Critical Omissions with Douglas Dietrich

[Pelayo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s2FbBWztDI

Hey Gunner, notice anything about the photo of the USS Ward? It is an old WWI four stacker destroyer. Launched June 1, 1918. All these years I thought the Ward was a much smaller destroyer escort but more modern. Probably from watching old WW2 Hollywood movies. At about the 1:33:00 mark in the movie Tora Tora Tora, it depicts the encounter with the submarine. HERE: https://www.bitchute.com/video/dtFvLQ937iOT/

[Gunner65]

You are correct regarding the use of the photo compared to the movie:


Tora Tora Tora Movie USS Ward

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/japans-midget-submarine-attack-on-pearl-harbor-was-a-suicide-mission-6ff4df72901


USS Ward (Destroyer #139, later DD-139, and APD-16)

"The Wickes-class destroyer, USS Ward (Destroyer #139) was quickly built at Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for World War I.   Following her service in the Atlantic, she supported the trans-Atlantic flight of the NC flying boats in May 1919.  In July 1920, Ward received the hull number DD-139.  Decommissioned in 1921, she was recommissioned after twenty years after the outbreak of World War II and was sent to Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, in 1941.   On December 7, Ward was patrolling off the entrance to Pearl Harbor when she encountered, attacked, and sank a Japanese Midget Submarine, which were the first shots of the Pacific War.  Converted to a high-speed transport, she was redesignated APD-16 in February 1943 and was sent for war service again in the Pacific.   During the landings at Ormoc Bay on December 7, 1944, Japanese aircraft, along with a suicide bomber, attacked Ward, damaging her to the point of abandoning ship.    She was sunk by gunfire by USS O'Brien (DD-725), commanded by Commander William W. Outerbridge, who had commanded Ward during the attack on Pearl Harbor three years prior." 

Commander William W. Outerbridge was referred to in the movie Tora Tora Tora as being a "green" Naval Officer. But his 4-inch guns crew managed a direct hit on the small sub. Eyewitness reports are that the sub rolled over and then was struck again with depth charges. Imagine him as commanding the USS O'Brien (Destroyer) and giving the order to sink the USS Ward! 



https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/ships-us/ships-us-w/uss-ward-dd-139-apd-16.html

http://destroyerhistory.org/flushdeck/ussward/

[Gunner65]

Well there you go Pelayo, and we learned a lot in just about an hour!  What ships were what, and that the former skipper of the USS Ward actually sunk his former ship later in the war as skipper of a newer Destroyer USS O'Brien.  Very productive!  Thanks Pelayo!

[Pelayo]

I googled it and the ship they used to portray the Ward was indeed a destroyer escort. The USS Finch DE-328

[Pelayo]

In a previous post I accidentally posted a photo of a different ship which was labeled to be the USS Finch but turned out to be the USCGS Finch. I of course deleted that post. This was the photo in error:   

[Gunner65]

And Outerbridge, who was commanding the Ward on Dec 7, was later assigned to a new Destroyer the USS O'Brien

After training in the Boston and Norfolk areas, she escorted the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga to the Pacific via the Panama Canal and San Diego for carrier operations with the 3rd Fleet east of the Philippines. In early December, she joined 7th Fleet assault forces at Ormoc Bay, Philippines. While under continuous air attack, O'Brien crewmen attempted to extinguish oil fires in Ward, caused by Japanese kamikazes, until ordered to sink the stricken transport by gunfire. O'Brien's commanding officer, Commander W. W. Outerbridge, had been in command of Ward when she had sunk a Japanese submarine off Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_O%27Brien_(DD-725)



William Woodward Outerbridge (14 April 1906 â€" 20 September 1986)[1] was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. He held the distinction of firing the first shots in defense of the United States during World War II.

From 1942 Outerbridge worked at the Office of the Chief of Naval Transportation in Washington, D.C.,[2] before being given command of the destroyer O'Brien (DD-725) in June 1944.[7]

On D-Day the O'Brien stood off the coast of Normandy, and helped protect Allied forces landing on the beaches, by using her guns to attack German defenses near the landing zones. Later the O'Brien performed a similar action off the French port of Cherbourg as Allied ground forces captured the city.[8]

Outerbridge and the O'Brien were then reassigned to the Pacific Fleet to participate in the liberation of the Philippines. In a strange twist of fate, on December 7, 1944, during the landings at Leyte Gulf, Outerbridge was ordered to use the O'Brien's deck guns to sink the Ward, which had been severely damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Outerbridge

[Gunner65]

THIS GET"S BETTER PELAYO:

Look at the date the USS O'Brien sunk the USS Ward!  December 7, 1944!  WOW!  What an amazing story!

[Walks_At_Night]

The 4 stack destroyers of US Asiatic fleet had a rare good day for the US Navy during January of 1942 at the Battle of Balikpan in the Dutch East Indies.  During the night of January 23rd. 1942 they attacked a number of lightly defended Japanese transports.  They managed to sink four but it would have been a much higher tally if the US Navy's torpedo's were not crap.


https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-pacific/us-entry-into-wwii-japanese-offensive/1942-January-15-abda-japanese-octopus/1942-january-24-battle-of-balikpapan.html




Painting of the battle as the US destroyers make their run:



If I recall correctly by the end of February 1942, half of the US Asiatic fleet would be sunk.   Brutal........

[Pelayo]

THIS GET"S BETTER PELAYO:

Look at the date the USS O'Brien sunk the USS Ward!  December 7, 1944!  WOW!

I noticed that! And to make the situation somewhat more confusing, there were several other destroyers named Aaron Ward that served during the war.   https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-046/h-046-1.html

[Pelayo]

The 4 stack destroyers of US Asiatic fleet had a rare good day for the US Navy during January of 1942 at the Battle of Balikpan in the Dutch East Indies.  During the night of January 23rd. 1942 they attacked a number of lightly defended Japanese transports.  They managed to sink four but it would have been a much higher tally if the US Navy's torpedo's were not crap.


https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explore/photography/wwii/wwii-pacific/us-entry-into-wwii-japanese-offensive/1942-January-15-abda-japanese-octopus/1942-january-24-battle-of-balikpapan.html


If I recall correctly by the end of February 1942, half of the US Asiatic fleet would be sunk.   Brutal........

Yeah, and the Japanese long lance torpedoes were excellent. I'll give them that.

[Gunner65]

Very notable WAN.  And that by the time George Dietrich was assigned to the USS Pittsburgh in 1943, we had improved our armaments considerably.

Especially the newest heavy cruisers with 9 8" guns and up to ten 5" guns.  The rest was just a shitload of 20mm anti-aircraft and 40 mm Boffers guns etc.  There must have been a shit-load of "Gunner Mates" in the US Navy at that time.  The USS Pittsburgh had a crew of 1,000. 

[Gunner65]

I noticed that! And to make the situation somewhat more confusing, there were several other destroyers named Aaron Ward that served during the war.   https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-046/h-046-1.html

I saw that too.  I just stuck to the original hull designation.

[Walks_At_Night]

Yeah, and the Japanese long lance torpedoes were excellent. I'll give them that.

If torpedo's are of interest to you Pelayo, you might like this old thread of mine [if you haven't seen it].

[Pelayo]

My older brother somehow managed to steal the complete works of Samuel Elliot Morison from the high school library and I read them all. He especially seemed bitter at the failure of our torpedoes at the beginning of the war.

[Gunner65]

The use of torpedoes was studied. And the US Navy was very aware of their modifications for use in shallow harbors long before Pearl Harbor.  It was NOT of Japanese origin. The Japanese studied what they had and made specific modifications for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[Pelayo]

Cool stuff WAN. Going through stuff at my mom's house I found similar books and logs that were my great uncle's who was an oil tanker captain during the war. I even have some cool pictures that he took of the crew and other ships.

[Pelayo]

Ha! I'm listening to last Sunday's show and am at the point where ddd is directing his cult followers to report Gunner. What an idiot. Minute mark around 3:38:00 give or take a few seconds.

[Walks_At_Night]

Cool stuff WAN. Going through stuff at my mom's house I found similar books and logs that were my great uncle's who was an oil tanker captain during the war. I even have some cool pictures that he took of the crew and other ships.

Yikes. Wouldn't want to be on an oiler - talk about a target.


Dad served on a 4 stacker [Wickes Class] for just a very short time at the beginning of the war.  Old school, professional Navy he called it. Instead of eating off of metal trays, even the enlisted sailors ate off of porcelain plates similar to this.

[Gunner65]

Yet we are told the only sailors eating off porcelain plates were Nazi U-Boat crews.

[Pelayo]

I don't know why, but I have a slight fascination with the 4 stackers and actually researched whether any still existed. Sadly, no.

[Gunner65]

Ha! I'm listening to last Sunday's show and am at the point where ddd is directing his cult followers to report Gunner. What an idiot. Minute mark around 3:38:00 give or take a few seconds.

He goes on for nearly an hour instigating the latest coordinated and obviously organized gang stalking attack ever. Live on air....with admitted exchanges of my personal data he obtained in 2017. 

[Gunner65]

Raving fucking lunatic.

[Walks_At_Night]

Yet we are told the only sailors eating off porcelain plates were Nazi U-Boat crews.

Definitely not.

[Walks_At_Night]

He goes on for nearly an hour instigating the latest coordinated and obviously organized gang stalking attack ever. Live on air....with admitted exchanges of my personal data he obtained in 2017.

Still? WTF. 

[Gunner65]

Still? WTF.

Yeah.  It's 2017 again on steroids with a "stealth" twist. This time he exchanges my info he got "privately" so they can submit their own reports/complaints.  Same shit, different tactics with different gang members.

[Pelayo]

At this point in the recording ddd claims that the Ward was a mine layer.

[Gunner65]

Some of the 5 "guests" on this thread are likely Dietrich's gang members busy taking "screenshots"  of everything we discuss. 

[Gunner65]

At this point in the recording ddd claims that the Ward was a mine layer.

He did.  And he also lied about the circumstances and the aftermath.  He made no mention the USS Ward engaged that surfaced sub at 0645 with her 4" gun and scored a direct hit.

[Pelayo]

Take a screen shot of this bee-yotch.   

[Pelayo]

He did.  And he also lied about the circumstances and the aftermath.  He made no mention the USS Ward engaged that surfaced sub with her 4" gun and scored a direct hit.

Actually, if I remember right, he does state that the Ward scored a hit on the conning tower, but that was not what sunk it.