This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Kent Weekly (SS/DSV) (DBF), EMCS
to remember
Kirtland, Frederick Durrel, VADM USN(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Salina, KS
Last Address Port Washington, NY
Date of Passing Oct 06, 1972
Location of Interment Mount Saint Mary Cemetery - Flushing, New York
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Obituary - New York Times
Date
Oct 8, 1972
Last Updated: Oct 16, 2010
Comments
ADM. KIRTLAND, 79, ALABAMA SKIPPER Commander of World War II Battleship in Pacific Dies
ROSLYN, L.I. Oct. 7 - Vice Adm. Fred D. Kirtland, retired, who commanded the Battleship Alabama during World War II, died yesterday in St. Francis Hospital. He was 79 years old and lived at 37 Orchard Farm Road in Port Washington. Admiral Kirtland became captain of the Alabama shortly after her commissioning in 1943. When the ship was hurriedly outfitted, there was no time to install a new type of air-search radar, so he took it along in a crate. At an advanced base in the South Pacific, he succeeded in installing the new radar on the Alabama's masthead by means of a slide built by his crew. A report on this incident noted: "With this radar, the Alabama made original contact on a large group of enemy based aircraft in the battle of the Marianas. This early detection was of incalculable value in turning a serious threat.... into an air battle disastrous for the enemy." Admiral Kirtland received the Legion of Merit for outstanding service as commanding officer of the Alabama. Admiral Kirtland grew up on a farm in Kansas. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1916 and served on the battleship Wyoming in World War I. In the early days of World War II, he commanded a squadron of destroyers on North Atlantic convoy duty. After leaving the Alabama, he landed on the island of Okinawa in 1945 at an early stage of the fighting and set up a naval operating base.
