Olympic Sniper Turned Battleship Commander - Willis "Ching" Lee

Keep the recommendations coming

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

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$$.

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

I saw this a few weeks ago and was intrigued by how snipers do this. It turns out that snipers, athletes, artists, and other highly successful people have what is called "the quiet eye." They have the ability to focus to the point that distractions don't even exist to them. That's pretty cool.

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 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.

One of the unsung American heroes of the Greatest Generation. The whole world owes these Admiral Lee and the men like he a great debt.

27:27 “Stand aside I’m coming through this is Ching Lee” That was sent to American PT boats that were questioning the identity of Lee’s ships.

That mp5 is gonna be a hell of a tax write off! XD

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

Not directly related to the video. But, I just saw your "I❤Communism" shirt on Bunker Branding only available in size Small, selling for $999.99. You're an absolute savage and a genius. God bless

Cmon “The Fat Electrician”. Make more content ! Burned through all of your videos with my daughters in a little less than a week .
We have them in homeschool now and it’s the first time they were stoked to learn history. I even take on your dialog when teaching them history now. They absolutely love it !
Truly, I wish you the best of success and happiness in 2024 and beyond! You truly have a gift with this format. Unlike the old WW2 history channel episodes that could keep you interested and put you to sleep in the same 2 hour documentary.

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

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

I first heard of Willis Lee when Drachinifel did a great profile on him some months ago and a while after, did a video on the naval battles around Guadalcanal (he's very good for any naval content to be honest). IMO, Adm. Lee was cruelly underrated and forgotten.

I am already a huge fan of admiral Lee, but your depiction of his life is the most entertaining I've ever heard. As a kid on a US destroyer escort, I was a radarman, and worked with a 5" 54 cal. main gun, and can identify with Adm. Lee.

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…

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._

"got to be slow in a hury" "you must be accurate before you can be fast" "slow is smooth. smooth is fast"

I have to say I just discovered your channel. You are an excellent, fast history teacher. Should be shown to kids for history lessons. Putting the shine on many great men of war.

I was not expecting that bit with Mrs. Electrician

Admiral Lee was _insanely_ humble. He turned down an opportunity for a major battle later on. At least *SIX* Battleships going in at night in a target-rich environment. Admiral Lee declined because the sailors weren't good enough in night battles, and it was too much risk to his men. This meant that the Carriers got sent in instead, later on, and got all the glory at (IIRC) the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Yes, that's right, a "Big Gun" Battleship Admiral was offered the chance to win massive glory and write his name in the history books... and he turned it down and allowed the rival faction, the Carrier Admirals, to get massive glory instead. Thirty years of political in-fighting in the Navy over whether Battleships or Carriers were better, and Ching Lee didn't care about _any of that stuff._ In his opinion, the carriers were the superior option that would risk less lives, and fame was worth _much_ less than that.

This is one of the best videos on the youtubes I have seen in ages.
If you have an interest in Naval Gunslingers, look up a man named John "Jackie" Fisher. He was a British admiral in the WWI who had his dealings with bureaucracy and rival personalities in the Royal Navy. His contribution to great naval quotations was "Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. All else is twaddle."

Fantastic tale of the Old Sharpshooter! I knew pretty much all of this already, but your telling of it was pretty much the most badass I've ever heard. Even better than Drachinifel!

@28:29 "Just so we're on the same page, the Kiroshima's been reclassified twice: the Japanese upgraded it and reclassified it from a battlecruiser to a battleship and Ching Lee has now just downgraded it from a battleship to a fucking coral reef and he did it in five minutes."
Finest poetry on KRplus.

"Spots IJN Kirishima"
USS Washington: *MAXIMUS DELETUS*

Thank you for making history “cool” to my son. He started watching your videos with me about 3 weeks ago and now asks to watch the newest videos when he is with me.

100% badass dude. Another worthy of a Movie based on his life

Navy: We are arming these ships with 16" rifles.
Lee: Did you say... Rifles?

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.

“You won it I’ll wear” is indeed one of the hardest speeches ever giving by a commanding officer

Massive respect for the oblivion art in the background, i already knew you were another man of culture, but you just proved it again

Lee: 1,000 yard bullseye
Navy: Mmm, you no see too good
😂

"You won it, I'll wear it." Is one of the most badass and endearing statements a leader could make. Goosebumps. Thank you for being such a great storyteller and for telling the stories of these unsung heroes!

I am a Naval Academy graduate and knew nothing of this. Thanks this was outstanding!!!

love the depth and enthusiasm...fantastic detail!

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 😂

You just know that the eye docs are totally in on it when some guy fails a test and the next day passes. The eye docs are the unsung heroes.

He was a great leader, a technician with anything that could shoot, a man who made it possible for the people under him to succeed. Hopefully we have this type of leader working through our naval ranks now.

That Kentucky bulistics guy is the Mr. Rogers of the fire arm business for kids!! He's the best!

This guy is my hero. He not only did things his way, but he actually stood up to the military bureaucratic establishment and demanded change and wouldn't take no for an answer. It's one thing to be like Jake McNasty and refuse to play by the rules and do badass things , but no this guy was on a totally different level of being badass by actually fighting for change and to do what actually works and not give a shit because he was going to do it regardless. So it's one thing to fight the system, but to actually force and create positive change is truly amazing.

Outgunning an IJN fleet in battleship-to-battleship gun fight is like beating a samurai in a sword fight.

The other thing you have to admire about him is when he went the message, he just this is ching lee, not admiral lee, nor commander lee. And by that you, you can tell that's the way he always spoke.

I’ve heard the story of the Washington at Guadalcanal before, but never heard the backstory for Commander Lee in such detail. You do an amazing job at laying out the info and keeping people interested. One slight detail I happened to notice was that the sister ship of the Washington was the North Carolina, not the South Dakota. The South Dakota class succeeded the North Carolina and Washington. Love the videos!

Love the fact that Nicholas brought up not just a heroic war fighter, but someone who heroically fought the bureaucracy, as well.

"Is that a real MP5?"
*"Come find out."*
Real John Wick energy tight there

I absolutely love this channel. I'm a huge history buff. I love that you take people that most people don't know and bring them back to the Forefront, so they can get the recognition they deserve. You remind me of when I was in the service that one person that everybody wanted to hang around, including the higher ranks because we never know what you were going to say next we just knew it was going to be hilarious.

Great video, thanks for bringing light to a rough and tough sailor that has impacted the navy for decades, and possibly generations to follow.

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.

Small little inaccuracy the South Dakota was not the sistership of Washington, Washington was part of a separate class of battleship with the other member of that class being the battleship North Carolina. The South Dakota's sisterships were the Massachusetts, Indiana, and Alabama.

12:37 I was taught by my senior aerospace instructor in high school that an effective leader does two things: equip their people to do their jobs; and letting their people do their jobs. Sounds like Lee knew what he was doing here.

Man I was watchin you way back on the shorts an stuff when you made the full screen jump it was meant to be.. thank you for entertaining us… educating us on the stuff the education system doesn’t necessarily teach you.. happy 1 million subs keep it up❤️

“You won it, I’ll wear it” is the most badass leadership quote I’ve ever heard!

The derivative of Lee's and Earp's quote is, "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

That was an outstanding video!
I had never heard of Ching Lee and thus clearly had no idea about his contributions to our victory in WW2. Thanks so much for sharing this story!

That proximity fuse is something my dad talked about when I asked him one day to tell me everything that goes into calculating a single artillery shot (he was a tech sergeant in Vietnam from 1969-1970, and directed artillery). He told me they had to know if planes were in an area, so the shell wouldn't detonate prematurely. Another thing they needed to know was if the shell was going to pass over a body of water. If the shell was going over water, they had to put a special cap on the warhead, some sort of IR filter or something. The reason was because the water would bounce back and give a false positive, causing the proxy fuse to detonate prematurely. If everything went as planned, I think he said the shell would air burst at 100 feet off the ground, and the kill radius - as in the area where soft targets were pretty much guaranteed to be destroyed, was 60 yards.
I still have a piece of shrapnel he brought back, and it's way bigger, heavier, and sharper than I thought. He said typically the shells they fired weighed about 200 pounds, and they could shoot them as far as 21 miles with an accuracy of 10 yards of deviation from the given coordinates. Normally, they only shot a few miles, and part of his job was figuring out which batteries were in optimal range. He said from the time the guy in the field gave him the last part of the coordinates, his unit would have warheads on forehead in under 30 seconds. Meaning in less than 30 seconds, the calculations were made (using old-school computers), the firing solution would be relayed to the necessary artillery batteries, guns would be loaded, and ordinance screaming in at mach Jesus speed.
Anyway, people wonder why I never had a sports hero, and my answer is because I lived under the same roof as my hero. So that's what all went through my head when you mentioned proxy warheads.

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 watched a bunch of your videos and enjoyed them all. IMO, you are the best and informative storytellers out there.

Thank you so much for the content you make. The stories are fascinating and I love the humor you put in them. This man is a national hero and I have never heard this story before. Keep up the amazing job. You rock! 🎉🎉🎉

"Stand aside. I'm coming through. This is Ching Lee."
His message is like playing a video game and having the Pro on your team tell everyone: "I'll deal with the pre-teen tryhard on the enemy team. Everyone else stay out of our way and play the objective." And then you win with minimal casualties.
Absolutely beautiful.

Lee got screwed by Halsey at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The commander of Taffy 3 asked for Lee by name, but Halsey was convinced he knew better. By the time Nimitz sent his "world wonders" message, it was too late. Considering the damage a few destroyers like the USS Johnson had done, Lee likely would have had a field day

26:00 The other ship involved was the USS Atlanta. They were using the "offset firing technique," where the guns were deliberately offset by a specified amount, so the actual fall of shot could be checked against the calculated target area.
In truth, the distance was far more than 17600 yards (10 miles). It was actually _32,000 yards_ (18.18 miles). The lookouts on the Atlanta could barely see the masts of the Washington at that distance, and the Washington was dropping 2700-pound armor-piercing shells in tight groups a few hundred yards in the Atlanta's wake. (High explosive shells are about 1700 pounds.)

Loved hearing this story in Dallas a few weeks ago! Thank you again for the awesome content, I loved meeting you!

A correction and an addition:
1. South Dakota and Washington were not sister ships. South Dakota was the lead ship of its own, newer class of battleship. Washington was a North Carolina class battleship, the first class of fast battleships that the US Navy built.
2. Lee not only kited the remaining ships in that battle, but he also managed to dodge several torpedo salvos launched at the Washington by the Japanese forces. Dude did torpedobeats in real life.

Bro your wife in these adds always has the best part! She slapped that mp5 like it owed her money

Great story. First time I’ve run across this channel. Listened all the way through. My dad had some interesting and funny WWII and Korean War stories, so I definitely appreciate the real happenings versus the glorified Hollywood stuff.

I have a learning disability; I have a hard time paying attention and comprehending but I can watch your videos all the way through without stopping and understand it.
Nick,
Your very well spoken and thank you for your videos.

An impressive part of Washington's slug match with Kirishima was that her secondary guns weren't designed to hit things that far away, yet he trained his gunnery crews so well that they still managed to land so many hits despite the relatively great distance.

This episode gave me goosebumps and a tear to eye. Perfection.

Sgt Roy Benavidez, MOH Recipient. Shot 37 times, saved 2 Helos' worth of comrades, only soldier to have a GI Joe created in his honor. Would LOVE to hear your take on his amazing story! Keep up the motivating work! OOH RAH!

quick note, which im sure TFE realized afterward, USS South Dakota wasnt Washington's sister ship, Washington only had one sister ship and that was North Carolina

FRANTIC rubber stamp, that is awesome. If you don't have a shirt already being printed...

“Battleship Commander” by Paul Stillwell, another USS NEW JERSEY veteran, like Adm Lee. Awesome book.

As a fellow kentuckian, I'm proud to he from the same area as Lee. If there was ever a movie made with him as a character, I'd do everything in my power to play him.

Every time I watch your vids I think "The last one was so good, this guy cannot compete." I get 7 mins in, wipe the tears from my eyes from the laughter, and realize how much I needed this in my life.

Drachinifel has a video on the Washington vs Kirishima battle called "Guadalcanal Campaign - The Big Night Battle: Night 2" and a bio video on Adm. Lee as well for anyone who is interested.

Great story, I now have a reason to brag on about, and remember this great Gunslinger. Thank You! Willis Lee ...
And Thank You! The Fat Electrician for a story of a man's life and a story so rich and memorable!

Brilliant show. I just bought the book. Thanks for your efforts.

Ah yes, the tax evasion couch for the MP5!!

28:17 To be fair, Lee had closed the range to just 5,000 yards, which is basically point-blank range.

Imagine being so OP your literal body decides that you aren't fair and kills you.

This is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places on the Tube of You. Love the content and presentation style. Keep up the great work, Fat Electron Guy!!

26:19 The Far Side cartoon did not go unnoticed.
You have my respect as a man of culture.

YES! Been waiting for this one! Ching Lee was a certified badass.

If you haven't yet, do a video on Mad Jack Churchill...British Commando in WWII who fought machine gun toting 1930s Germans from the back of a motorcycle with a Longbow and Scottish Clayberg Longsword and a set of bagpipes.
Yes you read that right. The brits had a guy who went into WW2 with sword, bow and bagpipes. When asked why he carried a sword, his response was "Any officer who goes into battle without his sword is improperly dressed for the occasion."

Great presentation. The longer ones really allow you to get in the weeds of the history, and I appreciate that greatly

"He has a bad habit of getting off task, and doing things he shouldn't be doing. Mainly, he was a prankster and a humungous smartass."
This man is already my personal hero, and he hasn't even gone off to war yet.

Hey, TFE. Thank you! I'm a disabled vet and pretty much stuck at home alone and your show is a highlight!!

All I could think of is the fleet of HIMARS I have watched as a commo guy in Ft. Sill. insane accuracy, with a damn rocket propelled telephone pole....
all of it seems to have started with Lee.

Lets take a moment to appreciate how badass the title "Admiral King" is

It's honestly amazing they got vacuum tubes to work for those proximity fuses. These guns created a force of 20k g's when firing, and standard tubes were FAR too fragile to handle that. It was a UK research project they passed on to us to see if we could figure it out and we were able to miniaturize the vacuum tube enough to have ~10x weight savings over a normal sized tube and it even had to use a special solder for the connections that was only made in the UK in order to handle the force from being fired. They also had multiple fail-safes within it that required the high rate of spin from the rifled barrels to activate like the ampule of acid that shattered and then evenly coated the battery to turn the battery inside on as well as the detonator being set in place requiring that same spin to properly align with the rest of the system. It even had a self-destruct mechanism to make sure it stayed out of enemy hands if it missed it's target and never detonated.
Really great video about it here: krplus.net/bidio/fpSLmXNpapCqgZQ

I heard about Ching Lee fifty years ago but Fat Electrician's story is the most entertaining version.

I love finding out things I never knew, especially when they have a personal connection. My great grandfather served on the New Hampshire at the same time as Lee. My great grandfather took thousands of pictures while he served on board that ship. I wonder if Ching is in any of them or if they maybe even were friends. I still have a colorized photograph he took of the ship at berth in New York City while he served on it. It’s hanging in my living room.

As a recommendation: Lauri Torni AKA Larry Thorne. Fought in the Finnish army against the Soviets. Became so feared by the Soviets that they put a higher bounty on his head then that of the White Death. Fought with the Germans against the Soviets. Got on a ship to the USA. Jumped overboard of the coast of Florida. Swam ashore, changed his name to Larry Thorne. Joined the USA Army as a private and eventually became one of the first green beret's. Fought in Vietnam against the Soviets. (a song was written about him by a Swedish band. song: Soldier of 3 armies, band: Sabaton) I know that he is not a OG American, and he is better known then most. But, with the way you present the stories of all these men and woman. I will be laughing my ass off, learning and/or shedding a tear. Greetings from the Netherlands, love your content and wish you the best for the future.

Well...forget cleaning my room

These stories keep getting more and more amazing! Also the knowledge that these men would have been kicked out of our current military makes me sad

Excellent video as always! Love the history commentary/stories!

ive said it before but I'll say it again, the production quality has gone up so much in such a relatively short period of time, you love to see it

Never imagined you would do one on Admiral Lee! He's well known in naval history circles but I didn't figure he was famous enough to get the recognition, considering King, Nimitz, Halsey, Fisher etc get most of the attention for the Pacific campaign. But Lee had a massive impact on the Navy's success against the IJN, not least of which was because he insisted on extremely heavy short range anti-aircraft armament for all ships - which I'd argue changed the outcome of multiple battles!