WEBVTT - "Fearless Freddie" Warder 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.240 This is Lei Habib, and this is our American Stories, 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:16.919 and we tell stories about everything here on this show, 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.600 from the arts to sports, and from business to history 0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.000 and everything in between, including your story. Send them to 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.480 our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.080 This next story is a war story America. Well, it's 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:35.000 made up of great men and women, and we are 0:00:35.680 --> 0:00:39.360 as good as the people in our country. And America 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:42.560 won the Second World War because of men like fearless 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:47.880 Freddie Warder, whose story we're about to hear. Here's Greg Hangler. 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.520 There are many incredible stories of courageous men, incredible battles 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:58.320 and heroes during World War Two. Rear Admiral Fred Warder 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.080 a submarine skipper whose exploits in World War Two one 0:01:02.160 --> 0:01:06.120 him a Navy Cross and a nickname he detested. Was 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:11.280 average sized, possessed firm lips, a determined chin, with piercing 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:16.200 blue eyes under narrowed lids, and a smooth face. Warder 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:20.480 graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis class of 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.640 nineteen twenty five, received his master's in Marine engineering at 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:29.039 University cal Berkeley in nineteen thirty four. Was married and 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.080 the father of four children. Having narrowly avoided the attack 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.600 on Pearl Harbor, Rear Admiral Warder took charge of the 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.440 USS Sea Wolf and set out for the seas of 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:43.640 the Pacific to wreck havoc on Japanese shipping and quickly 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.920 became known as the Artist of submarining. Warder fought his 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:53.480 enemy hard, but he also respected and loved him. Let's 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.480 begin our deep dive into this story with Submarine warfare 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:02.880 Guru John Gorham. I attend a church here in Baltimore, 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:05.960 Grace Bible Baptist Church, and one of our church members 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.480 mentioned that she had an uncle named Freddie Warder. And 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:14.040 I said, I said, did you see Freddie Warder? And 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.680 she said yes. I said, you mean like us submarine 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.480 Captain Freddie Warder, and she says, yes, how'd you know 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.359 nobody knows that. I said, oh no. To the contrary, 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:29.040 he's the ultimate submarine warrior from World War Two. He's 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.120 just it. Most people don't know this, but the vast 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:35.040 majority of tonnage that was sunk during World War two 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.520 enemy Japanese tonnage was done by the submarine fleet, what's 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.480 known as the Silent Service. These men paid the ultimate 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.079 price but something like fifty five percent of all surface 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.600 supply shipping to the Japanese post war shipping and merchant 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:55.760 marine were sunk specifically by submarines. So these guys, to 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.160 me are the heroes. They were very small, efficient crew 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.920 that punched way beyond their weight. Fred Ward really did 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:09.320 punch way beyond his weight, even at family gatherings. Here's 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:13.960 Fearless Freddie's cousin Anne water Lynn. I just know that 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:17.160 if there was going to be a brawl, Fred was gonna, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:19.679 you know, punch out the biggest man in the room, 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.160 and he was gonna ghit him good the first time, 0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.160 so we didn't have to go back. Fred wasn't that big, 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.679 you know, and his brother Frank was big, and I 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:32.400 had broad shoulders, and he was, you know, it looked 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:34.160 to me like he was at least a foot or 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:38.160 maybe more taller than Fred. And Frank was an FBI agent. 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:43.480 Fred just knocked him out. He got to that first 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.880 punch and that was it. And Fred was gone and 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.600 Frank was down and out. And my mother said to 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.880 my father, John, why do your relatives always have to 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.720 pass out in our room? And my father said, pass 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.440 out nothing, that's a ko from Fred, it was he 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.400 knocked ye out. So it seemed to me that Fred 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.400 fought with men the way he fought the war. You know. 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:07.360 He was the little guy that had to get the 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:09.080 big guy, and he had to get him with one 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.960 punch and knockout. He's another one of Fred's cousins, Hugh 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:18.839 four dice. Freddie was the oldest of my uncle Hugh's family. 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.680 They had eight children and he was the oldest. And 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.039 Freddie was Valdatorian. In his high school graduating class, I remember, 0:04:27.360 --> 0:04:32.520 was always had having a big smile away. He had 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:36.919 a quick wit about him. His mother was Irish, you know, 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.440 and he would make jokes about Catholics. And even though 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.799 he was Catholic him job. No one in our family 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:49.000 ever called Uncle Fred fearless or Freddie. He was known 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.719 as the Admiral Uncle Fred Fred. And when my grandmother 0:04:53.839 --> 0:05:00.440 was feeling particularly stern, Frederick, especially when he was teasing 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:05.440 her about drinking or about being Catholic or something. Yesterday, 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:13.600 the Sumba nineteen forty one, a date which will live 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:21.280 in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:27.200 deliberately attacked my naval of the forces of the Empire 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:33.520 of Japan. Here's former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warder 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.400 don Almer. All the instructions that came out from the 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.120 Commander of the Pacific Fleet was first off, it was 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.080 the announcement that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, and 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:49.039 the only instructions they gave was conduct yourself accordingly. And 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:54.279 then shortly after a message came out saying engage attack 0:05:55.400 --> 0:06:01.479 and sink all enemies shipping encountered. That was very simple. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.800 Back in those days. The United States had already tried 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:10.200 to stop the Japanese from colonizing and invading the mainland 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.880 of China and Korea. A lot of misbehavior by the 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:18.320 Japanese Empire in these areas that they quote unquote colonized, 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:22.880 They basically invaded them and abused the citizens of the 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:27.359 nations of Korea and China. And you've been listening to 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:32.360 the story of Fearless Freddie Water and it's just underappreciated 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.919 the role that the submarine played in World War two 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:40.640 and beyond, and the risks these guys, mostly guys, took. 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.960 It was all volunteer, always was and is because it 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:49.320 is unique duty, submarine duty and it's dangerous and well, 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.240 only certain types need apply. If you're claustrophobic, it is 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.200 not a job for you. When we come back, more 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:59.880 of the life of fearless Freddie Water, and we already 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.080 the guy, don't we. But wait till you hear the 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:30.840 rest of this story. Here on our American Stories. Here 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:35.680 are our American Stories. We bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.640 faith and love. Stories from a great and beautiful country 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.040 that need to be told. But we can't do it 0:07:41.080 --> 0:07:44.120 without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.800 they're not free to make. If you love our stories 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.520 in America like we do, please go to our American 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.679 Stories dot com and click the donate button. Give a little, 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.360 give a lot, help us keep the great American stories coming. 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:11.680 That's our American Stories dot Com. And we continue with 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:16.679 our American Stories and the remarkable story of fearless Freddy Water. 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:22.320 Let's return to the story. Unto Greg England, here's Stephen 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:27.240 Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack, the American submarine strategy that 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:31.480 helped defeat Japan. In the late nineteen twenties, fred went 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.240 to the Submarine School in New London, Connecticut, and after 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.120 that he was junior officer on a number of US 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.800 Navy submarines, and in nineteen thirty nine he was the 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:45.120 commanding officer at the commissioning of the USSC Wolf and 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.800 remained commanding officer of the boat until nineteen forty three. 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:56.440 War clouds started gathering around nineteen forty and his submarine 0:08:56.520 --> 0:09:01.000 was sent to the Pacific and eventually to the Philippines 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.120 along with a number of other US submarines. His submarine 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.920 was at the Cavetian Naval Yard in Manila Bay in 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.360 the Philippines. On December eight, nineteen forty one, when the 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.959 Japanese attacked the Philippines, they destroyed a couple of submarines 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.240 not too far away from him. He got her underway 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.280 and left Manilla Bay and was sent on patrol in 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:28.000 the Northern Philippines off the coast of Luzon. The east 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.319 coast of Luzon, near a town called a Pari. He 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.000 saw a destroyer outside of Pari the harbor there and 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:38.480 he went to attack it. But then he stumbled on 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.640 a seaplane tender that was in the harbor, and he 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.680 decided to attack that and he got a really good 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:48.920 He made a really good approach. He had everything all 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.640 set up. He fired four torpedoes from his forward tubes 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:57.600 and none of them exploded, so he turned tail because 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.000 the destroyer was going to come after him. But they 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:05.240 set up for stern tubes to fire at the seaplane tender, 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.840 and they fired those and none of those exploded. And 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.920 the only thing I've exploded that day was Fred Warder, 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.520 who was furious about the bad torpedoes, and that became 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.160 a scandal during World War two that for the first 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.600 couple of years of the war, the torpedoes did not 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.280 work reliably, and he was just fit to be tired 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:30.600 about that. Here is Rear Admiral Fred Warder. If we'd 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:35.560 had torpedoes, we could have made a damned flying effort, 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:43.760 but we did not have a good torpedo. Here again 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:47.600 is former aid of Rear Admiral Fred Warder, don Almer. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.040 So Admiral Warder knew that the torpedoes were not working well, 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.840 so he actually went into a place called a devout 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.640 golf and there was a ship that was anchored there, 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.959 but he was firing torpedoes at this ship. So one 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.280 of the herpedoes went under the ship. Okay, went up 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:06.520 on the beach and exploded. So that was one. You see, 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.000 it's something I fault at the starpeedo's fall. And then 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:13.319 he fired two more and it was but against the 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.199 side of the ship and they didn't explode, so that 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:20.679 that that kind of confirmed that. And then another when 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.719 he fired and it was an erratic run called a 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.679 circular run. The ruter is going to lock over in 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.120 win position, it makes a circular run, and the circle 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:31.800 run would bring it right back to about where the 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:35.439 machinery compartment is. That the ship up. We did lose 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.480 a couple of submarines, by the way, but but not 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.959 to seawallf When Water anticipated this and he had his 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.640 sooner people listening, he knew it was a circle run. 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:48.400 He went down, so the torpedo passed overhead and came 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:50.840 back up again and he fired a couple more torpedoes 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:55.880 and he finished the ship off. Here again is Submarine 0:11:55.960 --> 0:12:00.960 warfare Guru John Gorham. What they did was the Japanese 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.360 pre set. If you've seen in the movies, they look 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.120 like fifty five gallon drums being rolled off the back 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:11.280 of the tail of a corvette or a destroyer, and 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.200 they were just basically loaded up with TNT. They would 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.240 drop to a certain predetermined level based on and the 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.280 sensor that was used was a depth sensor based on 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.120 water pressure, and then they would just blow up. And 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.400 if you had, if your submarine vessel was nearby, when 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.120 one of those blew up, the shock was such that 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.120 it could break open the hull or weaken it, or 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.800 wrinkle the skin and do all kinds of damage. The 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.000 vast majority of anyone's submarines that were lost during the 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.120 war were lost to depth charges. He talked to me 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:48.360 one to him about the depth charge evasion, and the 0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:50.400 way he put it to me is that, well, you've 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.080 got to understand that what this Japanese destroyer, the enemy 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:59.160 destroyers doing is he's making a noise and he's listening 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.079 to the echo. Well, the more aspect that you show 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:09.920 that ship, the stronger the echo. So basically, what he 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.000 would always do is to turn and point directly toward 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.880 the ship, and that gave him the most narrow aspect. 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:18.920 And even though it meant that he was going right 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.199 towards this guy that was trying to get him, the 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:26.480 echoes were just coming back strong. They would come back week, 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.280 which would indicate that the submarine was much further away. 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.040 So the guy would go overhead, and he'd go racing 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.400 out there and bang bang bang, the charges would go off, 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.400 and and that was the time. Then he would make 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.440 his course change or maneuver in order to put distance 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.360 between him and that destroyer. The strategy of the United 0:13:47.400 --> 0:13:51.640 States Navy had with our submarine service was to go 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.320 after the merchant rain because they were easy targets. They 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.200 were soft targets. We could sink them, they couldn't fight back. 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:02.560 It allowed our American submarine fleet to last a little longer. 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:04.599 It's a little more dangerous when you go after a 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:07.840 Japanese warship because they can fight back. And the most 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:13.400 deadly warships were corvettes and destroyers because the destroyers are 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.160 very shallow draft vessels. If you attempt to fire at 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.000 a torpedo at it, at least at a corvette. A 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.040 corvette is even smaller than a destroyer. Corvettes are so 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.560 shallow that torpedoes go underneath, and you have to be 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.240 a very good shot to take out a destroyer with 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:36.160 a torpedo. The vast majority of American submarine commanders wouldn't 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.040 tangle with the destroyer, but that's not the case with 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.000 frennye order. Submarine commanders were a breed apart. A lot 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:47.240 of them had a strong streak of independence. They didn't 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:52.080 like being pushed around by admirals and captains, you know, 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.680 and the Submarine Service gave them that kind of freedom 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:58.520 because when a submarine left port, they had virtually no 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.160 contact with the admirals and the captains. It was all 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.760 up to the submarine commander. They didn't have anybody breathing 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.360 down their necks. Everybody was required to go on seven patrols, 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:14.320 and generally the custom was for a captain not to 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.520 press his luck. Just like in Vietnam when a guy 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.760 was down to his last month, they didn't go out 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:21.800 on any scary patrols. You don't want to risk a 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:23.840 guy's life if he's made it through a whole year 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:26.440 and Nam, you don't want to push your luck at 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:33.800 the last minute. But Warder is Warder, and he's determined 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:37.160 to make this very last of his patrol's count. He 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.840 was on his way back from the Palau Islands and 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.120 he discovered another anchorage or an area where there was 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.920 tremendous amount of activity. He sailed in a torpedo and 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.160 he was able to sink a three thousand ton ship. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:53.720 Then he sank a transport. This is very valuable because 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.120 not only is a tonage, but it's Japanese fighting troops 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.720 men that will never make it to shore and in 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.360 and threatened American lives. A seven thousand ton transport. That 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.680 was a tremendous prize that he got. Then again he 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:10.960 was able to torpedo again. On his way coming home, 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.240 he was able to torpedo another ship to the tune 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:17.800 of three thousand tons. So that means he sank thirteen 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:23.200 thousand tons in one patrol. That's more than the majority 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:26.760 of sub captains ever sank in their entire career of 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:32.520 seven patrols in the South Pacific. How Freddie Warder got 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:36.920 that name Fearless Freddy. He was the last boat out 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.800 on patrol, leaving the Java Sea area, very low on fuel, 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:48.080 very low on food provisions. The men were smoking coffee 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:50.360 grounds rolled in toilet paper because they'd been out of 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.560 cigarettes for a while. They're low on torpedoes. But Freddie 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.760 Warder wasn't about to go back to his base with 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:01.400 unspent torpedoes. Ridiculous. He'd never do that. He found out 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:04.680 that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands about two 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:08.040 hundred miles south of Java, and he took his boat 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.760 down in that way. He decided he just patrolled the area, 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:13.720 cruise around, see what's going on. As he approached Flying 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.040 Fish Cove, that's the one where the Japanese had their anchorage. 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:24.399 It was an absolute submariner's dream. Four cruisers lined up 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.120 in a row, lined up in a row. And when 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:28.800 we come back, we're going to hear the rest of 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:34.040 this remarkable story. Thirteen thousand tons in one patrol, the 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.359 artist of submarine, the ultimate submarine warrior. And we're talking 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:42.280 about Fearless Freddie Warder. Again. This is our American stories, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.440 always telling the stories of our fighting men and women. 0:17:46.119 --> 0:18:09.520 More after these messages and we continue here with our 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.920 American stories, and let's return to Greg Hangler and his 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.960 story about Rear Admiral Fearless Freddie Warder here again his 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:21.320 submarine warfare guru, John Gorham. He found out that the 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.760 Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands about two hundred miles 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.960 south of Java, and he took his boat down in 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.720 that way. He decided he just patrolled the area, cruise 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:34.000 around see what's going on. As he approached Flying Fish Cove, 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:40.520 it was an absolute submarner's dream. Four cruisers lined up 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.120 in a row, lined up in a row. He got 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:47.800 in close and destroyers recognized him right away. He heard 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:51.680 the painting. But he fired off four torpedoes at a 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.880 cruiser that was about a thousand yards away, and that's 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:57.680 about as close as a submarner will ever want to 0:18:57.720 --> 0:19:01.200 get to his target. So he fired the four torpedoes. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.440 As soon as he was convinced that he had sunk 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:09.240 that ship. He dove low, and his law book reports 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.680 that the Japanese were very effective in placing their depth charges. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:19.320 So he stayed low, and he waited overnight the next 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.639 day and he slipped out of the cove. The next day, 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:23.880 he slipped back in, and the Japanese, of course were 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.639 alerted to him. They were on patrol. But he was 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:32.280 able to maneuver in again and nail a second cruiser, 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:37.760 and again he was depth charged, fled the area, waited 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.800 until later on that afternoon he came back in and 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:46.560 he struck a cruiser a third time. Captain Water comes 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:49.280 in the very next day again because he wants to 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.880 finish off this juicy collection. He's down to just two 0:19:53.320 --> 0:19:59.240 torpedoes left. They're on attack mode now because they're just 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.760 absolutely patrolling the area. The water's boiling with ships going 0:20:02.840 --> 0:20:06.119 back and forth looking for him. He slips in because 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:08.919 he's determined to use up his last torpedoes. There's one 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.280 more cruiser left. It's flying the dependent of the admiral 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.480 of the squadron, and he says, I'm gonna take this 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.520 guy out. So he fires his last two torpedoes at 0:20:17.560 --> 0:20:20.720 the cruiser and he hits them, but in the meantime, 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:25.920 the destroyers got perilously close to him. He dove down 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:31.800 deep and he endured nine hours of depth charge from 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:37.359 multiple patrol boats, corvettes, destroyers. Unbelievable. That may be the 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:40.760 record for the United States Navy for this submarine fleet. 0:20:41.080 --> 0:20:45.879 And during nine hours of well placed depth charging, and 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:47.719 he says in his log book, he says, my men 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:49.560 were really at the end of their rope, and he 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.200 realized he had to go and there's no point in 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.240 staying around. He had no more torpedoes. He's already taken 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.360 out all four of the Capitol ships that were anchored 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.119 at Flying Fish Cove, and he returned home in victory, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.959 and on the way the men said, I'm gonna call 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.880 you fearless Freddie from now on after what we saw 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.480 you do here again his former aid of Rear, Admiral 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:17.119 Fred Warner don Almer. He later came back. That's what 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.840 they call a division commander or a wolfpack commander, and 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:24.119 that was after he was relieved by Lieutenant Commander Royce Gross. 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:28.600 He went into Christens Island because they knew the Japanese 0:21:28.600 --> 0:21:30.760 were going to come there in order to, you know, 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.280 take advantage of the potassium. At the time, they were 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:35.680 nothing but abridge and all the people that were there. 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.360 To give you some feel for aber Warder, he got 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.680 there before the Japanese did, and there were facilities there, 0:21:43.320 --> 0:21:48.680 dock and that sort of thing, and someone suggested that, 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:50.359 well maybe it's a good idea if we wouldn't here 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:52.520 and blow all that up. Well, now you got to 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.560 understand these this is a war going on, and these 0:21:55.600 --> 0:21:58.400 are just Aboriginal people. You would think that you who 0:21:58.440 --> 0:22:01.760 really cares about them. Wardered it and he said no, 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:03.280 he said, we're not going to go in there and 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.600 blow anything up. He says, because these people need to 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:08.359 make a living there, and we don't want to hurt him. 0:22:09.160 --> 0:22:13.280 I guess later on I learned from the person who 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:17.000 succeeded him in command of the Sea, Wolf Royce Gross, 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:20.960 that he sent a Japanese merchant ship not far from 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:24.639 that that place it went down. There were two survivors 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:26.520 in the water, and the water wanted to bring him 0:22:26.560 --> 0:22:28.520 one board, and one of them blew himself up with 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.240 a hem grenade, and the other was he just refused 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:33.840 to come because the Japanese culture to time you do 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:37.520 a surrender, you died for the emperor. And the wards 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.440 figured he needed something, so he actually tossed him a 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:45.359 life jacket and a fifth of bourbon. The Japanese acknowledged 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.720 within but from what water could tell that he was, 0:22:48.920 --> 0:22:51.840 you know, carried out to sea and ultimately was lost. 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:56.399 Here again is Stephen Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack, the 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:00.600 American submarine strategy that helped the feet Japan. When he 0:23:00.800 --> 0:23:05.240 was patrolling down in the Java Sea area, he sunk 0:23:05.359 --> 0:23:09.400 a Japanese ship and he surfaced and discovered a lot 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.520 of Japanese just floating in the water without life jackets. 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:15.680 So he had the crew his crew throw as many 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:19.240 life jackets as they could to help the surviving sailors. 0:23:19.680 --> 0:23:22.639 He saw them as an enemy. I mean, the Japanese 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:25.400 is truly an enemy because of what they had done, 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:30.200 particularly Pearl Harmor. But he believed that your enemy is 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:33.639 also your brother. To be a successful captain, you have 0:23:33.760 --> 0:23:36.520 to have a crew that will obey you, and you 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:38.600 have to have a crew that respects you enough to 0:23:38.680 --> 0:23:42.920 risk their lives. Because he isn't called fearless Freddie for nothing. 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:47.680 He would take risks that almost no other submarine captain didn't. Well, 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:49.800 some of them took risks and they just didn't live 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:52.399 to tell about it, which is understandable. That's what they 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:56.640 called a risk. But Freddie absolutely earned that title being 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:01.600 called fearless. He absolutely was fearless, and his men would 0:24:01.640 --> 0:24:03.439 go to the gates of hell and back for him. 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.440 He had their utmost respect. Here again is Fearless Freddie's 0:24:07.480 --> 0:24:11.639 cousin and ward Lynn. He really did believe in a 0:24:11.800 --> 0:24:16.719 hard war and an easy peace. He wanted the war 0:24:16.840 --> 0:24:19.600 to be fought hard and fast and be over with 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:23.080 so that humanity could get back to being humanity. Because 0:24:23.960 --> 0:24:27.600 I never really heard him say an ugly thing about anyone. 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:30.280 I never heard anyone say he said an ugly thing 0:24:30.359 --> 0:24:33.840 about another person. If you were with him, you just 0:24:33.960 --> 0:24:36.159 felt like you were the only person on earth. He 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:41.159 really made people feel his warmth idea. I mean, you 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:45.280 just fairly wanted him to be proud of you. You 0:24:45.359 --> 0:24:47.640 were proud to be with him, and you wanted him 0:24:47.680 --> 0:24:51.240 to be proud of you. And he's one of my 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:56.200 fondest childhood memories. Actually, he went on to earn two 0:24:56.280 --> 0:24:59.840 Navy crosses, of course, a legion and hurt. He got 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:05.440 those Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal than the usual ones, 0:25:05.480 --> 0:25:10.560 the Victory Medal, Philippine Service Medal, and the Agietic Pacific Medal. 0:25:11.880 --> 0:25:14.840 From what I've read in his obituary and been told 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:18.320 by my father, Uncle Fred really didn't like the name 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:21.440 fearless Freddie because he was just as afraid as anybody 0:25:21.480 --> 0:25:25.320 else on the submarine and his crew. And his crew 0:25:25.400 --> 0:25:28.159 were as heroes whom he fondly referred to as his 0:25:28.320 --> 0:25:32.800 beloved sons of you know what, And he felt and 0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:36.080 said that the real heroes and war are those that 0:25:36.240 --> 0:25:40.359 give their lives. Here again is Rear Admiral fred Water 0:25:41.720 --> 0:25:50.760 said you the name fearless, Well, I know I did 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:58.320 are one. I'm scared to row, I mean RAI shooge gated. 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:04.920 I'm scared. Fred Warder became Assistant Chief of Naval Operations 0:26:05.080 --> 0:26:09.159 for Undersea Warfare in nineteen fifty five. He commanded the 0:26:09.200 --> 0:26:13.560 Submarine Force Atlantic Fleet in nineteen fifty seven and retired 0:26:13.720 --> 0:26:17.440 in nineteen sixty two after two years as Commandant of 0:26:17.520 --> 0:26:21.760 the eighth Naval District in New Orleans. He retired in 0:26:21.920 --> 0:26:26.919 nineteen sixty two and died at his home on February first, 0:26:27.520 --> 0:26:32.800 two thousand. He was ninety five years old. I'm Greg 0:26:32.960 --> 0:26:38.000 Hengler and this is our American stories and great job 0:26:38.160 --> 0:26:41.120