Keep the recommendations coming

"You won it; I'll wear it." That's some serious humility, right there. What a guy.

My father served on the USS Washington during World War II.  He was a Fire Controlman 2nd class and aimed ("laid") the 5" guns on the starboard side for Air and Naval engagements, and laid the 16" guns for shore bombardment.  Ching Lee once said my father had "the best eyes in the fleet."  They used to use dad to dial in the radars for accuracy, because he was always perfectly on target.  He was the FCO2 that got those 24 5" hits on the Kirishima.  I asked him once if he'd ever seen an enemy ship sink, and he said he remembered the Kirishima turning turtle, with all the white clad sailors clambering over the grey hull in the moonlight as she rolled over.  For years, Samuel Elliot Morrison claimed the Kirishima was sunk by aircraft the following morning as it made its way back up the slot towards Rabaul (that was how the Kirishima's sister ship, the Hiei, was sunk), but in the 1980's, that guy Ballard went out to Iron Bottom Sound and found the Kirishima there, upside down in the mud, just like Dad said it would be.  Dad told me when Admiral Lee was awarded that medal, one of the guys standing in formation there (after Lee said the part about; "you earned it") said, "Well, can I wear it on shore leave then?"  Which got a laugh from the crew, anyway.   In another story, Dad told me he once saw a Japanese tank sunk.  It was at Iwo Jima, where a Japanese amphibious tank came off the beach and charged the battleline, firing its 37mm gun all the way.  It never got close, of course, because a couple of destroyers intercepted it and started shooting back.  Of course, the destroyers were having a hard time hitting it (very small target, bobbing around in the water, and they were really too close to it and were having trouble depressing their guns enough to get a good shot off.  So they would shoot, and huge water geyser would shoot up near the tank, which would bob around violently and every time this happened, the Japanese crew would lose control of their turret, which would spin around and around until they managed to get it back under control -- whereupon they would shoot at one of the destroyers, miss, and the whole thing would start over.  Dad said the whole farce seemed to go on forever, but eventually one of the destroyers managed to get a shot close enough to swamp the tank and sink it.  Finally, at Iwo Jima, the fast battleline was on one side of the island, and the slow battleships (the ghosts of Pearly Harbor, along with a couple of other old battleships) were on the other side of the island, and the slow battleships were firing high, missing Mount Surabachi and dropping 15" and 16" shells near the fast battleline.  So Ching Lee got on the radio and told them to either stop shooting into his battleline, or he'd order his ships to start shooting back!

Favourite quote: "Chin Lee downgraded [it] from a battleship to a coral reef in five minutes!" That made my Navy heart sing.

History isn’t boring, your teacher was.
Love this show. Keep up the good work.

"Puts MP5 on couch" and now its a tax write off. I see you TFE. I see you.

A couple important parts of the USS Washington story at Guadalcanal that weren't covered:
1) Ching Lee reported 20-ish hits from the 16-inchers, because he confirmed 20 direct impact hits with his own eyes from three miles away in pitch black night. He didn't add speculated hits either under the waterline, or that simply were missed. Yeah, his eyes were fine.
2) IJN Kirishima thought there was only ONE US Battleship, whose ass she was kicking. Ching Lee stealthed a Battleship. When he opened up at about three miles out, it was a stealth critical hit.

Some attributes for a stellar military career:
Bad eyesight,
Bad at school,
Bad with authority,
Bad at following established rules,
Bad news for the enemy,
All in all a BAD A$$.

If only Ching Lee were alive today. I'd want to FURIOUSLY shake that sailor's hand. He better know, wherever he is, that he's a fucking legend.

Kentucky: We got a rodent problem, we need to call Ching Lee.

1941 US: We got an axis powers problem, we really need to call Ching Lee.

i still think one of the most impressive parts about this man is that despite being a Battleship commander his entire career, a man who has almost perfected their use as a weapons platform..... he was also one of the most vocal advocates for the aircraft carrier in the US Navy. All he cared about was winning the war and protecting his sailors, and if that meant making the battleship obsolete, so be it.

You hear so many stories of careerists who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into a new way of warfare, but here's Lee only ever thinking about how to make the new stuff better because lives were on the line.

Literally every great military person cheats on the eye examination. “If you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying hard enough” I love this guy 😂

7:44 These Gunslinger quotes are also similar to the old car racing saying, "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast"

Stubby. A dog literally given plot armor to participate in 17 battles, four offenses, catching a spy, locating downed troops, warning troops of artillery and gas attacks. All while trying to keep morale high…

My uncle's father (just to prevent confusion, the man married my father's sister, hence me specifying his own father) was one of the Marines on the Washington when Lee commanded it. He described Lee as being the one Navy man that Marines truly love - that yes, every Marine cares for "Doc" and wants to protect him, but Lee was the only Navy man, especially an officer, that Marines had no qualms with taking combat orders from. As far as the man was concerned, Lee was a Marine who was stuck in the closest to the next-best thing to a Marine uniform.

I could not imagine being aboard the South Dakota and hearing “Stand aside, I’m coming through. This is Ching Lee” knowing full well shit is about to get the most real it ever has been and will ever be again. The resounding “awwww shit” from that bridge crew must’ve been absolutely deafening as they watched her steam past like Dad stepping in to the room, belt in hand.

18:54 The only thing I need to know about the Bureau of Ordinance is that they truly believed there was nothing to learn from the Royal Navy

Ching Lee shows up to competition:
Wins rifle competition:
Joins pistol competition:
Blows up hand:
Wins:
Refuses to elaborate:
Leaves:

A no nonsence leader.
Reminds me of a family friend who came to my dads house, while I was shooting my brand new Ruger Mini 14. He told me, "Impressive ....Now try hitting something, like that rock"...I blasted away hitting nothing. He went and brought out an antient 1911, held it one handed, bent elbo, and hit the rock with one shot. I continued to miss. He said something I never forgot, 47 yrs later. "You are making a simple thing complicated".And showed me the basics. Years later, I would remember those words in my police acadamy. And was our "top gun" with a revolver, in a world of autos.. In speed, accuracy, and reloading  It is a special teacher that can influence people like that. Lee was that type, and then some. ❤

I've said it several times, and I will continue to say it. He might not be American, but Adrian Carton De Wiart deserves a video. This man was shot seven times, twice in the head, lost his left eye and left hand, and kept fighting. He tore his own fingers off when a doctor refused to amputate them. He told the future dictator of communist china, MAO ZEDONG TO HIS FACE, IN FRONT OF A FULL ROOM OF PEOPLE, THAT HE WAS A COWARD. Having interrupted Maos speech to do so. He fought in both world wars, and the boer war, and was known as "The unkillable soldier." When asked what he thought about the war, he said "Frankly, I had quite enjoyed the war." This man is an absolute badass