Last Known Activity:
Rear Admiral Friedell, born in Texarkana, Arkansas, August 22, 1883, was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from the Third District of his native state in 1901. Graduated in February 1905, he served the two years afloat then required by law before he was commissioned Ensign, January 31, 1907. He subsequently progressed in grade until his promotion to Rear Admiral, June 23, 1938.
His tours included stops on USS Kentucky, USS Helena, the gunboat Villalobos, USS New Orleans, USS C-3, USS Bushnell, USS Connecticut, USS Rainbow, and USS Colorado. Shore assignments had him serving as an instructor in the Department of Marine Engineering and Naval Construction at the Naval Academy, in command of the First Division Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, in command of the Submarine Repair Division, Navy Yard, Philadelphia, as instructor in the Department of Modern Languages at the Naval Academy, in command of Submarine Division 11, as department head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Physics at the Naval Academy, commander of Submarine Divsion 12, commander of the Naval Gun Factory, Chief of Staff and Aide to the Commandant, Fourteenth Naval District, Pearl Harbor, as Commander Submarine Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, as Commandant of the Naval Yard at Mare Island, California, and finally as Commandant of the Eleventh Naval District and Commander Naval Base, San Diego.
It was during Admiral Friedell's tour as commanding officer of the USS Colorado that he supervised the search effort for the Amelia Earhart-Fred Noonan plane, lost in the Pacific in 1937. He retired on May 1, 1946 and passed away January 27, 1958."
Commander Submarine Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet: in 1940-41 Commandant of the Naval Yard at Mare Island, California : in 1942-43 Commandant of the Eleventh Naval District and Commander Naval Base, San Diego 1944-45
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Other Comments:
Navy Cross
Awarded for Actions During World War I
Service: Navy
Division: Naval Submarine Forces (Europe)
Citation: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Commander Wilhelm Lee Friedell, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession in Command of the U. S. Naval Submarine Forces in European Waters during World War I.
Legion of Merit
Awarded for Actions During World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Rear Admiral
General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 348 (March 1946)
Citarion: Synopsis: Rear Admiral Wilhelm Lee Friedell, United States Navy, was awarded the Legion of Merit for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Commandant, Mare Island Navy Yard, from April 1941 to February 1944.
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