HMS Spiteful
In our post about the passing of Bill King, we originally referred to him as the last surviving World War II submarine commander. Apparently, that is not the case. We learned from Pat Barnhouse on the MarHist list that “Lieutenant Commander Fred Sherwood DSC & Bar RCNVR is still alive here in Ottawa.” We believe that Lcdr Sherwood is 97.
From Living History: Lieut. Commander Fred H. Sherwood DSC & Bar RCNVR – his first submarine command was “P556”, a very old ex-US Navy submarine he nicknamed ‘The Reluctant Dragon’ because frequently, she didn’t want to dive!
From The Perisher Club: Lcdr Sherwood was the first Canadian Officer to command a British Submarine during WWII, HMS Spiteful. Under his command, Spiteful totalled the three longest patrols for an S-Boat at the time, sinking multiple Japanese ships. By April 1945, Spiteful had bombarded installations on the Andaman Islands and Christmas Island.
Yes, my father Fred (I am oldest son) is alive and well, just turned 98. Together we’re completing his memoirs. Lots of fascinating stories about his WW2 submarine career. Not only was he the first Canadian to command a British submarine, he was the first volunteer reserve officer of any nationality to command a Royal Navy boat, edging out his very good friend Teddy Young by about a week!
Now that is very interesting. If you read young’s “One of our Submarines”, you get the impression that he was the first.
If anyone has access to Volume ! of “Salty Dips” published by the Ottawa Branch of the Naval Officers’ association of Canada”, there is a transcript of an interview with fred sherwood.
I am happy to announce that (the late) Fred Sherwood’s wartime memoirs, “Its Not the Ships,” will be published in August 2014. For more information please visit http://www.its-not-the-ships.com