Admiral Willis 'Ching' Lee - The Ultimate Sharpshooter
2021 ж. 26 Қаз.
927 073 Рет қаралды
Today we take a look at the life and career of Admiral Lee, arguably the USN's finest surface action commander.
Sources:
www.usni.org/press/books/batt...
www.amazon.co.uk/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/B004KSEYHI
www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/us-people/l/lee-willis-a-jr.html
Free naval photos and more - www.drachinifel.co.uk
Want to support the channel? - / drachinifel
Want a shirt/mug/hoodie - shop.spreadshirt.com/drachini...
Want a poster? - www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Drachinifel
Want to talk about ships? / discord
Want to get some books? www.amazon.co.uk/shop/drachinifelDrydock
Episodes in podcast format - / user-21912004
Pinned post for Q&A :)
Is there a video on admiral Cunningham planed at some point?
How would a single Montana class battleship fare against 7 Bayern class battleships
@@centurion_a4136 indeed
Any plans for a biography of Admiral Fletcher? I’d love to hear your report on the man and his accomplishments.
What is the actual relationship between a captain and an admiral on his ship? I have seen in your videos that some captains can overrule admirals, as has happened on Bismarck or during the Guadalcanal campaign. Now here I see that the admiral is working with officers aboard the ship and changing the way certain elements operate (in this case, the guns), without permission from the captain. Was this common, or are these isolated cases? Thank you!
Forget all of Admiral Lee’s shooting skills and medals, there’s no higher courage than doing things behind Admiral Kings back
Very good point
Well this is the man who found the best way to deal with snipers is to sit out in the open and shoot them when they try to shoot him.
@@lionheartx-ray4135 He was “hiding” in plain sight…
King was so happy Lee had trolled the RN he didn't care.
Agreed.
"You are not physically qualified because of myopia" Admiral Lee: *I'll pretend I didn't see that*
eye see what you did there
Nelson would have approved as would Cochrane who was also a maverick and an inventor/innovator
LMMFAO 😂😂😂😂😂
He didn't *have* to pretend not to see that. ;)
Medical board: you're blind Admiral Lee: Radar will be my eyes
@18:19 - _'And, despite being a gunnery expert, he actually opposed the idea of adding more Alaska-class ships to the building schedule; instead, having determined the resources would be better put into carriers.'_ That was May '39. The Navy was still battleship minded, and the one fella who came to be known as America's foremost battleship admiral (and who loved shooting) was thinking beyond his own niche (and career and ego) to the betterment of the force. Remarkable.
This deserves more likes.
seems like a sigma-type personality.
Arguably the best combat admiral you could find in the Navy.
As I see it he didn't have to keep his ego in check at all. He simply wanted what's the best for navy and his country.
@S. T. Scott sigma balls, you absolute joke of a person.
Lee sneaks an order for every single ship in the Pacific to be stuffed with as many AA guns as possible, to the point that stability is a concern. The officer on Enterprise who wanted to remove belt armor to put more 20mm AA guns on the ship: *tears up slightly* Sir, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Tell me they didn't share correspondence. I dare you. Both of them probably saved the fleet.
My stability was a concern once too, I also got as much AA as possible..... 20 mm, 12 steps, too many numbers 😁
@@thanatosstorm They didn't share correspondence.
Lee is largely overlooked by military history, perhaps because he had no interest in self-promotion and PR. He just wanted to solve technical problems and shoot the enemy at every opportunity.
Probably also a factor of his death just as the war came to an end. His obituary was likely largely buried in all the news of the time. There was no opportunity for post-war accolades or lectures either, though he might not have sought such things out. By contrast Patton died soon after the war as well, but he had a penchant for self-promotion. Also, I think it is harder for the press to hype naval officers at sea as access is much more limited and media communication more sporadic.
But let's be real when they gave him the Navy cross he told this man you won it I get to wear it. That was his way of saying you boys earned this and I'm just mad they didn't give it to all of yours.
@@kentvesser9484 Certainly possible. They could have billed him as the Navy's answer to Alvin York, but the Marines might have gotten pissed. Shooting snipers is sometime of a specialty of theirs, one which they take great delight in doing.
@@jasonthomas9596 Yep.
Another very worthy comment - thank you
If nothing else we have to applaud Admiral Lee for taking on the greatest enemy of all, the Bureau of Ordnance.
Right?
... and winning many very important battles against them.
It is a shame he couldn't inflict fatalities on them.
Reminds me off the joke the Imperial Japanese Navy used to say: "when we are done fighting the Americans, we will attack the true enemy - the Imperial Japanese Army!"
Anytime you have to deal with a “bureau” you are already behind the curb. It’s really all about ego and group thought with in today’s world PC😔.
Nevermind the Mexican snipers or Japanese ship captains, Lee was clearly most feared by local USN paymasters who often lost their entire cashbox reserve to Lee's backdated promotions
Good lord, three back dated promotions, even if the third was a temporary one. And talking of closer to 2 years worth at that.
Should've been called Willis "Ca-ching!" Lee.
😂😂
Looking for comments like this 😂😂😂
And also bureau of ordnance higher-ups
"You won it, I wear it". That is the clearest measure of a commanders greatness that anyone could hope for, knowing that they are only as good as the men they lead. Excellent video.
it is the best of the Military: The leader is great because of the people under them, and the people under them are the best because of who is their leader. The leader starts that particular circle
Amen
Very true
Brought a tear to me eye that did!
I've often thought that there should be a unit citation to complement a CO's personal award, e.g. when Lee got the Navy Cross, the crew would have been awarded the Navy Cross wrapped as a unit citation.
hold up. So Lee took on the Burau of Ordinance (and usually won), sniped battleships and Olympic medals, helped create the "if theres room put AA on it" doctrine, led his command competently, and he just drops dead just as the war is ending. That just seems so wrong, he deserved a retirement spent blasting everything that looked remotely like a target. This guy is my hero.
We lost the Army version of Lee (Patton) in a friggin traffic accident!
Also Admiral John McCain Sr. Grandfather of the Senator. He was a carrier commander under Halsey. He went home immediately after the Japanese surrender and dropped dead of a heart attack 4 days later. There were a few Admirals and Generals who suffered that fate.
@@tancar2004 Marc Mitscher of the carrier fleet also died a few years after the war. The stress on those commanders must have been immense and they paid with their health.
@@tancar2004 Stress increases cortisol production which is a surpressor for immun reactions and protects the cardiac system. It is a steroid. So poeple getting out of constant Stress for a long time are on cold withdrawal. I knew a lot of teachers which had same issues when going into retirement, out of school 2 month later emergency station in Hospital.
@@drcovell That was no accident- that was an assassination.
There is something utterly hilarious about a naval officer who can win medal after medal after medal for proficiency in the shooting of small arms at both close and long range but whom the medical corps of the US Navy wants to discharge for inadequate eyesight. Only Navy doctors could be so myopic.
I see what you did there. (Just: core -> corps.)
@@Kromaatikse actually it was a typo.
@@KromaatikseThe real joke is, accurately, calling the Navy medical boards myopic for wanting to disqualify him for myopia. 😂
@@michaeldavis4651 Er, yes, that's what I was hinting at. Separately, I noticed a typo…
my father was serving on the 5" guns aboard Pennsylvania from 1939 to the 1941 attack. i remember how he brightened up when he saw it in a digital photo frame i had given him, "the Pennsy!". he was falling into the depths of dementia, and i'll always cherish that one moment of razor sharp clarity. thanks for the memory, Drach!
O7
Other than you, no one cares.
Sweet memory for you! Thanks for sharing that!
Even though I wasn’t there I loved picturing that little moment. I bet, even then, he could have fulfilled at least half his functions on the ship if his body was able. If the elderly were recognized for the amazing value they offer, far fewer would get dementia. When your brain idles, it ossifies. My grandfather was a practicing doctor until he was 87 and it was only the cost of malpractice insurance (due solely to his age) that forced him to close his practice. And he never lost his wits.
We need to hammer home that you can go over 100 and still keep your wits not all elderly suffer a mental fall apart. Think a bit slower as they age but still full strength at most things. NO AUTO RETIREMENTS yes yearly mental evaluations for everyone but only those who fail should be forced into retirement. @@The_ZeroLine
Before video: Never heard of him, but you know, in Drach we trust... After video: How, repeat HOW, does this man only have one ship named after him?! The world wonders.
So, there was one ship named after him. USS Willis A. Lee (DD-929), a Mitscher class destroyer.
Why is there no 'King'-class, but a Nimitz aircraft carrier class, yet no Eisenhower-class? And a Ford-class, named after some not-so-great president (not an admiral)?
I already had respect for Lee for is combat achievements. I had no idea he was the one who spread Oerlikon and Bofors on the decks of America ships. This man is a genius.
And saved many many americsn ships and lives.
His plan for US ships can be summarized in 1 phrase "Laser Accurate Dakka"
The British Royal Navy top-brass wanted to install inferior anti-aircraft guns in its ships so that the makers' (Vickers') balance-sheet would benefit. It took an initiative by a determined Royal Navy officer, acting alone, to get the R.N. to buy superior Oerlikon and Bofors guns instead.
A fine biography of a fine leader.
@@None-zc5vg Do you not think that there might have been just the tiniest bit of influence in that direction from the RN's political masters?
Lee: BuOrd, please add self destruct mechanisms to VT fuses. BuOrd: We do not have plans to add said feature at this time. Lee: That was not a question, and this is not a discussion.
Oh and by the way I designed one while you were screwing around here's the outline of the design hurry up and make it happen.
When Lee was in command of Fleet Readiness it's too bad the problem with the Mk 14 torpedo didn't come into his view. He might have actually gotten BuOrd to look into it properly and fix it.
@@donjones4719 Then again BuOrd deserved having Admiral King descent on them in all his fury.
@@michalsoukup1021 yeah, King coming in with the fury unmatched by any storm probably is better in this than the more practical approach
@@donjones4719 ya but then we wouldn't have the funny story of an admiral dropping live torpedo detonators off of a tower to see how they couldn't survive the impact with the ground, demonstrating that they had no way of surviving a direct impact with an enemy ship
41:02 Lee's recommendation against a night surface action at Philippine Sea is one of my favorite moments of the Pacific War history, and says so much about Lee's intelligence and character. There's so much to unpack in Lee's brief communication to Spruance: "Do not - repeat not - believe we should seek night engagement. Possible advantages of radar more than offset by difficulties in communications and lack of training in fleet tactics at night." Lee was getting the chance to conduct exactly the sort of action a surface commander would dream of, and he was unquestionably the most qualified U.S. admiral to lead such an action at the time. However, that intelligence and experience told him that such night actions were chaotic, unpredictable, and tended to offer many chances for a supposedly weaker force to turn the tables on its notionally superior counterpart. He knew firsthand the skill of the Japanese Navy in night actions, and recognized that his own ships would have at best a minimal advantage over them in training and capabilities. Thus, he recommended that the USN avoid playing to the IJN's greatest remaining strength, foregoing the chance at a victory exclusively for his own ships. Instead he recommended (in effect) that Spruance fight an exclusively carrier-based battle, which would minimize the role of his own ships but play to the overall fleet's greatest strengths and give the best chance for overall victory. This was a commander who could be brilliant in his particular sphere of naval warfare while still clearly understanding the overall picture, and acting accordingly.
I suspect Lee would have jumped at the chance the previous year, as he had thoroughly trained the battleship crews in night fighting. However, with the lack of major surface actions after the Guadalcanal campaign, they were out of practice in surface combat, having been used mainly for anti-aircraft escort and shore bombardment for a year or so.
@@bluemarlin8138 True, I'm sure that was a significant factor. But I think the main part of Lee's wider analysis was that a night surface action would entail greater risks than a carrier battle while also giving fewer opportunities for a decisive USN victory. Both in terms of quantity and quality, the USN had much greater advantages over the IJN in a carrier/air battle than in a night surface battle, and a surface battle would give the IJN significantly greater opportunities to inflict heavy damage. Plus, even if the USN won a night surface battle, there would be fewer opportunities to exploit that victory decisively against the carrier force - the Japanese carriers were almost all kept to the rear of the surface forces, and would have been able to escape out of air-striking range while the (likely damaged) US battleship forces would be in a poor condition to pursue. Most of those factors would still have been true even if Lee's surface forces had been at the same level of training from a year earlier. The more I think about this, the more I'd love to see Drach and his colleagues war-game this "night surface action at Philippine Sea" scenario. The biggest issue is that it would probably require a lot of re-runs to try and cover the wide range of outcomes that a chaotic night battle could entail.
@@Wolfeson28 This is true. It might have been interesting if Lee had been turned loose the night after the air battle though. With the Japanese fleet in disarray, Lee's battleships could have made a glorious mess of things if he could catch them.
@@bluemarlin8138 Could Lee have caught them at that point? Iirc, by the end of the first day, the fleets were so far apart that the Japanese were just barely within range for the US carriers to hit them by the time they located them the next day.
It's rare to have a commander not seek self glory. He was definitely the right person in the right place. He weighed the factors, thought of his men, training, ships, and the x factor, ( luck) and came to the smart conclusion. He could have pressed it, but at that time IJN had better night vision, and reef? knowledge, than U.S., which is another factor in their favor. Better to go with your strengths. A daylight air war, than to risk ships and lives on a night battle. Very smart and unselfish. I find it strange that he and Gen Patton both passed so soon after the war ended. Like they were supposed to do the job they were put on earth for, then leave when done. Their lives were basically almost perfect training scenarios for the kids they did.
Lee on a Battleship: *Smiling Gleefully* This ship has really big guns! Lee on a Destroyer afterwards: *Smiling Gleefully* This ship has really fast guns!
I get the feeling Drachinifel admires this guy. I've been looking forward to this ever since I'd heard about Admiral Lee. What an amazing man and an extremely effective naval officer. So many of his inciteful actions must have saved a lot of US sailor's lives.
Agreed Ching was nobody to F with!!
There’s a lot to like about Lee.
no wonder, i admire lee since i read about him for the 1st time about 30 years ago.
Lee was what happens when you have genuine Polymath involved in leadership. He learned enough about every aspect of a subject to synthesize the best solution to problems, he kept learning more about every subject incase he needed it later, and so he was always the expert when an expert was needed. Perhaps his most underrated talent was in handling people, because he should have been hated by most powerful people in the fleet for being that know-it-all who kept stomping on their toes while jumping over their heads, but somehow, he kept the powerful people happy. People were always willing to help him, even at great personal risk, because they understood he was worth the risk. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that Lee was kept on ships so much, because he was exactly the sort of man that normally would be locked in a Pentagon office to keep that monstrous bureaucracy functioning.
Nice comment - my biggest regret was that I'd never heard of him till now.
Admiral Lee sounds like he was an absolute joy to work under. An eccentric genius obsessed with shooting guns of all kinds, and the smile on his face in many of the pictures shown of him strikes me as him having been a joyful man overall. Alas, 57 years was too young.
At 27:30 I was imagining nervous sailors being called into the Admiral's office probably for the first time, only to end having a friendly chat about how to more effectively blow shit up.
I about pissed laughing @ the mental pic of the BBs whizzing past the head of the other guys in the compartment!
Everyone in the Pentagon and every other officer should be forced to read that book or at least watch this video. Lee took a buzzsaw to bureaucracy.
I wonder if Lee crossed paths with Admiral Hyman Rickover
40 years ago, I worked with a gentlemen who served on USS Washington. He would always tell stories of ADM Lee. Lee was loved by all the officers and men and since my coworker was from the same part of Kentucky that Lee was from, Lee would sometimes come around and swap tales with him.
"WHERE IS LEE!!!" What a complement to the man! Who else can save you from 4 Japanese battleships and 8 cruisers.
USS Johnston can :)
@@raikbarczynski6582 That was another heroic tale deserve to be told evermore.
@@PanduPoluan i totally agree . There were many heroic last stands in history too few people know about
@@raikbarczynski6582 My family used to have the World War 2 series from Time Life Library. We lost them during a move. I still remember many stories from those big coffee table books. It was one of the best chronicler of everything happening during WW2.
@@raikbarczynski6582 Fair point. heh
“Ok so we took a guy from Kentucky” Yes “And he’s really good at shooting” Yeah “Like really, really good” Ok “And we put him on a battleship” Fuck yes, how’d that go? “Pretty great honestly” Superb
This might be the best comment here
"-and he shot another battleship to pieces in the middle of the night"
With many of the shells hitting below the waterline where they’re most effective.
Perfect!
Fantastic
One of the best sharpshooters in the world, but his eyesight is not good enough for the USN Medical Board. Good thing that the Navy fights at such long ranges.
Eyesight issues are an extreme problem for shooters. I'd like to know how he compensated for this deficiency.
@@tjanders glasses
Well obviously. Who cares if he's a dead shot, and can see fine for almost every need, and is an outstanding young sailor; he can't possibly ever become a good officer if he can't read all of our paperwork without glasses. 🙄
Lee was that rare person born with a singular purpose: to cause object A to intercept target B at the time and place of his choosing.
The IJN's most dangerous foe was the Imperial Japanese Army; the US Navy's was the Bureau of Ordnance.
Mark 14 torpedo, failure is like onions. Lee probably would have gotten along well with admiral Lockwood
@@banthisyoutube4552hell, US navy officers on the first 6 frigates of the navy in the 1780s and 90s even complained about the quality of the cannon they got
@@philgiglio7922The Mark 14 was an excellent torpedo once the bugs were finally worked out. It was kept in service thru the 1960's.
There was a time, in 1942, when the US Navy thought their three greatest enemies were: The US Army, General Douglas McArthur and the Japanese. In that order..
@@williampaz2092After the War, the USN's top three enemies became (1) the United States Air Force, (2) Hyman G. Rickover, and (3) the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Lee seems to be the most likable Admiral. He sounds like he be a ton of fun to work with.
Quite right. It sounds like his natural humility served to magnify his other prodigious talents.
@@oldcremona Humility based on an honest confidence in one's own competence, the strongest sort possible. Often bombast is a symptom of some knowledge of short-comings. I have no doubt that I would have served in any of his commands with all pleasure.
I can't think of another admiral who outright was like "Hey crew. There's glass fishing floats, who wants to join me on the port side and take potshots at them with their service revolvers?"
Unless you were his secretary I imagine.
@@williamheayn3760 mean if I understood it correctly he found someone that actually loved the work so he really didn't had to bother and it got done well, Indeed he sounds like an amazing Officer and human being,
22:30 "... Lee's primary response appears to have been to just put extra emphasis into sending as many rounds of ammunition to the frontlines as humanly possible ..". What a concept. What a fascinating career had Adm Lee.
"If I can't go out and shoot them, I'll give the ones who can all the ammo they need to do so" or something along those lines perhaps
@@jacobliebfried972 To put it in meme form: "shut up and take my ammo"
Brilliant!
The thing that strikes me the most about ADM Lee. His professionalism, and wanting to learn everything he could about the cutting edge technology of his time. Radar and it’s use as a tool to improve his command’s gunnery department. A good and decent man that took care of his people...
I contrast that with the late USN Adm. Daniel Judson Callaghan (USS San Francisco, RIP) whose inability or unwillingness to learn to trust his radar and radar staff likely cost many US lives - including his own. (RIP also Rear Admiral Norman Scott, USS Atlanta).
Halsey wanted to fight. Lee wanted to fight smart. A leader who will get down into the pit with his crew, learn what they know, teach what he knows, and put it all together with the right amount of training, AND goes to bat for them against the red-tape brigade at every opportunity is a leader whose soldiers will follow until the end of time. The only shame is that we only have one real instance of his capital ship slug throwing to marvel at. Had he met the Northern force, the story would have been almost as epic as Taffy-3. The Japs dodged more than one fatal shell that day.
Jim will make the wife beater tee shirt the symbol for the Speaker of the House.
"Sir these are battleship 16's you can't use them like rifled guns." "The hell I can't and you're going to as well!"
According to Drach, he got the same level of performance out of the big boys' 5"ers.
There are a handful of fighting admirals that deserve a lot more attention that have worn the US navy's uniform. Lee is one of them.
20:40 "Having a front row seat for the demoliton of the battleship Bismarck, being aboard HMS Rodney at the time." Imagine getting your first command but 'Glasses Gunslinger' Lee sends you on a paid vacation that leads to that! I'm jealous!
I dare say that spending that time at Scapa Flow wasn't much of a vacation, though the sinking of Bismarck would have been a sight to see
"How did you manage to win two shooting competitions at the same time?" Lee: "I got bored"
As a Chinese person, I must give my seal of approval for his manly nickname and his even more manly achievements. A great man indeed.
Drach miss a chance to throw a jab at Badmiral Beatty? Nope. Ching Lee, blind as a bat, shooting nuts off gnats!
Admiral Beatty died in 1936
Bats, like Admiral Lee, used advanced location devices, bats use sonar ( echo location ) and Admiral Lee ..radar !
Quite so. Not just Beatty either. He also takes a couple of well deserved jabs at William Halsey as well.
@@dave_h_8742 ...And?
@@colinhunt4057 Bull-head Halsey has earned what he gets. Taffy 3 should have seen Lee and Washington burning the boilers down. That biblical phuk up is on Halsey.
Ching Lee sounds like an absolute madlad. Not many people would suggest buying British RADARs to supplement supply shortages while under King's command. Oh, and he's an Olympic Gold Medallist, too - just because, y'know, _why not?_
Very smart man.
Well to be real his statement probably gave King all the ammunition he needed to beat bureau of ships and bureau of ordinance over the head.
EDIT - Olympic medallist with a 'disability' that would nearly stop him serving in the USN. Do you think he and Nelson are up there in Heaven having a laugh right now? While King argues with God over the seating arrangements?
@@Simon_Nonymous he had to be myopic, it was a method of balancing things out, otherwise he would end up being very OP
@@victoroduarte that made me laugh 😃
Willis Lee:"I'm here for the shooting competition." Official:"Don't unpack, just take these medals and leave!" Also; Farragut:"Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!" Lee:"Damn the bureaucracy, full steam ahead!"
It's amazing how lucky the USN was in having Lee, Spruance, and Nimitz all in the right positions at the right time. You can debate the value of Halsey and Turner and even Lockwood, but those three made a huge difference.
I don't think that was luck. I think that was the hand of God
@@quaternarytetrad4039 Then the "hand of God" was schizophrenic given the torpedo disaster. One more great officer in charge of that program and 1941-1942 would have been quite different in the Pacific.
Don't forget Fletcher. Talk about a black shoe admiral who learned CV warfare quickly and effectively!
@@PlayingInTimeUSA But he had 3 carriers sunk under his command, Lexington, Yorktown and Hornet.
I would add Mark Mitscher to the list.
Admiral Lee's support of new technology was probably the most underrated life saver for us navy sailors. lessons the royal navy learned the hard way he was smart enough to recognise and adopt in very quick order. royal navy resistance to new ideas (unless Fisher and Jellicoe booted them into it) combined with parliamentary interference held them back in a lot of ways.
Military services, especially those that have been around a while, tend to be very conservative with trying out new things. Lots of internal resistance. Military services are fond of preparing for the last war and not the one they're about to fight. Anytime anyone seeks to change the status quo and prepare for a future threats, they'll be seen as reckless and seeking to destroy the service.
Lee said that we didn't win in battle because of superior ships or crew, but because we had radar
However a stiff upper lip makes great bubbles whilst sinking
@@JTA1961 A stiff upper lip also keeps teeth from hanging up in the wrong place at the wrong time....
I suspect that Sea Lord (admiral?) Ernest King's patronage enabled Lee to be so effective.
First Olympics after WW1 you would expect marksmanship to be extremely competitive discipline and Lee was the best of this cohort. What an extraordinary individual. Very enjoyable video Drach. Thankyou 🙏
But remember, the Navy's medical overseers said the man with 6 gold medals in one Olympics... Couldn't see well enough to serve.
@@johngregory4801 lol well those guys were idiot, i would say have them have a shooting comp with lee and see if your eyes were better
As a gun nut, shooter, and highly interested in naval gunnery. I think Lee is my personal hero despite being Canadian. He sounds like an amazing man who I would love to have met and learned from.
I read about the Battleships Washington and North Carolina, and Admiral Lee. From what I read he was more interested in and placed more emphasis on the results of gunnery practices and improvements and battle efficiency than in the spit and polish regulations and operations of the big ship navy of the time. His crews earn the nicknames Lee's Pirates because the did not always conform to Navy regulations in either appearance or deportment. But he had their loyalty to the max.
If his classmates hadn't helped him with his vision test, Guadalcanal might have turned out very differently, and fleet air defense would have been a lot worse without the Oerlikon and Bofors guns. Thanks for doing this, Drachinifel!
Well, there’s still fighter screens, which were more effective anyways…..
@@bkjeong4302 More effective *at a distance*. Little trickier when you've got planes flying at your own ships and they're 500 yards away from striking.
@@5peciesunkn0wn Yep. Defense in depth. Fighters, then 5"/38, then 40 mm, then 20 mm, then duck behind something made of metal.
You can say this is one of the less discussed upsides of having classmates like Mark Mitcher and Thomas Kinkaid. You could bet the rest were no less interesting folk.
@@5peciesunkn0wn Still, it says volumes that even in July 1945 CAP had significantly better performance than AA (especially against kamikazes that didn’t care whether they were being fired upon. or not).
Get the book Battleship Sailor. It's about the Washington. Great looks at Lee as seen by his subordinates. They were extremely comfortable with him on board: an anecdote from the book: Admiral Lee was smoking a cigar on Washington's bridge wing one evening when a JO saw him and yelled "SAILOR, PUT THAT CIGAR OUT!". Admiral Lee ignored him as did the Master at Arms who watched this happen. After several orders to put the cigar out the JO directed the Master at Arms to bring him to the chart house. The MA figured it would be easier dealing with 'Old Smokey' as the Admiral was known. The MA approached Admiral Lee with a smile and said "Sir, I am directed to take you into the chart house." The Admiral said "That's all right son, let's have a conversation with him." In the end the Admiral said, "This is my goddamn ship and I will smoke any where I want!."
I purchased the Kindle version of the book and read it yesterday, in one go without pause. what a great story and what a great officer! as an Australian I have to say that it is a pity that he never got to take the promised R and R in Australia.
Typical do as I say not do as I do senior officer.
@@andrewallen9993 Well not exactly "do as I say" given that the no smoking rule was naval regulations and not Lee's personal order.
@@Mabus16 Seriously? Nobody was allowed to smoke on board ship in the US navy during WWII the same way drinking alcohol was forbidden?
@@andrewallen9993 It was night time operations, ie. Blackout Conditions: red lighting, no smoking, etc., you'd be surprised at what distance you can see a cigarette at night, let alone a cigar. But, I suspect the instance referred to wasn't critical to that level of security.
What's really remarkable about the man is that he really understood the concepts and was a problem solver. He was able to apply the concepts and apply practical applications. He was truly a gifted man.
Admiral Lee seems like the perfect foil to the typical Japanese naval officer he was up against. He had no interest in strictly following doctrine, he no interest in just relying on what he was given. He would always take the initiative, make sure that his crews were above whatever arbitrary standard was set. He thought independently, and he was willing to rock the boat if he saw something that could be improved, rather than be content with it. He understood at a very low level what the average person on his ships were doing. He also understood from a high level how to get things done through the naval bureaucracy. He made sure to personally know as much as he could about radar, and incorporate that knowledge into his tactics. He made sure to personally make sure his gunners were up-to-snuff. He made sure he know how VT-fuze anti-aircraft shells worked and how he could incorporate them into his anti-air tactics, to great success. He was a guy that had perhaps more intellect and ability than almost any of his peers, yet was still modest. Contrast that with some other officers at the time who were incompetent AND had huge egos. His training paid off at Guadalcanal. Its a shame he wasn't able to participate in more surface actions.
I swear, I actually got a tear in my eye at the end when you explained how he died. Drach, your Wednesday specials are getting too good!
As if he was born for the war. The war ended, so did he.
@@linhlopbaya The Valkyries came at the behest of Odin and summoned him to man his siege weapons in Valhalla.
Like Patton, his work was done...it was time to go home.
An incredible person with a brilliant mind whose actions saved many servicemen's lives and brought a lot of hurt to the enemy. He deserves much more public recognition than he has received.
Lee was consistently like “what bureaucratic red tape?” As he blatantly cuts through said red tape.
Admiral Kondo: "We are experts at gunfighting in the dark." Admiral Lee: "Konichiwa."
I wonder if that means like hell
Technically, you say "Konbanwa" for "Good Evening".
Thanks i what kondo thought lol
"Ohayou gozaimasu..." (as the night suddenly turns into morning)
I've always held that Lee being held back at Leyte is the biggest shame of the war: it effectively denied him his chance to prove, once and for all, his mastery of battleship combat by taking out Kurita. The messages from Sprague always tear at my heart. Thank you for another excellent video on one of my all time favorite admirals, Drach.
Dach has done a what iff scenario if I wanna say New Jersey Iowa Washington and South Dakota were stationed at San Bernadino and I full agree with his assessment that Lee woulda mauled Nagato Yamato and the two remaining Kongos till they stopped crying and gently when for a trip straight down.
@@volrosku.6075 same here. that's one of my favorite videos he's done
If Task Force 34 had been created Admiral Kurita would have been facing US Fast Battleships crossing his T. All with the most modern fire control and with the newest radar fire control. It would have been ugly.
"The messages from Sprague always tear at my heart." I had to pause the video after "Where is Lee? Send Lee!"
@@zeedub8560 Halsey had "issues."
Battlecruiser Kirishima never saw what hit her. Just as Admiral Lee didn’t saw it fire away without his glasses.
*Battlecruiser Kirishima
Ching Lee in the 2nd night at Guadalcanal to the PT boats swarming in his course, "This is Ching Lee. Get out of my way. I'm coming through". The PT boats were unsure who those two BBs belonged to, and Lee was in no mood to be trifled with by the little people. Shortly afterwards, Washington tore Kirishima apart before setting out after the heavy cruisers.
@@atpyro7920 Spell check by AT Pyro....
Admiral, Ernest J. King, a brilliant, tough-talking, hard-drinking, womanizing warrior with a fiery temper. One of his daughters famously observed that her father was “the most even-tempered man in the Navy. He is always in a rage.”
Semper Iratus
Drachinifel, the pettiness of calling out Rear Admiral Beaty for his over emphasis of speed of fire. Great call out, and suitably petty - and I am here for it!! 😉 👏👏 Ching Lee was right about trying for accuracy first ... ! 😉 😊
In the Age of Sail, when ships fought so close that it was difficult to miss, rate of fire was everything. Beatty grew up in the age of armored steam warships and longer-range gunnery. It's amazing that his apparent priorities didn't reflect that.
The finest and most qualified Admiral to lead the USS Washington. Godbless this man
There are giants among us. Lee was a giant. He was promoted based on merit.
I have a question does USS Washington still exist the battleship?
@@jasonthomas9596 unfortunately, no, she was scrapped in the late 50s, I believe. But her sister ship, USS North Carolina (which is the lead ship of the class) is a museum ship
Led the Iowa classes too, if I'm remembering right
God bless the USS Washington too
Halsey and those self import knobs in new Jersey's communitions room without a doubt have blood on their hands, it's just lucky for them that taffy-3's heroism and incredible luck saw them not being instantly court martialed
Actually there was talk in the Navy of having Halsey court martialed. His reputation is what saved him.
The men on the on the destroyers , and destroyer escorts paid the price for his arrogance. God bless them.
has anyone done a study of the duty rosters of the time and tracked the careers of those officers? might make an interesting video all of its own...
Sincerely. I even understand the excitement of going all out on top of the Japanese Aircraft Carriers. but after the first call for help, he should have sent help, that's indisputable
Halsey took the bait. The IJN air group he was chasing had no effective strike force; it was being sacrificed to draw Halsey away from what mattered - the U.S. landing force. Huge blunder. Somehow he was later awarded 5-star rank
"He set up a shooting gallery in his office, making his coworker put up with the constant pinging." They got away with so much back then
A Gun Nut, an Engineer, and a blind man walk into a bar...Hello Admiral
Between going behind King's back, being the Ultimate Sharpshooter and being extraordinarily humble and intelligent, there can be no better Admiral to serve under.
I can’t figure out how, after all these years, I have never heard of this guy…
@@samiam619 History lauds the loudmouths who take the credit... For what quiet men did for them.
I would gladly have served under a commander like him.
Does anyone besides me think that if Lee was given a Boys AT rifle and enough ammo to test it and practice shooting, he would be able to snipe and hit/destroy a Japanese recon float plane by himself?
Off topic: the IRA used that gun to snipe at a British Missile boat while at port. Almost sank her. (Details at the Ed Nash video on it).
I wouldn't doubt it for a second.
He'd sure as hell try!
I think somebody did that during the operations on Tulagi, Aug 7-10, 1942.
@@shaider1982 yeah, I’ve heard of that story. It was the last vehicle the Boys ATR killed
Great Battles of the 20th Century - 3. RN vs RAF 3. IJN vs IJA 1. USN vs BuOrd also MN vs French Shipyards/ Hotel builders...
Concur ref. IJN v. IJA. In Tokyo interservice rivalry was a full-contact sport!
I've always maintained that the Naval battles of Guadalcanal would make a hugely successful mini-series. Just imagine what that might look like. Those early days of the Pacific war really could have gone either way. Also the fact that Lee turned down an opportunity to engage in a similar night action during the Battle of the Phillipine sea speaks volumes about his character and intelligence.
The battleship Admiral that understood the value of carriers.
I wish someone would make a movie about this guy. He had a pretty remarkable life and career. I bet he was an...interesting character to work around. Especially when guns and explosives were involved. Its a shame the USS Washington BB- 56 was not preserved. She would have been a stellar museum ship and in a way a great place for a memorial to Admiral Lee. Fantastic video as always Drach.
I long for a good movie on the life of Jimmy Doolittle, he too had a wild and fascinating career
Would be nice but seems like it won’t because of wokeness of Hollywood
@@texaswrath1490 he'd painted as some form of walking toxic masculinity who was racist and a drunk. Or something utterly ridiculous as that.
@@admiraltiberius1989 yes and since he’s related to Lee most definitely a racist
@@admiraltiberius1989 They made a movie about Midway three years ago and none of the main characters (including Halsey) was portrayed negatively.
That one gave me goosebumps. Good stuff. The man literally worked himself to death on our behalf.
Does anyone else see the hand of Providence here? How many lives did Lee’s work before 12/07/41 save? The VT fuse alone saved probably thousands. Right man at the right time(s) happened too many times with Lee to be coincidence. Thank you Drach! So glad that book found you, and that you did your usual excellent work with the material. You seemed to enjoy yourself with this one. Thank you so much for your excellent work.
I think it sad that Lee never got to work with guided missiles. Imagine for a second, the most accurate shooter in all the USN getting his hands on missile that could go exactly where you wanted them (at least on paper). What crazy ideas would he have had? What leap forward would he have made? What tactics would he have devised? How would he convince and force others into doing what he wanted? It's sad to think of all the different things that never got to be. A Lee in the post war environment would have been some that could have changed the development of missle technology.
But does the missile know where it is?
@@HaloFTW55 yes because its ching lee's baby.
Maybe, but you never know. He might have found guided missiles boring as a missile is less dependent on the skill of the gunner and more on the sophistication of its software and hardware. Even with more modern fire control a naval gun is still a gun and it is the gunner's skill involved up to the point the projectile leaves the barrel and once it leaves the barrel you either got it right or you didn't. With a missile there is some skill, but after it leaves the launch rail, the missile can correct for a lot of human error in route to the target in a way a gun fired projectile can't. I could see a shooter like Lee being impressed with the technology of such a weapon, but disappointed that some art was lost.
Why bother? Shells already went exactly where Lee wanted them to go.
No but he probably love to use drones as a spotter for the guns
23:20 "Lee may have been many things, but a Mae West look-a-like turns out to not to be one of them." Well, nobody's perfect. Also, this is my vote for Drachism Of The Day.
I keep coming back to this video because Lee is probably the single most capable and genius sailor ever to sail. The man was a humble hero, who deserves way more credit and recognition than he has received and would ask for.
Lee was the perfect combination of aggression and tempered caution. He never pushed his hand, and was such a tactically sound leader when it came to minute details of training and positioning. The Devil is in the details, and he wore some bomb-ass glasses.
"This admiral is approved by Drach!"
A rare mark of approval indeed.
Willis Lee continues the military legacy of the Lee family. After all, he’s a relative to Robert E. Lee and Lighthorse Harry Lee.
The second night battle of Guadalcanal was so slap dash, Lee had no prearranged communication set up with the Marine defenders. Lee just called them Cactus as that was their code name. Lee knew Alexander Vandergrift the Marine C.O. from their days at Annapolis together. The verbal cussing Lee gave the P.T. boats who threatened to fire their torpedoes at him is legendary. Only an American Admiral could talk that way. He was a great man and one of my personal favorites of WW2 high brass. His death was a tragedy for the Navy and nation.
The book suggests several versions of that exchange, but none had any "cussing". That makes them more believable where Lee is concerned.
I first learned of Admiral Lee in the mid 1950's. Seventy years later he still retains my number one slot in admired admirals. My enthusiasm went on a different path to the Brown Water Navy. Instead of a sixteen inch rifle, I ended up hanging on to a single M2 Browning.
I'm not sure who I like more: Willis Lee or Thomas Cochrane.
Ah the 1920 Olympics here in Antwerp. Must have been a glorious chaos. What a personality this guy had. Thank you, Drach.
I went into this video thinking Admiral Lee was a Bad A$$ (thanks to your prior video on him and the night action at Guadalcanal), I finished this video knowing that he was arguably one of the finest Admirals the US Navy has ever had. Thanks for all you do Drach!
It was the "gold" in "snipers at random distances" that really counted.
Preventing one admiral from talking to another when the Taffy ships are frantically asking for reinforcements seems like a good way to spend the rest of your naval career as the float pendant on a minesweeper's sweep wires...
Yeah, "Ching" Lee rolls off the tongue better than the original, in much the same way as "Black Jack" Pershing does. 😮 Drachinifel's sense of humor is unsurpassed. P.S. 15:04 Flat Earthers triggered
lol, brilliant snipe at Flat Earthers.
@@davea4245 Low hanging fruit as far as I'm concerned.
A great story of a leader who leads by example. Not only did he possess great skill and courage, he also had excellent judgement. Many black shoe admirals would have favored the construction of BB's, but he recognized the CV's potential, despite his lack of personal operational experience.
Another gunnery expert, The RN's Percy Scott, recognized the possibilities carriers represented.
I somehow keep thinking of Billy Mitchell's forward thanking ideas. But Admiral Lee seems to have "worked well with others," to an amazing degree.
7:41 Fusillade. I used to get it backward too until my father-in-law corrected me. He was in the 82nd airborne and told me what enfilade and defilade meant, into the bargain…
Even before today's video Admiral Willis A. Lee was my favorite and most respected Admiral, his knowledge and application of principles associated with gunnery clearly puts him in an 'elite' class. I had not ever been aware of such detail of his life which was explained as being learned from Paul Stillwell's new publication, I will have to obtain that for my library. Very good presentation Drach, so much contained in 48 minutes.
Drachinifel, Thank you.
The British World War I fighter ace Mickey Mannock also had poor eyesight, and fixed his way through the eye test to pass as a pilot in much the same way as Lee!
Wow, simply wow. Learning what Admiral Lee did during those years before WWII, I would say his service before the war had as much if not more of an effect on the USN's war effort then his service after the war started.
I loved the jab at Beatty.
I love all of Drach's jabs at Beatty.
6:48 The fleet then migrated to its winter sailing grounds of cuba... Drach I love you
A truly remarkable man, whom you have done absolute justice to as an historian. Very well done, sir.
The entire text of Part IV of Adm. Lee's action report on Leyte Gulf: "No battle damage was incurred, nor inflicted on the enemy by vessels while operating as Task Force THIRTY-FOUR." Ouch!
Lee was a man of curiosity, and a desire to learn, along with a complete confidence in his ability. This is what a true leader should be. Learned, confident, capable.
Such outstanding content. You are a wizard, Drachinifel.
Am really enjoying these hour-long indepth overviews of admirals, as too often they are known by their names and actions rather than previous service and dispositions that gave them the character and capability for what they are remembered for, with Admiral Willis Lee being a favorite from when you first talked about him during programs on the Guadalcanal campaign.
What an interesting life and valuable contribution Lee gave to his country. Shows you what self confidence, drive and determination can do to. My uncle Ron Falconer, a Dux of his High School was blind in one eye due to a shooting accident when he was 15 however he managed to get his best mate to take the eye test when he signed up to the RAN in WW2. He served as a stoker on the RAN corvette HMAS Maryborough, one of 20 built on Admiralty order but manned and commissioned by the Royal Australian Navy. It was built in Maryborough QLD, commissioned June 1941. He served on Maryborough until 1944 then transferred to HMAS Quickmatch, a Q-class destroyer and another RN ship operated by the Royal Australian Navy. While on the South China Sea he was found out to be blind in one eye by the new Captain and sent back to Australia in late 1944.... 3.5 years stoking coal on convoy duty between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean.
Respect to him, shoveler to the end :)
42:50 Nimitz response is just legendary, I have no other words.
Getting the Ord to do anything more than paperwork, "tests", and "checks" deserves more credit than is given to those that managed it, Lee included.
Love this series about great guys from US Navy. I would like to see Marc Mitcher and Raymond Spruance parts. You are really good in narrating :)
U of Iowa's own James Van Allen was involved in the development of the VT fuse-specifically, addressing the problem of how to build a tiny vacuum tube that wouldn't shatter upon being fired out of a cannon. It is gratifying to hear how Admiral Lee immediately saw the significance of the technology and made certain that it would be available to save the lives of so many sailors, and that the good Admiral was continuing the work to improve this important weapon. Admiral Lee would probably have appreciated the way Professor Van Allen would demonstrate ballistic motion in his college Physics lecture by firing off a little cannon in the auditorium and having every student mark the progress of the projectile. Two guys who just liked to solve problems and have a little fun along the way. Thanks, Drach, for another wonderful story. This big war was still fought by individual people.
The proximity fuse was a brilliant invention by a New Zealander developed by the British and then mass produced at a reasonable price and smaller size by the industrial might of the US.
@@andrewallen9993 you are correct in asserting that the basic science and engineering surrounding the practical development and application of small centimeter radar was a Commonwealth accomplishment, and American applications to radar and the proximity fuse depended on this. The British had also been working on an intelligent fuse at the beginning of their war (the basic idea went back a long time, but no one had figured out how to build it), but American physicists (with unlimited backing and funding from the Government) accepted these concepts and then developed the miniaturization technology to made the fuse work reliably, and American industry figured out how to mass produce it. In the end, it was a joint effort that saved the lives of many Americans off Okinawa and in the Ardennes, and British lives in London during the V-1 scourge.
12:48 I always love hearing about the various bits of trolling that happens back and forth between the US Navy and Royal Navy.
“How’s the second biggest navy in the world?” “Jolly good thanks, how’s the second best?”
The USN should name another ship after him.
Kirishima: *attacks South Dakota* Lee under darkness: *DOOM MUSIC INTENSIFIES*
This channel is all narrator, great pictures and no stupid made for tv sound effects and loud noises. You're an excellent speaker. Kinda sound like that one guy with a hundred different yet similar channels.