'Submarine Killer' helped fire first shots at Pearl Harbor ..

But the tale told by Will Lehner, 89, of Stevens Point was of a little-known episode in WWII history about a submarine and Pearl Harbor. On Monday, it earned him the nickname "Submarine Killer."
According to Lehner:
An hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor began Dec. 7, 1941, Lehner helped fire the first American shots of WWII. At 6:37 a.m., Lehner and others on his ship saw the conning tower with a periscope of a submarine peering above the waterline as the USS Ward patrolled the harbor.

'Submarine Killer' helped fire first shots at Pearl Harbor | wisconsinrapidstribune.com | Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune

 

Great Story! Don't forget to contribute to Honor Flight!

'Submarine Killer' helped fire first shots at Pearl Harbor | wisconsinrapidstribune.com | Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune

 

Fantastic, where did you manage to dig this story up at?? Great Story -Birdy

 

Interesting that Lehner's name isn't on the plaque. Anyone have a ship manifest to see if he was even on the ship?

 

Here is a link to the crew list for 7 Dec. 1941, he's on it:

 

Well he is there on the USS Ward

USS Ward Crew List as of December 7th, 1941

 

Maybe he stood real close to gun 1?

 

The gun was probably removed from Ward, probably replaced by a dual-purpose 3"50, when she was converted to a fast transport (APD) later in the war. Thus we have the gun although Ward herself was sunk by a kamikaze at Okinawa. Her survivors were rescued by a destroyer commanded by William Outerbridge, Ward's skipper on Dec 7.

 

nevermind

 

I just read on Wikipedia (so I'm not sure on how accurate this is) That the USS Ward's hull was built in 17 1/2 days from her keel being laid, because of the dire need of destroyers in WWI.

I know everyone marvels about the liberty ships constructions in WWII, but I think this is pretty impressive as well for 1918! (If it's indeed true)

 

Contact report from the USS Ward:

 

It never says, in the article, that gun #1 is responsible for sinking the sub. I would blame any misconceptions on the person writing and editing the story than I would Mr. Lehner.

The Navy's contact report says that each gun fired one shot and the article states that the second shot is the one that hit. I think somone is a poor listener.

 

this is from the contact report from the Ward that I posted earlier:

That appears to be the OOD's narrative of the engagement and it says #1 and #3 guns engaged. For whatever reason it does not appear that #2 took part.