Frederick 'Johnnie' Walker - The U-Boat Purge Continues (Part 3 - July to December 1943)
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- Опубліковано 8 лют 2025
- Today we take a look at the latter stages of the WW2 career of 'Johnnie' Walker and the exploits of the 2nd Support Group led by HMS Starling.
Part 1 - • Frederick 'Johnnie' Wa...
Part 2 - • Frederick 'Johnnie' Wa...
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Sources:
Walker RN - Robertson, Terence (1956)
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Pinned post for Q&A :)
This is the first time I've ever heard of the Henschel Hs 293. TIL! I've heard of the Mistel program, but not this interesting device.
On that note, as a question of sorts, can you tell us more about it? Perhaps even as a video subject. 🙂
On the subject of ASW operations, a comparison of the effects of WATU under Captain Roberts and its training of escort officers with experance of the sea operational experience of Captain Walker and his escort group(s) would seem to be a good question for you to look into further?
Obviously, they were working in tandem to some extent, but each each had their own independent ideas.
So your opinions on this would be welcome
do you think the American's would have had better luck with the "submarine launched autogyro-scout" compared to the Germans? given that Japanese were much less effective when it came to ASW and didn't employ merchant convoys for a large portion of the war, could the US submariners have gotten more use out of such a device?
With regards to ASW, it seems that sub captains, at least American captains, would attack the merchantmen of a convoy before the escorts. This seems a bit backwards to me, as surely once the escorts were out of the way, they could overtake the convoy on the surface?
US Iowa class battleships had vibration issues at certain speeds. Did the RN experience similar problems? Or did they just avoid those speeds.
What a horrible situation it must have been for Walker, who hunted submarines, to hear of his son's death in one. It is a real credit to his wife, who must have been going through her own grief, and to his subordinates to have protected and supported him so valiantly upon his receipt of the news
Many of the crew had probably lost a close relative during the war and would have understood what he was going through.
I had a grand uncle who served on the B-17 in Europe. He had to have been close to the end of the war. He said he was in the middle of the B-17 so I'm guessing he was a radio operator. The only other thing he said about the war is they dropped their bombs and got out of there.
@@washingtonradioyou are correct but it can be more than that. Whenever someone from my unit lost a relative we all felt it as if it was one of our own. You have to understand that my Marines probably know me better than my wife in a few areas. We became family in everything but blood. Well at least my company was.
Admiral Doenitz, the head of the German U-Boat arm, lost his son Peter when his U-Boat was sunk in May, 1943. The grief of war goes both ways.
Behind every great man is a great woman
I could not believe that the British named a ship after Stalin. I am not a native English speaker and it took me about ten minutes to figure out it is in fact "Starling".
if only Drach could speak English
Rofl!!! That is priceless! I lived in Austria, and my German was minimal at first but it was a hell of a lot easier to learn than Spanish or Mandarin and the Austrians were incredibly helpful. I said some things that were inadvertently hysterical, usually because I just slapped German words over a particularly American phrase or metaphor. Or I messed something like false cognates up "becoming" for "bekommen" which is not a form of "to be" but rather "to receive".
😂
Obviously it was _Johnny Walker…red_
Ah yes. We name things after, Royalty, places, greek kings and of course, birds.
My Grandfather served on HMS Wild Goose on the 2nd Escort Group. He never spoke about this but things like help me understand how difficult things would have been for him. Still have some items from her in my living room.
my dad was in RCN Corvettes. He didn't talk very much about his experiences either. In the last two years of his life he started to open up but unfortunately I was so involved with my own life that I didn't get to hear the stories.
My mum, having whiskey taken, once suggested a claim to having inspired the scene depicted in The Cruel Sea when a woman mistakes a naval officer for a porter in a Londonderry hotel. 80 years later, God bless her, I hope it was true.
One of Drach's best shows ever. Interesting story of leadership, personal intelligence and persistance, and technology, beautifully told with just enough visuals. Not an overwhelming amount of technical detail. Great story of a great and upright and courageous man. What a difference one person can make. The story and the teller here deserve a book or a movie. Thanks.
If you have a Kindle, you should search for the books (plural).
Very true BUT if they ever do make it a movie I hope & pray that they do it right! Otherwise, I'm perfectly happy with just this. Drach gives enough detail for my imagination to fill in the blanks. And the order to "splice the main brace" whenever a German U-boat goes down is a very gallant send off to the sailor's that didn't make it. And allowing the U-boat survivors to partake in the tradition, since it was the U-boat that they had been on & one being allowed to play an accordion too in my opinion shows the contrast of the difference between the 🇬🇧 Brits treatment of POW's & the German treatment of POW's. I'm sure that things weren't as pleasant for POW's once they made it to shore but after being depth charged & barely escaping a sinking U-boat, I believe that kindness after such an action shows a better sense of humanity. And I personally like that about the British!!!
I was born in Liverpool and now live across the Mersey whenever I go back I have to detour to the pier head to see the statue of captain Walker looking out to sea forever on duty.
This is probably the best series of work I've ever listened to about Walker, thanks Drach 😊
So glad to hear this long take on Captain Walkers career, about as dedicated a sailor as you could ever find. *Pipes 'A Hunting we shall go' over the tannoy.*
My father was an aircrew member on a Navy PB4y1 that patrolled the Bay of Biscay during the war. His crew never sunk any submarines, but they did sink a German destroyer and heavily damaged a second. On one patrol mission they were jumped by a couple FW190's out of Brest. The pilot pointed the Liberator out to see, dropped to 50' and instructed the tail gunner to tell him when the first fighter opened up with his guns, and told the AO to set one depth charge to explode on the surface. When the German started firing, the tail gunner told the pilot, and he dropped the depth charge. A wall of water shot up and the FW190 flew right through it, ripping off the wings. The second, less experienced fighter pilot just turned around and flew back to Brest.
A excellent continuation of a magnificent and professional documentary!
As a polyglot, I commend you on your efforts with Spanish and French names, but as a Newfie, I must apologise for us throwing you some nasty curve balls.
Argentia is the port of the town of Placentia, which was originally named "Petit Plaisance" (or "Pleasant Little Place") by French settlers. It was anglicised with the handover of the settlement from the Treaty of Utrecht to "Little Placentia" and over the centuries the name eventually shortened. The port's name is Latin, for 'place of silver' (as there were deposits of ore in the area), but rather than the classically-educated English who named it, the port was USED mostly by Irish settlers, so the name evolved into being "ar-JEN-chuh".
Also, the pronunciation of the whole island gets a lot of people, even 'Mainlanders' (aka the rest of Canada). Rather than "nu-FOUND-lund" it's actually "NU-fun-LAND" (as in the actual word 'Land' and not the suffix for place names like England, Cumberland, etc.) At the least, the sentence "Understand Newfoundland." should rhyme, if that helps.
Thanks again for all the wonderful content you give us all!
Really good explanation, less pronunciation corrections, tho.
Still, not a bad dissertation from a Newfie. Neauvoix fooey.
Cheers!
I have a long interest in Capt. Walker having a number of books about him on my shelves. What interested me in this video was the amount of film and photographs about him and his ships. I really appreciate the effort put into the making of these videos.
What books do you recommend?
@@JonathanLundkvist "The Fighting Captain" by Alan Burn, "Relentless Pursuit" by D. Wemyss & "Walker RN" by Terence Robertson. The first 2 were written by officers who served under Walker, I especially recommend the first title.
Been eagerly awaiting this presentation...well done!
You are the only person it seems who has done an in depth study of this amazing man!
There is a biography of him; probably long out of print, but worth finding and reading.
Where do you think he gets his information from?
drydock worker: "what the hell did you do to the starling?"
cpt. walker: "speed bump"
Drachinifel, you are a real treasure. I can't express properly how much I appreciate the hours and hours of enjoyment you have provided. Please carry on - indefinitely!
Coming close to the end of the epic saga, lads. "Ye better 'old fast"...
Excellent recap, Drach.
No Idea why UA-cam recommended part 1 to me, now i'm in the middle of part 3 and just cant take my headphones off. Great Story well told and so much more interesting than most high value productions on TV. Good Job and thanks, Drachnifel.
I look forward to part 4... Frederick "Jonnie" Walker. The perfect script for a great film
I am greatly amused by the fact that something containing "you idiot" was the polite version on the record
3:05
Can you try and translate word for word please? I'm only low beginner level and can't understand very well.
@@nopenope8418 it is a bit of "melodramatic" phrasing. It is a bad "imitation" of German "cursing" - see the TV series _Hogan's Heroes_ for examples of non German speakers doing this.
@@nopenope8418 "The F- is with you? These are destroyers! Battle stations! Dive!"
It's one of those words that has increased in offensiveness over time.
So there was a time in history when someone could have commented "By god, its HMS Starling with her steel bow!"
This is some amazing ship-fu
I just re- watched parts 1 and 2 yesterday. Excellent timing by either myself or Drach. 😊
I absolutely love anytime Drach posts about submarines/ASW. This video is a great addition to the series!
Top notch work Sir, as always
My dad joined the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve in 1941. On civvy street he was a base supply clerk at HMCS Dockyard in Esquimalt BC. In 1943 he was activated for overseas service and served on a corvette to cross the Atlantic to become a base supply clerk at HMCS Niobe, a Canadian naval base just outside Greenock on the Firth of Clyde.. This much the family knew. It was a story he had talked about many times. I had lunch with him a few days before he died in 2008 and he told me a story he hadn't before. The Asdic operator on his corvette alerted the captain that he heard high speed propeller noise. The captain ordered all engines stopped and the acoustic torpedo lost its lock on the engines and passed a 100 feet or so astern. He had never told the story to my mother or my sisters.
Superb series Drach.
What a fabulous series! A fitting testament to the courage and fortitude of the allied navies and merchantmen who defied the odd to bring about final victory over fascism - lest we forget
Yes Drach, I don't really want your head to swell up real big, but THIS is the kinda stuff about your channel that I enjoy. I mean, I understand that sometimes you have a guest come on & you ask them questions and you get to learn from them while we all learn from them. But I enjoy the stories so much more when you have done the research, written the story & tell it in your own words. Whether it is a story about battles that happened or one of your many naval engineering stories. Your writing and narrative is what keeps me listening. And sometimes if it's been a while I'll go back & listen to stuff over again just to refresh my memory about that subject & to see if I may have missed something from the previous viewing. Such a sad thing about Walker being out there sinking submarines and he loses his son who was lost aboard a submarine. What a sad story for him & his wife. For any parents, to lose a child must be one of the worst things that we as humans can endure. My wife miscarried twice & then was diagnosed with terminal COPD and passed away 5 years later. And that totally broke my ❤. I have a daughter from a previous relationship but haven't seen her in over 20 years. But I do believe she is alive & well. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child. Even though he had grown to be an adult already it is a very sad affair when parents outlive their children. Which, in my eyes, is the very reason the USA didn't want to become involved with WW2! And then why there was such outrage at Pearl Harbor. It wasn't the fact that the Japanese sank & destroyed some of our Battleships, it was the fact that 1500+ sons would not be coming home & they sank our battleships in a sneaky attack without declaring war. We were going to make sure that they regretted ever attacking the United States of America!!!
The Sunderland U461 was piloted by Dudley Marrows DSO & DFC. He lived to be a 101. There is quite a bit of information on the internet about him for those who might be interested.
Thank you for mentioning Dudley Marrows DSO, DFC
This series is a masterpiece Drach.
Another excellent film, the original footage in particular really adds to it, he must have been an amazing man! Thank you.
I see your new format, and I raise a glass. It is a great addition!
I've been looking forward to this, having read Terence Robertson's book at least three times over the past 50 years.
High Frequency Direction Finding was generally referred to as HUFFDUFF, which is certainly less of a mouthful!
I was wondering when HFDF or Huff-Duff was going to get a mention!
Greetings and salutations! Thank you Drax, a fantastic story and well told. J. Walker is, along with ABC, one of my favorite RN personalities of WW2. A reminder, give us the story of HMS Ashanti, or possibly the story of the British Tribals. thanks, all the best, Billi.
I just finished listening to the second video in this series.
It's awesome!
Thank you:)
An exciting and heroic story about Captain JW!😎🔥
Great job Drach!
Been listening and watching your videos for years now!
You are truly a Naval Gem!😁
Would look forward to a road trip next time you are in the United States 🇺🇸!
Incredible story incredibly well told
Fantastic series of videos, I really enjoy this concept!
A nice piece of work, very informative, very interesting and done a somewhat anecdotal humours way, boy what a sailor Walker was. I think this would make a great film which alongside the Cruel Sea would be the best of British film making in my opinion. Thanks
A most exciting series, thank you Drach. And yes, this would make a helluva film. I'm a bit surprised that a film about Walker wasn't made in the 50s or 60s, but I can imagine what it would have been like. Drach, what are you like at screenwriting?
Wow! 😳 what a series! Finest Kind, Drach! 👍😀
Absolutely loved the intro.
Awesome series Drach, keep up the great work!
Good evening & regards from land-locked Canberra AU. ⚓
Thank you.
It was nice to hear that they would soon go back out to
protect the new troops coming in for Operation
Overlord. My Father would soon be on his way!
The man is a legend.
Can we just take a moment to love ‘Commence Commence Commence’ - have you ever heard a more British version of ‘Unleash Hell’
Fantastic series. Great work as always 👍
Great stories, thanks Drach! Poor U-Boats had no chance with all the counter sub technology available by 1943.
They certainly didn't ! Dad was a wireless op/air gunner flying Liberators out of Northern Ireland.
If they caught a U boat, it didn't have many options - try and fight it out on the surface while the Lib whistled up any nearby navy ships and 'strike' Liberators to attack it from multiple angles.
Or if it dived, the Lib would track it with sonobuoys and drop an acoustic homing torpedo to hopefully finish it off.
Snorkels were detectable with the radar they had too - and with hindsight, the Brits knew pretty much where the U-boats were what with the breaking of the German naval wireless code.
Thanks for the series on Walker, it's great!
I cannot help but imagine the panicked orders sent to the cruiser by the Admiralty when they realised a bunch of their sloops was determined to go after some destroyers.
It would seem fitting Johnny Walker (the hard liqour) is appropriately named. And the video series was quite excellent. Top of the heap you are Drac !
Thanks good sir.
Bless those young men, may they rest in peace.
Thank You!
His Majesty's Royal Spanish Cruise Line. 😂
A cliffhanger on a naval history story? I guess I will attend the next session.
Outstanding video!
I was waiting for this one! Thanks! And congrats on your half-mill subscribers! You deserve 8 times as much! but alas, there are just so many nerds...
Prefer History Buff myself, but if you're happy to be called a nerd then that is your business! 😂😂
@@markfryer9880 Well... I see "buff" as being a rather arrogant term... Because of the immensely complex nature of history, even dynamic through new uncovered data, one cannot really be a "buff"... We can't help but remain humble in the face of the journey of man!
Great Fun. Thank you.
I kept hearing “Stalin charged in to attack”, “Stalin leapt forward into the water” - geez, that man gets around eh? Great work, thank you.
Nicely narrated.
Great video.
Incredible!
Thanks Drach
Ive just ordered a print of HMS Starrling homage to Jonie Walker and all the others who fought and died to defeat Hitler RIP Heroes we are forever grateful
I'm guessing an Lt., Lt.C. or Commander would be the standard command rank for small escort sloop/corvette ships of this size? It seems to be a fairly low rank for the amount of responsibility required to herd the cats and protect sheep from wolves. I'm sure it was far more prestigious to sail around (while not doing anything particularly useful) commanding battleships and cruisers. I like the pluck of the smaller vessels in WW2(Taffy3 destroyers etc) that seem to fight well above their class. It's interesting to hear how these tiny ships, with the help of a few aircraft, figured out how to make the previously feared German uboat fleet run in fear. It's tiny angry pit-bulls, chasing the cat, chasing the mouse.
I really enjoy this channel so much. It's fun and easy to follow for a landlubber like me, and always leads to hours of me investigating curious rabbit holes all over the net. Thank you, Drachinifel, for sparking my interest in so many mostly useless(for me anyway)topics.
I can think of many people who have received a knighthood far less deservedly than Johnnie Walker, who was never honoured in this way. Perhaps if he'd lived a bit longer he would have made it! He most certainly deserved that honour.
Thank you for a very interesting video
Commenting for the algorithm
"Then they realized if they hurried they could get to the bar before closing"🤣🤣
Superb work😊
👍Thanks for video.
Would you to hear more about HMS Danae’s prewar world tour. My father was a teenage ordinary seaman on that trip.
@ 13:30 - 13:37, a Pythonesque
"My landing craft is full of eels."
Thank you
25:20 for anyone who is interested in *seeing* what a type IX (C) Unterseeboot looks like in person - the mentioned _U - 504's_ sister submarine is on display at the The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The *_U - 505_* was a very "unlucky" boat, captured by the escort carrier _U S S Guadalcanal_ on *June 4, 1944* . The task force commander, Rear Admiral Daniel V Gallery would help arrange donation of the *_U - 505_* to MSI with the aid of Chicago area civic and school groups - she is the lone survivor of the U 501 - U 509 series, all others sunk during WWII (U - 511 given to the Japanese in 1943, U - 510 given to the French post war).
34:46 "...after having been refused water by a U boat that they encountered..." This is also why Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz was charged with "war crimes" and prosecuted at Nuremberg - despite some American Admirals from the Pacific Theater of Operations protesting and later testifying (in addition to his role as Hitler's "successor" as head of the Nazi German state, making him responsible for actions after May 1945).
You know how they say that war is long periods of boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror? Yeah, ASW is long periods of boredom punctuated by 50-foot waves. :D
At least these weren't Flower-class corvettes. Those were said to "roll on wet grass".
“Wreckage in the form of many, many dead eels” 😂
Johnny probably had a following of crew and officers in his entire command that would I f followed him past hell. He was that rare thing of an OC whose competence is almost frightening.
Great episode! But try and remember you're a Brit dear boy and try and refrain from using "dove" !
Wild Goose does the chasing
lol anyone would likely run,
from a wild goose chasing 😅
Another great episode, and the narration with the noises and such Drach. Well presented, and I can't wait for the next like the whole series so far. What are the cans on top of the aft masts? Radar?
Yes they are. It is sometimes called a "Rader Lantern". I dont remember the type. 286 maybe? somebody will certainly know. B
@@billistefansson5309 The sloops certainly got Type 286 eventually, but I remember the "lantern" type being the Type 271 surface search radar which was on top of the pilot house?
It ain't Huff-Duff either, that's on the mainmast.
@@billistefansson5309Lantern, how British!
Don’t get between sevicemen and their alcohol you might just live to regret it.
It's a shame Captain Walker didn't see the end of the war.
I am sad that I don’t speak German, because now I don’t know what U-202’s captain said.
As a native speaker, I got das sind Zerstörer! Alarm! Tauchen! at the end. Meaning these are destroyers! Alarm! Dive! But the first Part sounded Like pure gibberish to me.
Edit: See further comments.
@@peterweller3575 Thanks, much appreciate the effort.
"Das sind keine Handelsschiffe du Idiot"
"You idiot, those aren't merchant ships, that's a destroyer! Crash Dive!"
@Shogun0099 OK, after the fifth or sixth time listening, it actually sounds like that. But without knowing what's supposed to be said, it sounds like it has been taken straight out of the Great Dictator. Stattendieüttenzacken!
Any chance on a video on the aerial dogfights on the bay of biscay ?
I was amused that several times Drach referred to Walker as commanding the Second SCOUTING GROUP. Was he getting confused with Boedicker at Jutland?
When do we get part 4?????? Can't wait.
German destroyers each twice the displacement of the British sloops coming out to play with the sloops & the crews of the sloops thinking "that sounds like fun!"
03:15 Was that @Napalmratte? :) 09:20 Ish. They Probaly sang "Denn jetzt fahren wir nach England" In a play on the german song "Denn wir fahren gegen England"
I'm glad I'm not the only one who heard that voice and wondered !
When is the next part due?
so much "splicing the mainbrace"? were they ever sober?
What does that mean ? I guess a beverage theme métaphore for something naval, but I admit I both elude me
@@enjibkk6850 an order to issue an extra total of rum
Rum was considered part of a seaman's pay. If you were a non-drinker you'd get extra pay in lieu. When I was in the Canadian navy reserve and whenever my ship was in Portland or Long Beach the USN ships would bolt for a mooring alongside us and we'd get asked when the mess opened.
In the RN "Grog" (watered down 2 parts water to 1 part rum) rather than neat "pusser's rum" was the order of the day (for the "other ranks" at least).
Fourteen hundred-ton elbow drop is a term I never expected to hear.
Did you do comparisons of the Japanese subs vs. the British subs in another episode?
Was that a Goon Show outtake for the U-202 commander?
Is the bow of Starling getting "airborne" @6:14?
It's footage of a Captain class frigate that was later part of 2nd Escort Group :)
Today I learned that bombers were used in a serious way as “heavy fighters” and that wheeling, intense dogfights involving large, multi-engine aircraft occurred.
Such a merciless type of warfare... Half of the ten submarine kills the 2nd Escort Group was involved in went down with all hands lost. If the Group had a U-Boat boxed in underwater, chances of crew-survival was practically zero.
“Dove!” Frickin’ “Dove” No!!!
At 14:58: So the guy made himself a makeshift kilt or something?
@11:26 Is that HMS Cyclops?