There was a previous pinned comment that has since been deleted by the original poster. It claimed most of this story was just a myth, because alot of these event where not documented in the ships log book. And that i was "Cheap and lazy" for just repeating internet lore without sources.This was the opening response to that accusation: Nothing about the misfortune of the USS William D. Porter was known until 1958. When a newspaper report covered a USS William D. Porter Reunion. According to the publication “The Naval Reservist” February 1957 edition, the reunion took place March 15 1958. At the Governor Clinton Hotel, in NYC (now the Stewart hotel). At that reunion, ya know the one comprised of the men that served on the willie dee. The reporter was told these stories, and published them in the newspaper. This led to the pentagon “Reluctanty confirming the story”. This was then Documented and put into print by Naval Historian Kermit “Kit” Bonner. He discusses all the the stories i did in the book Final Voyages. The Citation for this: Turner Publishing Company. (1996). The USS William D, Porter, DD-579 “The Saga Of The Willie Dee.” In Final voyages (pp. 25-27). essay. The ISBN for this book if you’d like to check for yourself is: 1563112892, 9781563112898

FDR pardoned the torpedo chief because "We shouldn't punish people because we couldn't properly train them". And I couldn't agree more. Also the Kamikaze that sank the USS Porter was most likely a Val because dive bombers wings were designed in a way that the plane passively pulls up. This is to save the crew if the pilot blacks out in a dive. It would perfectly explain why the plane pulled up underwater after a dive.

As an ex Marine that now is a construction superintendent, "can we fix this without telling the boss?" Is EXACTLY what happens! So fucking accurate.

I was once abord the USS Iowa (highly recommend) and saw a framed picture of the Willie D in the room with FDR's Private tub they had put in for him. There was an author selling a book about the ship's history in there, and overheard me explain the whole torpedo incident to my friends (keep in mind I was about 25 here) and the man stood up and said, I've been here for a week, and seen hundreds of people come in and out of this room, and you're the only one who knew why that picture was there. It both pleased me that it was acknowledged, and made me sad at the same time, since most people don't bother with history anymore. Even when it is a really great tale.

My favorite part of that story has to be the mental image of the captain calling the _Iowa_ to say "sorry, the torpedo was our bad," the uncomfortable silence that must have followed has all parties involved remember the depth charge incident, and then all nine barrels of the last ship you want to offend turn to bear on their ally. "You've been unfriended. Leave, now."

An old water grunt told me about Willy D Fletcher. He basically summed up that this particular Fletcher wasn't just a clown, but the *ENTIRE* circus.

I was on the USS PORTER when she got hit by an oil tanker in the strait of Hormuz in the middle of the night. After 19 hours of damage control and emergency repairs we got the ship into port and as we were laying around exhausted the whole crew kind of mutually came to the agreement that the u.s. Navy needs to stop naming ships after the Porter family.

The reason why that depth charge fell off the ship. It was because the sailor who strapped it down, didn't pull on the strap and say "That's not going anywhere." Automatically you know that strap was coming loose and the depth charge was rolling off.

Idk why, but the "Longest sitting President, both literally and figuratively" joke made me laugh WAY harder than it should have, lmao 🤣🤣🤣🤣😭😭😭😭

My great uncle served on the Willie D. He always said that when the plane blew up, everyone on the ship thought they were goners but apparently their guardian angels were working overtime that day.

My husband’s grandfather was aboard the USS Iowa for this event. Hubs has talked about his pap seeing the torpedo as they were turning. Such a wild time to be alive!

Imagine being a crew member on the porter, not knowing you sent a torpedo at the president and randomly seeing 9 16" guns FROM YOUR OWN SIDE turn directly at you

I found the story believable without needing to do any research because I have seen firsthand the slip ups within the modern military. I laughed throughout this video, great presentation.

I still think her greatest achievement was that she went down with no souls on board, protecting her crew to the very last moments.

FDR almost died and from what I understand, did not care. He really do be related to Teddy Roosevelt.

Not only was the Fletcher one of if not the most numerous fleet destoryera of WW2, it is also considered by many to be one of the best fleet destoryers of WW2. At least at the destoryer class, the US didn't just spam ships, they spammed very good ships, as opposed to the "good enough" in some of the other classes, like the earlier production cruisers for instance.

Best line ever: Commander: "Fire torpedo #3!" Chief Torpedo Officer: "Fire F*n what now?!" Just found your channel tonight and have been binging it for about 4 hours, but this moment, by far, was THE best! Thanks for that, man. I needed a good laugh! Keep up the great work!

Anyone who's a veteran can tell you every unit has "THAT guy". Usually referred to as Carl. This ship is a flotilla's version of Carl.

"'Dont shoot, we're Republicans.' You know, cause FDR was a Democrat"🤣🤣🤣 I laughed wayyyy to hard at that.

15:37 Ok quick explanation about the names. During WW2 the US developed a set of codenames for quick identification of Japanese planes. Bombers were given Female names (D3A "Val", B5N "Kate", G4M "Betty", etc) while Fighters were given Male names (Ki-43 "Oscar", Ki-84 "Frank", Ki-44 "Tojo", etc)

Awesome channel, just found you. This needs to be a movie. You did leave one "reportedly" funny story out. During the pardon process, FDR called the USS Porter's Captain (Lt Commander Walter) into his office for a face to face meeting. FDR told Walter he wanted to know ONE thing. FDR then joking asked him "HOW DID YOU MISS A LARGE BATTLESHIP!".

fun fact- the reason for the jacuzzi tub was because it's one of the treatments for the paraparesis FDR had. Jacuzzi family designed aircraft propellers for WW1. When one of their kids was stricken with paralysis, they got tired of dragging him dozens of miles back and forth many times a month for treatment in a whirlpool tub at the clinic, so they made one at home. Jacuzzi tub was born. I learned that at the Jacuzzi winery in CA that makes a VERY good cabernet, among other good wines. That family still be making great products ( *and* practically printing money cuz they make so much with everything they touch) 😊.

Please don’t ever stop making these videos. I love this shit and no one does it better than you.

I was just informed of this channel today and betweeen this and Operation Preying Mantis video I have come to the conclusion you are the most entertaining presenter on US Navy events. Thank tou for this awssome video. Jess S, veteran OS1(SW)

Oh my God dude, I seriously can't tell which part of this story is the best part. But being sunk by an underwater plane is some next-level shit. I lost it. Glad they all came out alive! Your channel is amazing, by the way. I'm not American but I'm always fascinated by war stories and history, and your delivery is amazing. Keep it up!

I spent a year in Iraq, some of it as a radio op and 240B gunner on a humvee, and can attest to the fact that MANY things which happened on patrol did not make any logs, official or otherwise. 😂

Just goes to show, in wartime, incompetence is tolerated because while you might be dangerous to allies, you can also be dangerous to enemies too.

My Grand Father was an industrial appraiser. He was inspecting a WW1 Acheron Class Destroyer used to chase down Bootleggers during prohibition. In the process he identified a bunch of plumbing that didn't belong in the Engineer. All polished and built to Navy Specifications. Long story short. The Chief Engineer built a still into the ships equipment.

About the naval round on the commander's house I believe it... anyone who has been in the military know that the most dangerous thing on the planet, is a bunch of enlisted men with too much free time in their hands... when you get that combo, shit goes south every time

The base commander part reminds me of one of my grandfathers Korea stories. He was on a “flying boat” whose job was to fly up and down the Chinese coast and log the serial numbers on containers and names of ships going in and out of coast. They were stationed in the Philippines, and one day they weren’t supposed to go out so they went out to town and got smashed. Come the next morning they got ordered to go on patrol since the other aircraft had engine issues. So the extremely hung over crew climbs into their aircraft and start heading toward the South China Sea. The Navigator racked out on their day bed and told my grandfather (the radioman) to wake him up every hour to update the log. The guy would roll over, look at his watch, and write down where they were supposed to be. They entered really heavy fog, and the pilots couldn’t see Jack, but trusted the navigator to know where they were. The pilots started seeing a fast mover going by them on the radar, but couldn’t see it with their eyeballs. After the third time they yelled for the navigator to get up there and figure out where they were. So the hungover navigator comes up and gets a radio fix on their location and…. They’re 20 miles inside Red China…. Those fast movers were Migs, but because they couldn’t see each other no one could shoot them. They quickly turned around and tested back home, not telling a soul the whole deployment.

My grandfather was a signalman in the navy in WWII. One night he got a call to relay an emergency signal. He ran up the stairs in the tower, but there were big waves, and he fell back down the stairs several times, losing track of where he was because they had all lights out. He finally reached what he thought was the top, unlatched the door, and then flew out into the open air, hanging on by one hand to the door latch - he was one level down from the signal nest, where they had a door for stringing a cable between ships for transferring men and goods. His arm got broke as the shipped heaved and the door swung back around - but he got himself back inside. When he told me all this all I could ask was, "What was the message?" He said he had no idea because it was in code.

8:59 “may be partially responsible for killing the longest sitting president both figuratively and literally” 😂😂😂😂😂

16:00 This is the best pilot the world will ever see. I will remember this story forever. Imagine being hit by a kamikaze under you ship.

Yes, the best history channel uploaded a new video.

I’ve never been in the military, but the line saying “anyone that’s ever served, or been in a blue collar job will try cover up a mistake” is so true 😂

This guy would be the greatest history teacher ever

Anyone that's been in the military can tell you many stories of screw ups taking place. As for the US Navy in WWII, like the Army and Marine Corps, it grew in size quite a bit. With so many new ships, there's a lot of freshly recruited personnel. There's only so much pre-war experienced, trained guys you have. It's my personal belief that there's more screwups out there that just isn't recorded, talked about. Willie D is just unlucky in that her screwups are the ones that people are talking about now decades after. How many US Navy warships out there can make the claim they fired at the President of the United States? As unlucky as this ship was, IMO, she offset all of that when she finally sank. The Battle of Okinawa was a bitterly fought one in air, land, and sea. Radar and Anti-Aircraft Picket Duty by the Destroyers was a dangerous job, the US Navy literally put their DDs out there as Kamikaze bait and not the more valuable Battleships and Carriers. The best gift Willie D did with her bad luck is that none of her crew died in this. As for FDR going easy on Willie D's crew, he probably understood that the expanded military had training and experience issues. Also, FDR having a grand time of the "assassination attempt" reflects that he loved the whole thing. He grew up as a huge fan of the navy, having a large collection of books about the subject. FDR was also Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913-1920. He was a huge fanboy of warships.

Man, Roosevelts really DO NOT CARE about being shot at. Teddy takes a bullet to the chest and still gives a speech while FDR literally watches a torpedo almost hit the ship he's on and then pardons the guy who almost killed him. (Fun fact: All the Roosevelt sons served in WW2. Including Teddy's who had already served in WW1. His eldest, Theodore, became a brigadier general during WW2. He was the only general of any rank and of all allied nations to hit the beaches in the first wave on D-Day. He was at Utah and stormed the beach with a gun and his cane.)

This is what the history channel should have been.

13:40 as someone who has exclusively worked in warehouses and retail, this is 100% the truth

You are not only educational, but highly highly entertaining. Keep them coming brother.

You should try and talk about the best American tank ace, Lafayette Green pool, one of the few Americans to get the Silver star, the french legion of honor and Belgian fourragere; he was credited with 12 confirmed tanks kills and humorously he lost 3 tanks over the course of 3 months, first to a panzerfaust, second to friendly fire with a P-38, and last to a panther tank

From someone who just got out of a big engineering company, that "can we fix this without telling the boss" quote goes ALL THE WAY UP BABY!!

"Sometimes you've gotta fight fuck up's with fuck up's." Is not only truly words of wisdom but, ones that are earned through experience.

This is a great channel for miscellaneous history that most folks have never heard. I love it. I am a former Navy man myself and have a story of Navy mischief and averted mayhem. My Uncle was a Gunnery Officer on the USS King during Vietnam War. He told me that after a war deployment his task group returned to San Diego for some RnR. Along with the King, there was a destroyer that had anchored in the SD harbor and sent its crew out on liberty via boat. In those days, Navy sailors had to wear dress blue uniforms on liberty. So, they went on the town hitting every bar they could find. Up town San Diego had the tallest building in San Diego, called the El Cortez Hotel, with a famous "Sky Room" restaurant at the top with a great view of the harbor. So, these sailors eventually found the El Cortez and went to the top to see what the view was like and get a few beverages. Unfortunate for them, the staff didn't like the looks of them, being well past any kind of sobriety and would not let them in. This was when there was a lot of public animosity to the war, and they attributed the restaurant not letting 'em in them being in the Navy instead of being three sheets to the wind, and became very upset. Theses two sailors happened to be gunners mates. They went back to their ship and went to their gun and turn on the power, trained the guns sights straight at the Sky Room and began loading a 5" 3/8 projectile into the gun when they were caught by the quarter deck watch. Another three minutes and bye bye Sky Room atop the El Cortez Hotel! If anyone has heard that story and knows the name of the ship would be great to know.

I noticed your musket in the background for home defense just as the founding fathers intended. Even has a triangle bayonet since triangle bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up causing the fourth rapscallion to bleed to death waiting on the police.

"Which ship fired that torpedo!?" "The Willy D, sir." "Wait... isn't that the ship filled with greenies?" "Yeah. This is their first actual deployment." "....okay, since no one died, we'll let them off the hook, but they're gonna be transferred FAR AWAY from other ships till they get their shit together." Fast forward to the Alaskan base commander in his party suit, staring at a hole in his front yard, while quietly debating whether to say anything or just go back inside to the party and get someone to fill the hole tomorrow.

Talk about that one ship that got its front, like, anything before the 2nd turret, actually completely taken off in combat, so then it reversed 1800 miles to Australia to repair and lived to tell the tail and sail again, USS New Orleans, I think?

“…longest sitting…” and “Hold my blanket!” 😂😅 You are a true word smith and comedian, sir.

Grandpa (Mom's side) was a Signalmen in the Navy during WW2. When he passed my Grandmother gave me his "signal card deck" with his name on it. Easily one of my favorite pieces of personal possesions of his. He always told us about his tour in the Pacific as one big adventure (He would see a little bit of the European theatre, but mostly Pacfic), and that being attacked by Zeroes was just something you simply "had to put up with". Later, I learned he and a shipmate were accredited with shooting down 2 enemy aircraft attempting to surprise attack them while in harbor as they were unloading cargo. (He mostly rode on merchant ships) and got his name in the paper. Or the time he said they spotted an enemy parascope and he sniped it with with one of the guns on the ship and watched as ships went chasing after it. Or the monkey they befriended and had on a jump from one island to the next on a run. I never tire of hearing those stories and more. I only remember hearing one story that choked him up and said that bothered him the rest of his life was when they were on their way home after the war, they were having a little fun gathering on deck, when a sailor went overboard and they never found him (Complete accident). The war was over and he was gone like that. He only told that story once. He was so damn proud of his time in the service and I am damn lucky to of had such a great man as a Grandpa. If I amount to a sliver of who he was, I'd consider myself fortunate. Tell these stories Ladies and Gents and their memory will never be forgotten. Thanks FE for sharing these stories.

Bro this story is like unreal 😂 lol it's like Abbott and Costello: who's on first,...third base. Cracking me up 🤣

My late great aunt was a WAVE in the Navy in WWII, working in the battle history section of the Naval Archives in Washington DC. Basically her job was to act as a stenographer during interviews of ship captains and admirals who described the events of specific Naval battles in WWII to Naval historians. She held a top secret clearance and said the job was fascinating and that there were many details of WWII that were left out of official press releases and histories, forever locked in the archives. I imagine that the detailed official history of the USS William D. Porter is locked up there too.

Considering we were making the Iowas I think it's safe to say we looked at the two shipbuilding options and said "why not both?"

The way bro casually switches shirts in the blink of an eye is a true talent, im truly amazed

When I was working blue collar doing parts fabrication, I became very well acquainted with the concept of "Can we fix it without telling the boss." One of my coworkers, however, was not. They didn't last long at the company.

the FDR "water polo injury" joke is underrated! :D

You forgot to mention that not only did the Willie D. Excell at destroying Japanese zeros. But also excelled at destroying not one, not two but three american fighters as well.

Seeing all 3 of the Iowa’s triple 16 inch batteries target you at close range would be terrifying.

If you ever want the perfect example of the military and the government covering shit up, just look at camp Lejeune. My grandfather was the base commander of Lejeune prior to him becoming the chief of staff of the USMC. He commanded the base right at the time that they got around to fixing the problem. It had been 30+ years of passing the buck off despite them knowing there was an issue with the water.

They canceled my order of the Quack Around and Find Out Hawaiian shirt and I was told by support they will not be restocking the shirts either, but it was not listed as limited edition or as part of the September monthly drops. It was the only thing I even really wanted in my order, re-release the shirt and next time mention if something is limited edition!!!

This crew is the definition of the kid who’s great on the test, but he fails all the homework.

this man needs his own production crew, great videos. would love to see a video on B-17 crews in WWII. my grandpa flew 35 missions from April to august of 44 and told some intense stories like having to turn around mid-mission because a radio controlmen went temporarily insane during particularly heavy flak and turbulence and started rocking back and forth under the radio table in the fetal position. he flew on D-day as well as operation cobra and bombed Hitlers V2 rocket sites.

Please consider covering the story of Emmett Tullia aka Stroke 3 in the Package Q strike on Iraq. He was targeted 6 times by SAMs and despite a failure to deploy malfunction for both his chaff and his flares, he still made it out without a scratch on pure maneuverability.

5:24 “can’t get chewed out via signal lamp”. Don’t tell them that because they will find a way lmao

You should TOTALLY become a history professor. Or an itinerant lecturer. A lecture or class taught by you would be life-changing. I mean, learning should always be so goddamned entertaining.

Love these Fat Electrician videos - They are hella informative and keep my ADD ridden attention span on point for the whole vid.

Just imagine the look on that new guys face as he watches the depth charge roll of the ship, then explode, and the rest of ships scramble to battle positions

"Sometimes you just have to fight fuck-ups with fuck-ups, okay?!" Truer words have seldom been said.

The same question I've asked myself for repeatedly. Like am I unlucky because I've been hit by two different cars. Two separate occasions while riding a bike. Went off. The stern of a boat I was working on was drown and brought back. Was solo hiking the AT and while walking up the side of a mountain outside of Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, the tree root that was used for a step snapped as I put my weight on it and I tumbled ass over tea kettle down the mountain and did nothing but tear my ACL and I was still able to drag myself to the top of the mountain so I could use the phone I had with me to call 911. I've lived through all this shit and that's not even everything. That's just some of the major stuff. So am I unlucky for having had all that shit happen or am I lucky for still being alive

Great story, but I’d like to point out one thing: you said that the US chose to make a ton of ships instead of making a few big, badass battleships (yet much of this story involved the Iowa lol). The US definitely chose to do both, which was why there were only a few Iowa class battleships.

LMMFAO! That outro was my squad in Iraq! How we did so much stupid shit and survived was amazing enough! The fact we never got into real trouble was supernatural.!

“Sometimes you have to fight fuckups with fuckups” is the best thing I’ve heard in a long time 😂

"He's got that water polo injury" made me spit out my coffee. Love this channel 😂😂

I can’t get enough of your videos. The unique stories combined with your humor and delivery are unmatched. I learned a few hours ago of the passing of a great story teller and World War Two hero named Vincent Speranza. He had “ given aid and comfort” to the wounded during the battle of the bulge in a bombed out church in Bastogne. Decades later, when he returned to Bastogne, he learned that they now serve a beer called airborne (with a mini helmet to drink out of) You should do a video/tribute for him.🇺🇸🍻

What would it take to get you to do a story on some specific vessels in WW2. Seems like you’re the guy to look into this stuff. My grandpa served in the pacific theater and I never got to talk to him about it, he was on USS PC 569, Rockingham (APA-229), Oklahoma City (CL-91), and Shangri La (CV-38). I was lucky enough to get all the stuff he had from the war including all his documents. A story on any of these ships if you were interested in doing one would be more the appreciated and if you can’t all good, love your channel!!!

“Don’t shoot, we’re republicans!” is just about the funniest thing I’ve heard all week, and probably still applies in modern America.

As a prior service Marine, now a trucker, and listen to these on my morning commute and I have to say, watching/ hearing these sure makes the workload much more bearable. Keep up the good work brother!

I was rolling on the goddamn floor listening to this shit at work. This read like the best comedy story ive ever heard oml.

"Sometimes you just have to fight fuckups with fuckups." - Truest statement ever said.

I got goose bumps when you said the Iowa turned all 9 of its 16" guns toward the Willy D. That's a *BAD* feeling.....

My unit at Ft. Carson, 1-10 CAV, was at a night range. The genius Squadron XO was driving around and told his driver to turn left. They drive through a treeline and take fire. They back up quickly and try to figure out what just happened. The XO had directed his driver to drive onto a LIVE M240B range with thermal scopes and 17 firing lanes lit up their own M1151. A full week of safety standdown and not a peep in the news 😂

My goodness, this video is amazing. I found your channel an hour ago as a recommend after watching a Yarnhub video. I saw War Daddy and gave it a shot, quickly followed by Last War Chief and this one and I absolutely love it. You have a great way of explaining things, whether it is the funny stuff, the confusing and illogical actions and also the sad parts. You have definitely earned this sub. I really needed the laugh I got from this video, thank you.

I usually wind up with tears of laughter while listening to your delivery. No exception here. Thank you.

Longest sitting president literally and figuratively is the best line ever. Absolutely awesome

Love the video, absolutely hilarious. And some info regarding Japanese plane names: fighters were named after boys, such as Zeke (the zero), Oscar, Pete, frank and so on. Bombers and transports were named after girls like Val, Kate, Betty, Judy and on and on. Now you know the code naming details of Japanese planes for ww2

OMG that's amazing (and so is your delivery), what a fun story!!

"Longest sitting president literally and figuratively "I'm not gonna lie that was more than a laugh ...I was just in awe of how hysterical that was🤣🤣🤣

I love how consistly good the AA gunners are throughout the entire story, right up until the very end.

Love these videos. Thank you for the history lesson. Long format is the best.

I honestly think this would be a great comedy movie. Has the "Down Periscope" vibe to it.

Reality is sometimes more unbelievable than a Sci fi film, what a story

Great story. Even better story telling. As a brother electrician, got my IBEW commercial industrial journeyman ticket in 1996 in Silicon Valley, now for the last 11 years work for myself as a licensed contractor, every person who works in the trades has had or been witness to some complete screw up made by someone or a couple of people, even foreman screw up and the incident must never be spoken of again and definitely can't make it back to the shop. If it does, we all are gonna lose our jobs. And then there is the time when you can't hide the fact that something didn't go as planned and the Superintendant of Manpower and the Project Manager just happen to be on site and you know heads are gonna roll, but those suits are actually cool about it because they were in the field for many years before taking the desk job and they know it's best that the owners don't find out that they ate ten grand worth of material or tools or whatever. We're electricians but we know shit runs downhill. We didn't need the plumbers to teach us that one. LOL

You're killing it my dude. I hope you can do more MOS videos. I'd love to hear the jokes for the MPs

USS Iowa really pulled the classic Terminator trope of: (Slowly turns and locks object) "Get.Out."

Love the story and your handle! Keep up the story telling!

You need to do a video on the Poplar Tree incident AKA Operation Paul Bunyan on the DMZ, that almost started WWIII .

The fact that we're talking about the mine today means it definitely was not just forgotten they didn't get the immediate intense rage. They got the slowly simmered and cooked to just the right degree rage that is going to hurt you way worse in the long run. They've had time to cool down and think of a proper punishment

That was fantastic!! Great history! I am a Navy veteran and have heard parts of the WILLIE D

cheers mate, dont know whats more entertaining, your funny punchy delivery, the honest sledging or that beautiful rifle behind you, great stuff, many thanks, Bravo Zulu ;)

I already know it’s very good.