to me to ask but he seemed to know them all (an exaggeration by me). I became very familiar with many of the names because they were the heroes celebrated in the history. Men like Mush Morton and Dick O'Kane and others, who I did not know by name. We used to watch the TV show, Silent Service every week in the 1950s and dad seemed to have a story about many of them. Jake La Boone (Father La Boone to me) was a good friend of dad's. I remember the episode about La Boone on Silent Service where he made a vow to become a priest after a particularly dangerous incident that his sub survived. He did become a priest and was the Catholic chaplain at Yokosuka Navy Base in Japan during our long stay there. Father La Boone was a frequent guest at our family dinner table during those years. My brother and I served as his altar boys frequently on ships that docked in Yokosuka in the early 1960s. He was the "cool priest" to us. During the Viet Nam war, Father La Boone became something like "Fighting" Father La Boone as a combat priest in land battles the Marines fought. His bravery and dedication in the face or danger won him much honor. A hall at the Naval Academy in Anapolis is dedicated to him and a modern destroyer was named the Jake La Boone in his honor.
We spent four years living in Japan, at which time dad was the Flag Secretary to the Commander of Naval Forces, Japan. In that capacity, dad had a lot of responsibility for visiting dignitaries like, high level admirals, political leaders, foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. My mother was expected to play the role of the wife in some of the events and visits by dignitaries (as a kind of hostess, I think). He even involved me a few times when it seemed advantageous to him. In early 1963, dad asked me to be a companion to Admiral James Kirk Ret., who was served as ambassador to Taiwan a few years before. President Kennedy had sent Admiral Kirk to Taiwan to discuss the Quemoy Island crisis that threatened the stability of relations with mainland China when Chang Kai Shek threatened to fight over the island. Admiral Kirk suffered a heart attack during his Taiwan visit and was evacuated to the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka to recover before returning to Washington DC to brief President Kennedy on the talks with Chang. So I sat with Admiral Kirk for several days and we talked until he was well enough to fly back to the US. Admiral Kirk was a fascinating guy to a 12 year old like me. He was in charge or the Naval forces supporting the Normandy invasion and had been the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence. We spoke of President Kennedy and he told me that he was responsible for JFK's commissioning as a Naval Officer in the war. I was impressed, but he had not told me the whole story, which I learned in the past year. Apparently, JFK was rejected by the Navy for health reasons. I read last year that Joe Kennedy knew Admiral Kirk from his time in England and Joe got Admiral Kirk to help JFK get commissioned and posted to Naval Intelligence. Sorry I cannot finish this now. I have a flight to catch and have to leave. Mike Reed
@@mikereed3218 Mike, that's a wonderful story! You were in many critical places, knowing Admirals closely, as the Quemoy crisis threatened war. I'm sure you developed your own ideas about submarine warfare, and the role of naval power in the Cold War. How good were the Soviet submarines? There weren't many Chinese submarines then, but there are many now. What do you see as the future of naval power in the world?
@@spiritofattack Hi Bruce. I am afraid events have overtaken my intention to respond to you. I appreciate your interest in the stories of the submarine force my father told us. Dad's friendships with submariners he knew during the war gave me small opportunities to meet some of these men and get a personal tour of a few of the submarines that made names for themselves in the war and were still patrolling in the early 1960's. In Japan, dad always knew which submarines came into Yokosuka Naval Base and often paid visits to old WWII friends who were the skippers of the boats. I will always remember dad taking me with him to visit his friend who was skipper of the Archerfish at the time of our visit. Sitting in the wardroom drinking hot chocolate of the sub that sank the largest aircraftcarrier of the Imperial Navy was an awesome experience for a 12 year old boy. There were also surprises as I learned just who dad knew in the submarine force. My sister graduated from high school in Japan and left on one of the passenger ships the Navy used for troops and dependents traveling to and from duty stations across the Pacific. At the dock dad ran into Admiral Tommy Dyker, who at the time was the host of the TV show, The Silent Service. That time I knew who he was since Silent Service was one of the shows we watched every week in our home. He was such a nice guy and so friendly with dad. He was traveling back to the US on the ship and told my dad he would keep an eye on my sister during the voyage. The bonds forged during the war by submariners remained strong long after the war. It was a lesson for me. As an adult, I have read with great interest many books from the Pacific War but my attention was focused in other areas. I did not follow the fortunes of our submarines in the nuclear age so I regret that I do not have much to say about contemporary submarine warfare.
@@mikereed3218 I love your story -- it is a great story of America at its best! Yes, I remember the story of the Archerfish sinking the largest carrier of the war -- I read it in the book "Shinano!" which told the story very well. The largest ship ever sunk by a submarine! I salute all those heroes you mentioned!
God I would have been furious with the Navy telling me it's my fault.
Thanks for this Mr. Gordon - I really enjoy your presentation style and look forward to more of your videos!
Bruce, I thought that I had seen all of your videos....nope, missed this one. These bad torpedoes and the Navy finally addressing the problem, and the testing of these bad ones and the development of the new style ones, were part of one of the many WWll movies that were made, but I cannot remember which movie it was. I'm thinking that it was one with John Wayne...who better to solve the problem....Ha.. I remember a scene where they have one of these defective torpedoes hanging up by it's tail at a dock, the torpedoe is released and it hits the deck, and the dummy fuse doesn't go off. Uhh...Houston, we have a problem..!!
marbleman52 I hadn’t heard that one, Maebleman52!
@@spiritofattack "Operation Pacific"?
@@seanmorris No sure if if was "Operation Pacific" but one of my friends, who graduated from Annapolis, said that the torpedo fiasco is used in Annapolis as an example of how bureaucrats defended their decisions instead of looking after the troops fighting the war.
Thanks for the great story
you have a great channel sir, just getting into it now. Thanks for the hard work!
The USS SEAWOLF was very interesting to me because it's Captain was my father's friend --- and I actually went into the SEAWOLF during WW II as it was at Pear Harbor preparing for another sortie against the Japanese. I was about 11 years old, and it made a deep impression on me...
@@spiritofattack ya that's really cool! I take it you live/lived in Hawaii from your video. Also, I think many nations had problems with the magnetic fuzes on their torpedoes such as Germany if I recall correctly.
@@dominicmauro7203 Yes, I livd in Hawaii at the time. I was seven years old, and remember it clearly. The problem was not so much the magnetic fuzes on the torpedoes as the depth the torpedoes went. They would go too deep and go under the ship without activating the fuzes. Sometimes they would go on the surface, very visible to the target ship which could maneuver and be in a position to attack the submarine. When they did hit the ship, the contact fuzes were only tested for direct hits, while the torpedoes often were running nose-up and the fuzes would not detonate. The testing had been done in a laboratory, so the Navy in Hawaii tried shooting torpedoes against a rock cliff in Hawaii. The torpedoes hit the rock without exploding. I have heard that a major scandal erupted because the Naval weapons lab refused to believe that the torpedoes were defective, and blamed the submarine crews for false reporting. When they finally tested in realistic conditions, they also found that NONE of their aerial torpedoes worked. During the Battle of Midway, all our torpedo planes were shot down -- but the test showed that the torpedos would not have detonated even if they hit the Japanese ships! Those men had lost their lives to deliver defective weapons! For years, it was taught as a bad example of how a bureaucracy will refuse to believe that it is wrong.
Another good video, Bruce, thanks!
Great video, Bruce! I coincidentally finished that "Seawolf" book about two weeks ago. I had heard in the past a little about the issues the torpedoes had, but without much detail. Thanks for explaining, and for continuing to put out these videos. Your youtube channel is one of my favorites, and I really enjoyed your book as well!
MS90 I just ran across this video about the Seawolf -- it's outstanding - I suggest you view it. It is free on Amazon Prime. www.amazon.com/Fearless-Freddie-Hugh-Fordyce/dp/B07Y295G47
My uncle Edward Chapman is still on eternal patrol on the seawolf, along with his shipmates
Oh! What were you told about the loss of the Seawolf?
@@spiritofattack sunk by friendly fire, thats what my aunt told me
@@georgebarden4818 I also was told that the Seawolf was sunk by friendly fire. I found this on Wikipedia:
"Seawolf and Narwhal exchanged radar recognition signals at 0756 on 3 October in the Morotai area. Shortly thereafter, a 7th Fleet task group was attacked by Ro-41. The destroyer escort Shelton was torpedoed and sunk, and Richard M. Rowell began to search for the enemy.
Since there were four friendly submarines in the vicinity of this attack, they were directed to give their positions and the other three did, but Seawolf was not heard from. On 4 October, Seawolf again was directed to report her position, and again she failed to do so. One of two planes from the aircraft carrier Midway sighted a submarine submerging and dropped two bombs on it even though it was in a safety zone for American submarines. The site was marked by dye. Rowell's commanding officer knew he was in a safety lane,[11] but, having failed to get word Seawolf was behind schedule,[12] believed there was no U.S. submarine nearby and chose to attack. Rowell established sonar contact on the submarine, which then sent a series of dashes and dots which Rowell stated bore no resemblance to the existing recognition signals. Believing this an attempt to jam her sonar,[13] Rowell attacked with Hedgehog. The second attack was followed by underwater explosions, and debris rose to the surface.
Post-war examination of Japanese records shows no attack listed that could account for the loss of Seawolf. While it is possible Seawolf was lost to an operational casualty or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack, it is more likely she was sunk by friendly fire. 83 officers and men as well as 17 Army passengers were lost. She was the thirty-fourth U.S. submarine lost in the Pacific War, the second (after Dorado in the Caribbean) to friendly fire.[14] One of the Army passengers was Captain Howell S. Kopp, an Alamo Scout. Kopp was en route to an undisclosed location in the Philippines to conduct a clandestine mission in support of the upcoming Allied landing on Leyte.[15][16]
@@spiritofattack yes he had two brothers, one Richard Chapman U.S.M.C , who was older , and Eugene Chapman, U.S.N., Gene was on destroyer escort duty when Pearl Harbor was bombed , Gene was the youngest of the three, Richard was a Marine tanker in the Pacific theater,
@@georgebarden4818 Friendly fire is terrible, even for those who had to live with the knowledge that their decisions had killed our own men.
Bruce, thanks very much for the video. "Fearless Freddie" was my Dad's oldest brother and just "uncle Fred" to our family. The TH-cam video you mention at the end of your video was actually part of a TV series in cooperation with the US Navy that ran 1957-1958 called "The Silent Service". I remember us all watching that episode when it was shown then on TV. There's a description of the series at www.imdb.com/title/tt0050061/ and there's a Wiki page about it too. I also have my family's copy of the original 1945 printing of the "USS Seawolf" book. I was pleasantly surprised last year when I noticed that they had printed another edition in 2017. Regards, Mike Warder
Mike Warder! Wonderful to hear from a relative of Fearless Freddie! I remember him having dinner at our home in Honolulu several times. He was an impressive man! The story on the Web of the death of the Seawolf is different from what my father told me at the time. I'm inclined to believe the official accounts online, but was wondering if you have any family unofficial accounts. It would not be unusual in wartime for the Navy to put out a story which covers up a "friendly fire" loss which would be bad publicity.
Bruce, no, I've never heard anything in the family about the later demise of the Seawolf. I've read about it online, of course, & have just accepted that it was due to friendly fire.
@@mikew6009 My father lost his brother on the U.S.S Sea Wolf. Sargent Patrick Hammill U.S. Army. The oral history I was taught was that the Sea Wolf was on a mission to drop him and 3 others off at Luzon as observers. In doing so they had to come close to shore in shallow water which left them exposed and very visible from air and it was at this point and time they were spotted by an American Aircraft that bombed it thinking it was the enemy. I believe there was a reason why it was not clearly marked as American which I cannot recall at the moment. I also have the telegram,a copy of the mentioned book and several correspondents btw the Navy and family.Although I was born approximately 22 yrs later this event had a great influence in the shaping of my own life starting with the story of how my mother and father met .
Dad recounted what he knew with me shortly before he passed last year at 93 yrs old stating it was like yesterday to him.
Thanks for sharing this story. Anything else on the silent service?
Fearless Freddie Warder took me into a submarine which was in dock at Pearl Harbor in 1944 when I was 10 years old. I thought it was the Seawolf, but it may have been a different sub. I mostly remember the men were sleeping on top of torpedoes in cramped quarters and they wondered what a little kid was doing on their submarine. I saw the Captain's Quarters, and it was surprisingly small. There was about room for three men at one time, if they sat close. I was told that the Captain had to have a private space where he could discuss personnel issues which are private from others in the crew. It may have been private, but it wasn't comfortable.
Salmons and Sargos, Coolest WWII subs!
Great content, subscribed
Lots of good videos here. These are true stories; I made videos because I didn't want these great stories to be lost as the people die off! I'm 82 years old now, and wrote my book "Spirit of Attack" and made these videos to be sure that these great stories would be remembered!
Have seen this Submarine since 1970ish !!
It in Galveston,TeXaS !!
On its own island !
Seawolf Park !!
The SEAWOLF was sunk by friendly fire in the Pacific. The submarine on display in Seawolf Park is the USS Cavalla, not the Seawolf.
I have just been given this link on Amazon Prime to an outstanding video about the Seawolf and Captain "Fearless Freddie" Warder. I highly recommend you watch the video to hear about a true American hero: www.amazon.com/Fearless-Freddie-Hugh-Fordyce/dp/B07Y295G47
My great uncle Edward john Szendrey worked his way up to lt junior grade and sank with the ship. I was told by my aunt that my great grandmother didn't find out about his death until she read it in the paper.
We honor his memory - on the last voyage with no return...
@@spiritofattack where do I go to find out what actually happened? Is there a chance I can find the wreckage?
@@michaelszendrey5413 I don’t know. Sorry.
@@michaelszendrey5413 Try this information:
I ran into and had an impromptu interview with the sole survivor in 1990. Wikipedia version is crap. My father was on the Spadefish.
The Wikipedia story does not match the story that I remember Freddie Warder telling us at our home, but I was only 11 years old and my memory could be wrong. What have you heard?
luvsilly60.....Please, don't leave us hanging; share with us what you heard from that survivor...we would all love to hear..!!
I believe they got Albert Einstein to help with the torpedo problems.
I didn't know about Albert Einstein working on the torpedo problems, but they didn't get fixed until quite late -- about 1943. There were apparently a number of different problems. The initial problem was that the designers and testers of the torpedos did not admit that there was something wrong with their design - they blamed the submarine crews and torpedo plane pilots.
HUMMmmm !!
Loose lips sink ships !!!!!
Dad a traitor ??
Showing films to you n his friends !!
Otto n Heineken ??