Fred Keegan

U.S. Navy
Pacific Theater

“We were taking a convoy out of Hortenica to England and the convoy commander ordered a ninety-degree turn. We made the turn. The tanker behind us didn’t and they ran right over the top of us….”

Fred Keegan’s father died in 1936, leaving his mother with three children to raise on her own. He later joined the Navy and survived the sinking of three ships—the U.S.S. Nevada at Pearl Harbor, the U.S.S. Lexington in the South Pacific, and “a wooden submarine chaser” in the Atlantic Ocean. He retired as a Chief Warrant Officer in the Navy.

I was regular Navy. I picked the Navy because you didn’t have to dig foxholes and you got three hot meals a day. That’s an honest to god answer; that is the truth.

I was an engineer. I worked in the engine room and boiler room. My first ship was the U.S.S Nevada battlewagon that ended up sunk at Pearl. Mainly because we were the only battleship to get underway and when we started out at the harbor we got orders to run her up on the beach. They were afraid that they would sink us in the channel and we would block everybody in. So we ran her up on the beach.

From Pearl I went on the U.S.S. Lexington, which was an aircraft carrier down in the South Pacific. I was on tour for five months when they sank her. I got off it without a scratch. I could outrun the Japanese; that was the only reason I survived.

Then I went from there back to the States. They said “Alright, you have lost two ships what do you want?” In other words, what do I want my for my next duty station. I told them, Give me a nice, small, fast wooden ship. They said you don’t qualify for BT. I said, Alright, then the next one above it.

I ended up on a wooden submarine chaser in the Atlantic Ocean. On that ship we operated out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and I was on her for two months. We were taking a convoy out of Hortenica to England and the convoy commander ordered a ninety-degree turn. We made the turn. The tanker behind us didn’t and they ran right over the top of us. Two of us got out without a scratch. I lost three ships and never got a scratch. They tell you on the deck that you have twenty minutes to get out of the water or you will freeze to death. So when they were wrapping me up and drying me off, I asked, “Where is that hatch to the engine room?” They pointed to it and I went down and sat on the gearbox. That was the hottest place on the ship that I knew of.

What I did for good luck was a pair of dungaree trousers or what you would call jeans. I had them on in Pearl and got out without a scratch. I was wearing them on the Lexington and got out without a scratch. The last time I saw them was at the invasion of the Philippines. They men were teasing me about wearing them and the skipper told the old man about it and he called me up asked me “What’s the story?” I told him the story and he said, “Take them off and bring them up to me.” I asked why and he said, “This ship isn’t about to get sunk.” He wouldn’t let me take any chances so I went down and took them off. After I gave them to him I never saw them again.

At the end of the war I was Chief Warrant Officer. Before that, I was 1st Class Petty Officer and I hand only one promotion that I could make which was Chief Petty Officer. I got called in one day and there were about eight officers sitting behind a desk. I was standing in front of them and my mind was going a mile a minute. I was thinking, “What the hell did I do to get this?” because I had already been court-martialed once in the Navy and I didn’t want to go again. They started to ask me questions. Some of them were the damnedest questions I had ever heard in my military career. One officer asked me, “If you are walking down the street beside an officer which side do you walk on?” I said, “Inboard” He asked, “Why?” I said, “Because if a car is going to hit us then it’s going to hit him first.” They ask me questions like that for about a half hour or forty-five minutes. I walked out of there and asked my division officer, “What the hell was that all about?” He said that I was being considered for Warrant Officer. I said, “Nobody asked me.” He said that they didn’t need permission and that the officers were tired of fighting me so they were putting me on their side.

I retired from the Navy in 1961 and believe it or not I went and worked for IBM. I worked in their research lab in New York. This lab was three stories high, about a quarter mile long and everything was glass. I was job hunting when they were building it. I was reading the New York Times and they had a story about it. It said that it was only half done but they were starting to occupy it. Monday I was in my car and drove 40 miles to where the building was. When I got there I talked to the receptionist and asked for and application. I filled it out and started to leave when she said, “Wait a minute. You in a hurry?” I said, “No.” She told me to have a seat. She picked up the phone and a couple of minutes later a guy came down and asked, “Your name Keegan?” I said, “That’s right.” He said, “According to your application you were a Chief Warrant in the Navy. Machinist?” I said, “Yes” He asked, “What do you know about boilers?” I said, “What do you want to know about boilers?” Then he started taking me on a tour around the machinery places. When we got down to the boiler room we started talking in front of these three giant boilers that were running at the time. One of them went into alarm and I look at him and he was looking around because there was someone supposed to be there. He started to look around and was starting to get panic stricken. I asked, “Do you mind if I fix what is wrong?” He asked, “Do you know how to fix it?” I said, “You damn well don’t want to hire me if I don’t know how to fix it!” What had happened was that the water in the tank got a little low and so I went around and opened the water a little and she quieted down after a few minutes. To my knowledge, I am the fastest person hired at IBM. I put in my application on Monday, took a physical on Friday and went to work the next Monday. I worked there for eighteen years. I heard that they were starting up another IBM building out here in Tucson so put in a transfer and got sent out here. I worked at the one here in Tucson for six years and then retired.