At 7:53 am on December 7, 1941, Japanese war planes attacked the American base at Pearl Harbor. Yet just an hour earlier, the U.S.S. William Outerbridge, who was in charge of the Ward in Pearl Harbor, scuttled the ship, and only one crew … At the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, learn about one of the most pivotal moments in US history: the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II. Visiting the USS Arizona Memorial Image: NH 92694: USS Ward (Destroyer #139) running speed trials off California, September 1918. … Over the radio, a dispatch from the USS Ward (DD-139), an American destroyer, claimed she had engaged an unidentified submarine and sank it. The first of many Pearl Harbor facts, some new information discovered in the last year or so, is that on the morning of December 7th, 1941, the Wickes-class destroyer USS Ward attacked and sank a Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarine near the entrance to the harbor, making it not only the first shot fired on that day, but the first official American shots in the War. The honor included a stone placed in remembrance of Lehner’s service at Pearl Harbor and WWII.

Pearl Harbor Survivor Will Lehner of the destroyer, USS Ward, was honored at Wisconsin State War Memorial. Ward fired at a …
USS Ward fires first shot WW II: Narrations of the exciting campaigns of the USS Ward, Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, up to and including the fatal sinking of the Ward in the Philippines, Dec. 7, 1944 In the hours leading up to 6:45 AM on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the crew of Tiger had no warning that their day would take a turn for the worst.
As the Ward patrolled the area just a couple of miles off of the entrance to Pearl Harbor the minesweeper USS Condor AMc-14 spotted a white wake near her at 0342. On December 7, 75 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the public will have its first-ever opportunity to view a live dive on two Japanese mini submarines, the first of which was sunk by the USS Ward prior to the attack. The ship and its crew sighted and sank a Japanese midget submarine. The USS Ward was a Wickes-class destroyer that famously fired the first American shot in World War II at 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 just outside of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Officer of the Deck and Captain determined that it was the periscope of a submarine. As the Ward patrolled the area just a couple of miles off of the entrance to Pearl Harbor the minesweeper USS Condor AMc-14 spotted a white wake near her at 0342. The expedition is coordinated by maritime archaeologists and scientists with NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. In the early morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941, the Ward was on patrol outside the channel entrance to Pearl Harbor with a crew filled out mostly by 84 naval reservists from St. Paul. The Officer of the Deck and Captain determined that it was the periscope of a submarine. At the time of the honor, Will Lehner was 94 years old. USS Ward (DD-139) was a 1,247-long-ton (1,267 t) Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I, later APD-16 (see High speed transport) in World War II.She caused the first American-caused casualties in World War II, when she engaged a Japanese submarine before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and successfully sank her, killing the two crew on board. She was sunk by gunfire by USS O'Brien (DD-725), commanded by Commander William W. Outerbridge, who had commanded Ward during the attack on Pearl Harbor three years prior. The nearby USS O’Brien led by Lt. Cmdr.