November 6, 2025 • 27 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, during World War II, the ocean was a battlefield few ever saw. Deep below the surface, American submarines hunted enemy ships in silence, their crews knowing that a single mistake could mean never coming home. Among them was Rear Admiral Frederick “Fearless Freddie” Warder, a U.S. Navy officer whose skill and steady command made him one of the most respected leaders in the fleet. Warder earned his nickname through acts of calm precision, leading his submarine into dangerous waters and striking with torpedo accuracy that seemed impossible. His courage and composure became legendary among Navy ranks, yet his name rarely appears in history books. He was one of the many unsung heroes of World War II whose quiet victories helped turn the tide of war. Here’s the story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
This next story is a war story America. Well, it's
(00:31):
made up of great men and women, and we are
as good as the people in our country. And America
won the Second World War because of men like fearless
Freddie Water, whose story we're about to hear.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Here's Greg Hengler.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
There are many incredible stories of courageous men, incredible battles
and heroes during World War Two. Rear Admiral Fred ward
a submarine skipper whose exploits in World War II won
him a Navy Cross and a nickname he detested. Was
average sized, possessed firm lips, a determined chin, with piercing
(01:11):
blue eyes under narrowed lids, and a smooth face. Warder
graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis class of
nineteen twenty five, received his master's in Marine engineering at
University cal Berkeley in nineteen thirty four. Was married and
the father of four children, having narrowly avoided the attack
(01:33):
on Pearl Harbor. Rear Admiral Wardour took charge of the
USS Sea Wolf and set out for the seas of
the Pacific to wreck havoc on Japanese shipping and quickly
became known as the Artist of Submarining. Water fought his
enemy hard, but he also respected and loved him. Let's
(01:53):
begin our deep dive into this story with submarine warfare
Guru John Gorum.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I attended church here in Baltimore, Grace Bible Baptist Church,
and one of our church members mentioned that she had
an uncle named Freddy Water. And I said, I said,
did you say Freddy Water? And she said yes. I
said you mean like us submarine Captain Freddie Water and
she says, yes, how'd you know nobody knows that. I said,
(02:22):
oh no. To the contrary, he's the ultimate submarine warrior
from World War Two. He's just it. Most people don't
know this, but the vast majority of tonnage that was
sunk during World War two enemy Japanese tonnage was done
by the submarine fleet, what's known as the Silent Service.
These men paid the ultimate price, but something like fifty
(02:44):
five percent of all surface supply shipping to the Japanese.
Both Warshipping and Merchant Marine were sunk specifically by submarines.
So these guys, to me are the heroes. They were
very small, efficient crew that punched way beyond their weight.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Fred Water really did punch way beyond his weight, even
at family gatherings. Here's Fearless Freddie's cousin and water Lynn.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
I just know that if there was going to be
a brawl, Fred was gonna, you know, punch out the
biggest man in the room, and he was gonna hit
him good the first time, so we didn't have to
go back. Fred wasn't that big, you know, and his
brother Frank was big and I had broad shoulders, and
he was, you know, it looked to me like he
was at least a foot or maybe more taller than Fred.
(03:36):
And Frank was an FBI agent. Fred just knocked him out.
He got to that first punch and that was it.
And Fred was gone and Frank was down and out.
And my mother said to my father, John, why do
your relatives always have to pass out in our room?
And my father said, pass out? Nothing, that's a ko
(03:57):
from Fred.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It was he not, so it seemed to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Me that Fred fought with men the way he fought
the war.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
He was the little guy that had to get the
big guy, and he had to get him with one
punch and knockout.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Here's another one of Fred's cousins, Hugh Fordyce.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
Freddie was the oldest of my uncle Hugh's family. They
had eight children and he was the oldest. And Freddie
was valictorian in his high school graduating class. I remember
as always had having a big smile, he had a
quick wit about him. His mother was Irish, you know,
(04:37):
and he would make jokes about Catholics, and even though
he was a Catholic him job.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
No one in our family ever called Uncle Fred fearless
or Freddie. He was known as the Admiral Uncle Fred
Fred And when my grandmother was feeling particularly stern, Frederick,
especially when he was teasing her about drinking, or about
being Catholic or something.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Yesterday, December nineteen forty one, a date which will live
in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked my naval and air forces of the Empire
(05:27):
of Japan.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Hugh's former aid of Rear Admiral fred Ward Don almer Well.
Speaker 8 (05:35):
The instructions that came out from the Commander of the
Pacific Fleet was first off, it was the announcement that
the Japanese that attacked Pearl Harbor, and the only instructions
they gave was conduct yourself accordingly. And then shortly after
a message came out saying engage attack and sink all
(05:57):
enemy shipping encountered. That was very simple.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Back in those days, the United States had already tried
to stop the Japanese from colonizing and invading the mainland
of China and Korea. A lot of misbehavior by the
Japanese Empire in these areas that they quote unquote colonized,
They basically invaded them and abused the citizens of the
(06:23):
nations of Korea and China.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And you've been listening to the story of Fearless Freddy
Water and it's just underappreciated the role that the submarine
played in World War two and beyond and the risks
these guys, mostly guys, took. It was all volunteer, always
was and is because it is unique duty, submarine duty,
(06:46):
and it's dangerous and well, only certain types need apply.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
If you're claustrophobic. It is not a job for you.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
When we come back more of the life of fearless
Freddy Water and we already the guy, don't we. But
wait till you hear the rest of this story here
on our American Stories. Lee hbib here, and I'm inviting
(07:31):
you to help our American Stories celebrate this country's two
hundred and fiftieth birthday coming soon.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
If you want to.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Help inspire countless others to love America like we do,
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to our Americanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give.
(08:10):
And we continue with our American Stories and the remarkable
story of Fearless Ready Water.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Let's return to the story and to Greg Hanglo.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Here's Stephen Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack, the American submarine
strategy that helped defeat Japan.
Speaker 9 (08:29):
In the late nineteen twenties. Fred went to the Submarine
School in New London, Connecticut, and after that he was
junior officer on a number of US Navy submarines, and
in nineteen thirty nine he was the commanding officer at
the commissioning of the USSCA Wolf and remained commanding officer
of the boat until nineteen forty three. War cloud started
(08:52):
gathering around nineteen forty and his submarine was sent to
the Pacific and eventually to the Philippines along with a
number of other US submarines. His submarine was at the
Kavidian Naval Yard in Manila Bay in the Philippines. On
December eight, nineteen forty one, when the Japanese attacked the Philippines,
(09:15):
they destroyed a couple of submarines not too far away
from him. He got her underway and left Manila Bay
and was sent on patrol in the Northern Philippines off
the coast of Luzon. The east coast of Luzon, near
a town called a Pari. He saw a destroyer outside
of Pari the harbor there and he went to attack it.
(09:37):
But then he stumbled on a seaplane tender that was
in the harbor, and he decided to attack that and
he got a really good He made a really good approach.
He had everything all set up. He fired four torpedoes
from his forward tubes and none of them exploded. So
he turned tail because the destroyer was going to come
(09:58):
after him, set up for stern tubes to fire at
the seaplane tender and they fired those and none of
those exploded. And the only thing that exploded that day
was Fred Warder, who was furious about the bad torpedoes,
and that became a scandal during World War two that
for the first couple of years of the war the
(10:20):
torpedoes did not work reliably, and he was just fit
to be tied about that.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Here is Rear Admiral Fred ward If we.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Had torpedoes, we could have made a damn fly an
effort that we did not have a good torpedoes.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Here again is former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warter
don Olmer.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
So Admirald Warner knew that the torpedoes were not working well.
So he actually went into a place called Devao Golf
and there was a ship that was anchored there. But
he was fire torpedoes at this ship. So one of
the torpedoes went under the ship, okay, went up on
the beach and exploded. So that was one you see,
it's my fault at s tarpedo's fault, and then he
(11:09):
fired two more and was against the side of the
ship and they didn't explode, so that that kind of
confirmed that. And then another when he fired and it
was an erratic run called a circular run. The rider
is going to lock over in one position, it makes
a circle run, and the circle run would bring it
(11:30):
right back to about where the machinery compartment is. That
we both a ship up. We did lose a couple
of submarines, by the way, but but not the seawolf.
When Water anticipated this and he had sooner people listening,
he knew it was a circle run. He went down
so that the torpedo passed overhead and came back up
again and he fired a couple more torpedoes and then
(11:52):
he finished the ship off.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Here again is submarine warfare Guru John Gorham.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
What they did was the Japanese pre set. If you've
seen in the movies, they looked like fifty five gallon
drums being rolled off the back of the tail of
a corvette or a destroyer, and they were just basically
loaded up with TNT. They would drop to a certain
predetermined level based on and the sensor that was used
(12:19):
was a depth sensor based on water pressure, and then
they would just blow up. And if you had if
your submarine vessel was nearby, when one of those blew up,
the shock was such that it could break open the
hull or weaken it, or wrinkle the skin and do
all kinds of damage. The vast majority of anyone's submarines
that were lost during the war were lost to depth charges.
Speaker 8 (12:42):
He talked to me one to him about depth charge evasion,
and the way he put it to me, he said, well,
you've got to understand that what this Japanese destroyer, the
enemy destroyers doing is he's making a noise and he's
listening to the echo. Well, the more aspect that you
(13:02):
show that ship, the stronger the echo. So basically what
he would always do is turn and point directly toward
the ship, and that gave him the most narrow aspect.
And even though it meant that he was going right
toward this guy that was trying to get him, the
echoes were were just coming back strong. They would come
(13:26):
back week, which would indicate that the submarine was much
further away. So the guy would go overhead and he'd
go racing out there and bang bang bang the charges
that go off, and that was the time. Then he
would make his course change or maneuver in order to
put distance between him and that destroyer.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
The strategy the United States Navy had with our submarine
service was to go after the merchant ring because they
were easy targets. They were soft targets we could sink down,
they couldn't fight back. It allowed our American submarine fleet
to last a little longer. It's a little more dangerous
when you go after a Japanese warship because they can
fight back. And the most deadly warships were corvettes and
(14:11):
destroyers because the destroyers are very shallow draft vessels. If
you attempt to fire at a torpedo at it, well,
at least at a corvette. A corvette's even smaller than
a destroyer. Corvettes are so shallow that torpedo's go underneath,
and you have to be a very good shot to
take out a destroyer with a torpedo. The vast majority
(14:33):
of American submarine commanders wouldn't tangle with the destroyer, but
that's not the case with freney Water.
Speaker 9 (14:40):
Submarine commanders were a breed apart. A lot of them
had a strong streak of independence. They didn't like being
pushed around by admireralds and or captains, you know, and
the Submarine Service gave them that kind of freedom because
when a submarine left port, they had virtually no contact
with the admirals and the captains. It was all up
(15:02):
to the submarine commander. They didn't have anybody breathing down
their necks.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Everybody was required to go on seven patrols, and generally
the custom was for a captain not to press his luck,
just like in Vietnam when a guy was down to
his last month, they didn't go out on any scary patrols.
You don't want to risk a guy's life if he's
made it through a whole year, and no, you don't
want to push your luck at the last minute. But
(15:30):
water is warter, and he's determined to make this very
last of his patrols count. He was on his way
back from the Palau Islands and he discovered another anchorage
or an area where there was a tremendous amount of activity.
He sailed in a torpedo and he was able to
sink a three thousand ton ship. Then he sank a
(15:51):
transport This is very valuable because not only is it tonnage,
but it's Japanese fighting troops, men that will never make
it to shore and threatened American lives. A seven thousand
ton transport. That was a tremendous prize that he got.
Then again he was able to torpedo again. On his
way coming home, he was able to torpedo another ship to
(16:13):
the tune of three thousand tons. So that means he
sank thirteen thousand tons in one patrol. That's more than
the majority of sub captains ever sank in their entire
career of seven patrols in the South Pacific. How Freddy
Water got that name Fearless Freddy. He was the last
(16:36):
boat out on patrol, leaving the Java Sea area, very
low on fuel, very low on food provisions. The men
were smoking coffee grounds rolled in toilet paper because they'd
been out of cigarettes for a while. They're low on torpedoes.
But Freddy Water wasn't about to go back to his
base with unspent torpedoes. Ridiculous, He'd never do that. He
(17:01):
found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands,
about two hundred miles south of Java, and he took
his boat down in that way. He decided he just
patrolled the area, cruise around, see what's going on. As
he approached Flying Fish Cove, that's the one where the
Japanese had their anchorage, it was an absolute sub mariner's dream.
(17:22):
Four cruisers lined up in a row, lined up in
a row.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And when we come back, we're going to hear the
rest of this remarkable story. Thirteen thousand tons in one patrol,
the artist of submarining, the ultimate submarine warrior. And we're
talking about Fearless Freddy Water.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Again.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
This is our American stories, always telling the stories of
our fighting men and women.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
More after these messages.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And we continue here with our American stories, and let's
return to Greg Hangler and his story about Rear Admiral
Fearless Freddie Water. Here again is submarine warfare Guru John Gorum.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
He found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands,
about two hundred miles south of Java, and he took
his boat down in that way. He decided he just
patrolled the area, cruise around and see what's going on.
As he approached Flying Fish Cove, it was an absolute
sub mariner's dream. Four cruisers lined up in a row,
(18:41):
lined up in a row. He got in close and
destroyers recognized him right away. He heard the pinging. But
he fired off four torpedoes at a cruiser that was
about one thousand yards away, and that's about as close
as a sub mariner will ever want to get to
his target. So he fired these four torpedoes. As soon
(19:02):
as he was convinced that he had assunk that ship.
He dove low, and his law book reports that the
Japanese were very effective in placing their depth charges.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
So he stayed low.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
And he waited overnight the next day and he slipped
out of the cove. The next day, he slipped back in,
and the Japanese, of course were alerted to him. They
were on patrol. But he was able to maneuver in
again and nail a second cruiser, and again he was
depth charged, fled the area, waited until later on that
(19:39):
afternoon he came back in and he struck a cruiser
a third time. Captain Water comes in the very next
day again because he wants to finish off this juicy collection.
He's down to just two torpedoes left. They're on attack mode.
Now because they're just patrolling the area. That water's boiling
(20:02):
with ships going back and forth looking for him. He
slips in because he's determined to use up his last torpedoes.
There's one more cruiser left. It's flying the pennant of
the admiral of the squadron, and he says, I'm going
to take this guy off. So he fires his last
two torpedoes at the cruiser and he hits them, but
in the meantime, the destroyers got perilously close to him.
(20:25):
He dove down deep and he endured nine hours of
depth charge from multiple patrol boats corvette's destroyers. Unbelievable. That
may be the record for the United States Navy for
this submarine fleet. And during nine hours of well placed
depth charging, and he says in his logbook, he says,
(20:47):
my men were really at the end of their rope,
and he realized he had to go and there's no
point in staying around. He had no more torpedoes. He's
already taken out all four of the capital ships that
were anchored at Flying Fish Cove. And he returned home
in victory, and on the way, the men said, I'm
gonna call you fearless Freddy from now on after what
(21:08):
we saw you do.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Here again is former aid of Rear Admiral fred Ward
don Almer.
Speaker 8 (21:15):
He later came back. That's what they call a division
commander or a wolf pack commander, and that was after
he was relieved by Lieutenant Commander Royce Gross. He went
into Christen's Island because they knew that Japanese were going
to come there in order to, you know, take advantage
of the potassium. At the time, there were nothing but
abridge and a lot of people that were there, and
(21:36):
that to give you some feel for everra water. He
got there before the Japanese did, and there were facilities there,
doc and that sort of thing. And someone suggested that, well,
maybe it's a good idea for we go in there
and blow all that up. Well, now you got to
understand these this is a war going on and these
are just Aboriginal people. You would think that you know,
(21:58):
who really cares about them ordered it. And he said no,
he said, we're not going to go in there and
blow anything up. He says, because these people need this
to make a living there, and we don't want to
hurt him. I guess later on I learned from the
person who succeeded him in command of the sea, Wolf
Roy Scrouts, that he sent a Japanese merchant ship not
(22:20):
far from that place it went down. There were two
survivors in the water, and the water wanted to bring
him one board, and one of them blew himself up
with a hen grenade, and the other was he just
refused to come because the Japanese culture at the time
you do not surrender. You died for the emperor and
their water has figured he needed something, so he actually
(22:41):
tossed him my life jacket and a fifth of bourbon.
The Japanese acknowledged with a nod, but from what water
could tell that he was carried out to sea and
ultimately was lost.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Here again is Stephen Trent Smith, author of wolf Pack,
the American submarine strategy that helped the Fee Japan.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
When he was patrolling down in the Java Sea area,
he sunk a Japanese ship and he surfaced and discovered
a lot of Japanese just floating in the water without
life jackets. So he had the crew his crew throw
as many life jackets as they could to help the
surviving sailors. He saw them as an enemy. I mean
(23:22):
the Japanese is truly an enemy because of what they
had done, particularly a pearl Harmer. But he believed that
your enemy is also your brother.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
To be a successful captain, you have to have a
crew that will obey you, and you have to have
a crew that respects you enough to risk their lives.
Because he isn't called fearless Freddy for nothing. He would
take risks that almost no other submarine captain did well.
Some of them took risks and they just didn't live
to tell about it, which is understandable. That's what they
(23:52):
called risk. But Freddie absolutely earned that title being called fearless.
He absolutely was fearless, and his men would go to
the gates of Helen back for him. He had their
utmost respect.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Here again is Fearless Freddy's cousin and water Lynne.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
He really did believe in a hard war and an
easy peace. He wanted the war to be fought hard
and fast and be over with so that humanity could
get back to being humanity. Because I never really heard
him say an ugly thing about anyone. I never heard
anyone say he said an ugly thing about another person.
(24:32):
If you were with him, you just felt like you
were the only person on earth. He really made people
feel his warmth. I mean, you just fearly wanted him
to be proud of you. You were proud to be
with him, and you wanted him to be proud of you.
And he's one of my fondest childhood memories.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Actually, they went on.
Speaker 8 (24:55):
To earn two Navy crosses. Of course, he got a
Legion murt two of those Navy Combination Medal, Tavy Achievement
Medal than the usual ones, the Victory Medal, of Philippine
Service Medal and Asiatic Pacific Medal.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
From what I've read in his obituary and been told
by my father, uncle Fred really didn't like the name
fearless Freddy because he was just as afraid as anybody
else on the submarine and his crew. And his crew
were his heroes, whom he fondly referred to as his
beloved sons of you know what, And he felt and
(25:33):
said that the real heroes in war are those that
give their lives.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Here again is Rear Admiral Fred Water said, you.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
Get the name fearless, Well, I know all I did.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
I'm scared that really, I mean, right, Gard I'm scared.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Fred Warder became Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea
Warfare in nineteen fifty five. He commanded the Submarine Force
Atlantic Fleet in nineteen fifty seven and retired in nineteen
sixty two after two years as Commandant of the eighth
Naval District in New Orleans. He retired in nineteen sixty
(26:23):
two and died at his home on February first, two thousand.
He was ninety five years old. I'm Greg Hengler and
this is our American stories.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And great job is always to Greg Hengler and special
thanks to dang LINN Productions for allowing us access to
their one of a kind interviews from their documentary Fearless.
Freddy checked out the trailer and the film at Fearless
freddymovie dot com. That's Fearless freddymovie dot com. And what
a story we heard. Indeed, this Annapolis brad class of
(26:58):
nineteen twenty five, married, father of four and a leader
and in the end a soldier underground. He rose above
his fear and led anyway. And that's why he was
the man. He was the artist of submarining and the
ultimate submarine warrior. Freddie Water fearless Freddie water history. Here
(27:20):
on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
from the arts to sports, and from business to history
and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
our American Stories dot com. There's some of our favorites.
This next story is a war story America. Well, it's
(00:31):
made up of great men and women, and we are
as good as the people in our country. And America
won the Second World War because of men like fearless
Freddie Water, whose story we're about to hear.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Here's Greg Hengler.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
There are many incredible stories of courageous men, incredible battles
and heroes during World War Two. Rear Admiral Fred ward
a submarine skipper whose exploits in World War II won
him a Navy Cross and a nickname he detested. Was
average sized, possessed firm lips, a determined chin, with piercing
(01:11):
blue eyes under narrowed lids, and a smooth face. Warder
graduated from the US Naval Academy at Annapolis class of
nineteen twenty five, received his master's in Marine engineering at
University cal Berkeley in nineteen thirty four. Was married and
the father of four children, having narrowly avoided the attack
(01:33):
on Pearl Harbor. Rear Admiral Wardour took charge of the
USS Sea Wolf and set out for the seas of
the Pacific to wreck havoc on Japanese shipping and quickly
became known as the Artist of Submarining. Water fought his
enemy hard, but he also respected and loved him. Let's
(01:53):
begin our deep dive into this story with submarine warfare
Guru John Gorum.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
I attended church here in Baltimore, Grace Bible Baptist Church,
and one of our church members mentioned that she had
an uncle named Freddy Water. And I said, I said,
did you say Freddy Water? And she said yes. I
said you mean like us submarine Captain Freddie Water and
she says, yes, how'd you know nobody knows that. I said,
(02:22):
oh no. To the contrary, he's the ultimate submarine warrior
from World War Two. He's just it. Most people don't
know this, but the vast majority of tonnage that was
sunk during World War two enemy Japanese tonnage was done
by the submarine fleet, what's known as the Silent Service.
These men paid the ultimate price, but something like fifty
(02:44):
five percent of all surface supply shipping to the Japanese.
Both Warshipping and Merchant Marine were sunk specifically by submarines.
So these guys, to me are the heroes. They were
very small, efficient crew that punched way beyond their weight.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Fred Water really did punch way beyond his weight, even
at family gatherings. Here's Fearless Freddie's cousin and water Lynn.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
I just know that if there was going to be
a brawl, Fred was gonna, you know, punch out the
biggest man in the room, and he was gonna hit
him good the first time, so we didn't have to
go back. Fred wasn't that big, you know, and his
brother Frank was big and I had broad shoulders, and
he was, you know, it looked to me like he
was at least a foot or maybe more taller than Fred.
(03:36):
And Frank was an FBI agent. Fred just knocked him out.
He got to that first punch and that was it.
And Fred was gone and Frank was down and out.
And my mother said to my father, John, why do
your relatives always have to pass out in our room?
And my father said, pass out? Nothing, that's a ko
(03:57):
from Fred.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
It was he not, so it seemed to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Me that Fred fought with men the way he fought
the war.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:05):
He was the little guy that had to get the
big guy, and he had to get him with one
punch and knockout.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Here's another one of Fred's cousins, Hugh Fordyce.
Speaker 6 (04:14):
Freddie was the oldest of my uncle Hugh's family. They
had eight children and he was the oldest. And Freddie
was valictorian in his high school graduating class. I remember
as always had having a big smile, he had a
quick wit about him. His mother was Irish, you know,
(04:37):
and he would make jokes about Catholics, and even though
he was a Catholic him job.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
No one in our family ever called Uncle Fred fearless
or Freddie. He was known as the Admiral Uncle Fred
Fred And when my grandmother was feeling particularly stern, Frederick,
especially when he was teasing her about drinking, or about
being Catholic or something.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Yesterday, December nineteen forty one, a date which will live
in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and
deliberately attacked my naval and air forces of the Empire
(05:27):
of Japan.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Hugh's former aid of Rear Admiral fred Ward Don almer Well.
Speaker 8 (05:35):
The instructions that came out from the Commander of the
Pacific Fleet was first off, it was the announcement that
the Japanese that attacked Pearl Harbor, and the only instructions
they gave was conduct yourself accordingly. And then shortly after
a message came out saying engage attack and sink all
(05:57):
enemy shipping encountered. That was very simple.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Back in those days, the United States had already tried
to stop the Japanese from colonizing and invading the mainland
of China and Korea. A lot of misbehavior by the
Japanese Empire in these areas that they quote unquote colonized,
They basically invaded them and abused the citizens of the
(06:23):
nations of Korea and China.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And you've been listening to the story of Fearless Freddy
Water and it's just underappreciated the role that the submarine
played in World War two and beyond and the risks
these guys, mostly guys, took. It was all volunteer, always
was and is because it is unique duty, submarine duty,
(06:46):
and it's dangerous and well, only certain types need apply.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
If you're claustrophobic. It is not a job for you.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
When we come back more of the life of fearless
Freddy Water and we already the guy, don't we. But
wait till you hear the rest of this story here
on our American Stories. Lee hbib here, and I'm inviting
(07:31):
you to help our American Stories celebrate this country's two
hundred and fiftieth birthday coming soon.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
If you want to.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Help inspire countless others to love America like we do,
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to our Americanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Any amount helps. Go to Ouramerican Stories dot com and give.
(08:10):
And we continue with our American Stories and the remarkable
story of Fearless Ready Water.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Let's return to the story and to Greg Hanglo.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Here's Stephen Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack, the American submarine
strategy that helped defeat Japan.
Speaker 9 (08:29):
In the late nineteen twenties. Fred went to the Submarine
School in New London, Connecticut, and after that he was
junior officer on a number of US Navy submarines, and
in nineteen thirty nine he was the commanding officer at
the commissioning of the USSCA Wolf and remained commanding officer
of the boat until nineteen forty three. War cloud started
(08:52):
gathering around nineteen forty and his submarine was sent to
the Pacific and eventually to the Philippines along with a
number of other US submarines. His submarine was at the
Kavidian Naval Yard in Manila Bay in the Philippines. On
December eight, nineteen forty one, when the Japanese attacked the Philippines,
(09:15):
they destroyed a couple of submarines not too far away
from him. He got her underway and left Manila Bay
and was sent on patrol in the Northern Philippines off
the coast of Luzon. The east coast of Luzon, near
a town called a Pari. He saw a destroyer outside
of Pari the harbor there and he went to attack it.
(09:37):
But then he stumbled on a seaplane tender that was
in the harbor, and he decided to attack that and
he got a really good He made a really good approach.
He had everything all set up. He fired four torpedoes
from his forward tubes and none of them exploded. So
he turned tail because the destroyer was going to come
(09:58):
after him, set up for stern tubes to fire at
the seaplane tender and they fired those and none of
those exploded. And the only thing that exploded that day
was Fred Warder, who was furious about the bad torpedoes,
and that became a scandal during World War two that
for the first couple of years of the war the
(10:20):
torpedoes did not work reliably, and he was just fit
to be tied about that.
Speaker 3 (10:26):
Here is Rear Admiral Fred ward If we.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Had torpedoes, we could have made a damn fly an
effort that we did not have a good torpedoes.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Here again is former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warter
don Olmer.
Speaker 8 (10:48):
So Admirald Warner knew that the torpedoes were not working well.
So he actually went into a place called Devao Golf
and there was a ship that was anchored there. But
he was fire torpedoes at this ship. So one of
the torpedoes went under the ship, okay, went up on
the beach and exploded. So that was one you see,
it's my fault at s tarpedo's fault, and then he
(11:09):
fired two more and was against the side of the
ship and they didn't explode, so that that kind of
confirmed that. And then another when he fired and it
was an erratic run called a circular run. The rider
is going to lock over in one position, it makes
a circle run, and the circle run would bring it
(11:30):
right back to about where the machinery compartment is. That
we both a ship up. We did lose a couple
of submarines, by the way, but but not the seawolf.
When Water anticipated this and he had sooner people listening,
he knew it was a circle run. He went down
so that the torpedo passed overhead and came back up
again and he fired a couple more torpedoes and then
(11:52):
he finished the ship off.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Here again is submarine warfare Guru John Gorham.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
What they did was the Japanese pre set. If you've
seen in the movies, they looked like fifty five gallon
drums being rolled off the back of the tail of
a corvette or a destroyer, and they were just basically
loaded up with TNT. They would drop to a certain
predetermined level based on and the sensor that was used
(12:19):
was a depth sensor based on water pressure, and then
they would just blow up. And if you had if
your submarine vessel was nearby, when one of those blew up,
the shock was such that it could break open the
hull or weaken it, or wrinkle the skin and do
all kinds of damage. The vast majority of anyone's submarines
that were lost during the war were lost to depth charges.
Speaker 8 (12:42):
He talked to me one to him about depth charge evasion,
and the way he put it to me, he said, well,
you've got to understand that what this Japanese destroyer, the
enemy destroyers doing is he's making a noise and he's
listening to the echo. Well, the more aspect that you
(13:02):
show that ship, the stronger the echo. So basically what
he would always do is turn and point directly toward
the ship, and that gave him the most narrow aspect.
And even though it meant that he was going right
toward this guy that was trying to get him, the
echoes were were just coming back strong. They would come
(13:26):
back week, which would indicate that the submarine was much
further away. So the guy would go overhead and he'd
go racing out there and bang bang bang the charges
that go off, and that was the time. Then he
would make his course change or maneuver in order to
put distance between him and that destroyer.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
The strategy the United States Navy had with our submarine
service was to go after the merchant ring because they
were easy targets. They were soft targets we could sink down,
they couldn't fight back. It allowed our American submarine fleet
to last a little longer. It's a little more dangerous
when you go after a Japanese warship because they can
fight back. And the most deadly warships were corvettes and
(14:11):
destroyers because the destroyers are very shallow draft vessels. If
you attempt to fire at a torpedo at it, well,
at least at a corvette. A corvette's even smaller than
a destroyer. Corvettes are so shallow that torpedo's go underneath,
and you have to be a very good shot to
take out a destroyer with a torpedo. The vast majority
(14:33):
of American submarine commanders wouldn't tangle with the destroyer, but
that's not the case with freney Water.
Speaker 9 (14:40):
Submarine commanders were a breed apart. A lot of them
had a strong streak of independence. They didn't like being
pushed around by admireralds and or captains, you know, and
the Submarine Service gave them that kind of freedom because
when a submarine left port, they had virtually no contact
with the admirals and the captains. It was all up
(15:02):
to the submarine commander. They didn't have anybody breathing down
their necks.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
Everybody was required to go on seven patrols, and generally
the custom was for a captain not to press his luck,
just like in Vietnam when a guy was down to
his last month, they didn't go out on any scary patrols.
You don't want to risk a guy's life if he's
made it through a whole year, and no, you don't
want to push your luck at the last minute. But
(15:30):
water is warter, and he's determined to make this very
last of his patrols count. He was on his way
back from the Palau Islands and he discovered another anchorage
or an area where there was a tremendous amount of activity.
He sailed in a torpedo and he was able to
sink a three thousand ton ship. Then he sank a
(15:51):
transport This is very valuable because not only is it tonnage,
but it's Japanese fighting troops, men that will never make
it to shore and threatened American lives. A seven thousand
ton transport. That was a tremendous prize that he got.
Then again he was able to torpedo again. On his
way coming home, he was able to torpedo another ship to
(16:13):
the tune of three thousand tons. So that means he
sank thirteen thousand tons in one patrol. That's more than
the majority of sub captains ever sank in their entire
career of seven patrols in the South Pacific. How Freddy
Water got that name Fearless Freddy. He was the last
(16:36):
boat out on patrol, leaving the Java Sea area, very
low on fuel, very low on food provisions. The men
were smoking coffee grounds rolled in toilet paper because they'd
been out of cigarettes for a while. They're low on torpedoes.
But Freddy Water wasn't about to go back to his
base with unspent torpedoes. Ridiculous, He'd never do that. He
(17:01):
found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands,
about two hundred miles south of Java, and he took
his boat down in that way. He decided he just
patrolled the area, cruise around, see what's going on. As
he approached Flying Fish Cove, that's the one where the
Japanese had their anchorage, it was an absolute sub mariner's dream.
(17:22):
Four cruisers lined up in a row, lined up in
a row.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And when we come back, we're going to hear the
rest of this remarkable story. Thirteen thousand tons in one patrol,
the artist of submarining, the ultimate submarine warrior. And we're
talking about Fearless Freddy Water.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Again.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
This is our American stories, always telling the stories of
our fighting men and women.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
More after these messages.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And we continue here with our American stories, and let's
return to Greg Hangler and his story about Rear Admiral
Fearless Freddie Water. Here again is submarine warfare Guru John Gorum.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
He found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands,
about two hundred miles south of Java, and he took
his boat down in that way. He decided he just
patrolled the area, cruise around and see what's going on.
As he approached Flying Fish Cove, it was an absolute
sub mariner's dream. Four cruisers lined up in a row,
(18:41):
lined up in a row. He got in close and
destroyers recognized him right away. He heard the pinging. But
he fired off four torpedoes at a cruiser that was
about one thousand yards away, and that's about as close
as a sub mariner will ever want to get to
his target. So he fired these four torpedoes. As soon
(19:02):
as he was convinced that he had assunk that ship.
He dove low, and his law book reports that the
Japanese were very effective in placing their depth charges.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
So he stayed low.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
And he waited overnight the next day and he slipped
out of the cove. The next day, he slipped back in,
and the Japanese, of course were alerted to him. They
were on patrol. But he was able to maneuver in
again and nail a second cruiser, and again he was
depth charged, fled the area, waited until later on that
(19:39):
afternoon he came back in and he struck a cruiser
a third time. Captain Water comes in the very next
day again because he wants to finish off this juicy collection.
He's down to just two torpedoes left. They're on attack mode.
Now because they're just patrolling the area. That water's boiling
(20:02):
with ships going back and forth looking for him. He
slips in because he's determined to use up his last torpedoes.
There's one more cruiser left. It's flying the pennant of
the admiral of the squadron, and he says, I'm going
to take this guy off. So he fires his last
two torpedoes at the cruiser and he hits them, but
in the meantime, the destroyers got perilously close to him.
(20:25):
He dove down deep and he endured nine hours of
depth charge from multiple patrol boats corvette's destroyers. Unbelievable. That
may be the record for the United States Navy for
this submarine fleet. And during nine hours of well placed
depth charging, and he says in his logbook, he says,
(20:47):
my men were really at the end of their rope,
and he realized he had to go and there's no
point in staying around. He had no more torpedoes. He's
already taken out all four of the capital ships that
were anchored at Flying Fish Cove. And he returned home
in victory, and on the way, the men said, I'm
gonna call you fearless Freddy from now on after what
(21:08):
we saw you do.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Here again is former aid of Rear Admiral fred Ward
don Almer.
Speaker 8 (21:15):
He later came back. That's what they call a division
commander or a wolf pack commander, and that was after
he was relieved by Lieutenant Commander Royce Gross. He went
into Christen's Island because they knew that Japanese were going
to come there in order to, you know, take advantage
of the potassium. At the time, there were nothing but
abridge and a lot of people that were there, and
(21:36):
that to give you some feel for everra water. He
got there before the Japanese did, and there were facilities there,
doc and that sort of thing. And someone suggested that, well,
maybe it's a good idea for we go in there
and blow all that up. Well, now you got to
understand these this is a war going on and these
are just Aboriginal people. You would think that you know,
(21:58):
who really cares about them ordered it. And he said no,
he said, we're not going to go in there and
blow anything up. He says, because these people need this
to make a living there, and we don't want to
hurt him. I guess later on I learned from the
person who succeeded him in command of the sea, Wolf
Roy Scrouts, that he sent a Japanese merchant ship not
(22:20):
far from that place it went down. There were two
survivors in the water, and the water wanted to bring
him one board, and one of them blew himself up
with a hen grenade, and the other was he just
refused to come because the Japanese culture at the time
you do not surrender. You died for the emperor and
their water has figured he needed something, so he actually
(22:41):
tossed him my life jacket and a fifth of bourbon.
The Japanese acknowledged with a nod, but from what water
could tell that he was carried out to sea and
ultimately was lost.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
Here again is Stephen Trent Smith, author of wolf Pack,
the American submarine strategy that helped the Fee Japan.
Speaker 9 (23:00):
When he was patrolling down in the Java Sea area,
he sunk a Japanese ship and he surfaced and discovered
a lot of Japanese just floating in the water without
life jackets. So he had the crew his crew throw
as many life jackets as they could to help the
surviving sailors. He saw them as an enemy. I mean
(23:22):
the Japanese is truly an enemy because of what they
had done, particularly a pearl Harmer. But he believed that
your enemy is also your brother.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
To be a successful captain, you have to have a
crew that will obey you, and you have to have
a crew that respects you enough to risk their lives.
Because he isn't called fearless Freddy for nothing. He would
take risks that almost no other submarine captain did well.
Some of them took risks and they just didn't live
to tell about it, which is understandable. That's what they
(23:52):
called risk. But Freddie absolutely earned that title being called fearless.
He absolutely was fearless, and his men would go to
the gates of Helen back for him. He had their
utmost respect.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Here again is Fearless Freddy's cousin and water Lynne.
Speaker 5 (24:10):
He really did believe in a hard war and an
easy peace. He wanted the war to be fought hard
and fast and be over with so that humanity could
get back to being humanity. Because I never really heard
him say an ugly thing about anyone. I never heard
anyone say he said an ugly thing about another person.
(24:32):
If you were with him, you just felt like you
were the only person on earth. He really made people
feel his warmth. I mean, you just fearly wanted him
to be proud of you. You were proud to be
with him, and you wanted him to be proud of you.
And he's one of my fondest childhood memories.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Actually, they went on.
Speaker 8 (24:55):
To earn two Navy crosses. Of course, he got a
Legion murt two of those Navy Combination Medal, Tavy Achievement
Medal than the usual ones, the Victory Medal, of Philippine
Service Medal and Asiatic Pacific Medal.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
From what I've read in his obituary and been told
by my father, uncle Fred really didn't like the name
fearless Freddy because he was just as afraid as anybody
else on the submarine and his crew. And his crew
were his heroes, whom he fondly referred to as his
beloved sons of you know what, And he felt and
(25:33):
said that the real heroes in war are those that
give their lives.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Here again is Rear Admiral Fred Water said, you.
Speaker 6 (25:42):
Get the name fearless, Well, I know all I did.
Speaker 8 (25:53):
I'm scared that really, I mean, right, Gard I'm scared.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Fred Warder became Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea
Warfare in nineteen fifty five. He commanded the Submarine Force
Atlantic Fleet in nineteen fifty seven and retired in nineteen
sixty two after two years as Commandant of the eighth
Naval District in New Orleans. He retired in nineteen sixty
(26:23):
two and died at his home on February first, two thousand.
He was ninety five years old. I'm Greg Hengler and
this is our American stories.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
And great job is always to Greg Hengler and special
thanks to dang LINN Productions for allowing us access to
their one of a kind interviews from their documentary Fearless.
Freddy checked out the trailer and the film at Fearless
freddymovie dot com. That's Fearless freddymovie dot com. And what
a story we heard. Indeed, this Annapolis brad class of
(26:58):
nineteen twenty five, married, father of four and a leader
and in the end a soldier underground. He rose above
his fear and led anyway. And that's why he was
the man. He was the artist of submarining and the
ultimate submarine warrior. Freddie Water fearless Freddie water history. Here
(27:20):
on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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