Friedell, Wilhelm Lee, born 22-08-1883, in Texarkana, Miller, 
Arkansas, United States, to Emile, Frederick Friedell (1850–1943) and his wife Jessie Williams, born, Deupree Friedell (1862–1941) 
Wilhelm Lee was married with Lucie, born Matthews, Friedell (1890–1962) 
and the couple had one daughter, Lucie V Friedell Denunzio Nixdorff (1915–1986).
Wilhelm 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, 31-01-1907. Friedell subsequently progressed in grade until his promotion to Rear Admiral, 23-06-1938. 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.
Friedell took part in the Second Occupation of Cuba and in 1908 he took part in the voyage of the Great White Fleet. He was transferred to the USS Helena 
where he served in the South China Sea as part of the Yangtze Patrol. Friedell took command of the USS Villalobos January 1910 and continued the Yangtze Patrol until October 1911. He then became a Navigator aboard the USS New Orleans. While serving aboard the New Orleans he led a landing party at Nanking during the 1911 Revolution to protect the American Consulate. He was then assigned to the Naval Academy 
as an instructor from March 1912 until April 1914. He then assumed command of the First Division, Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet aboard the USS C-3. 
He held this command from June 1914 until September 1916. He then took command of the USS Bushnell; his command continued throughout World War I in European waters. Following the war, Friedell led the Submarine Repair Division at the Philadelphia Navy Yard before returning to Annapolis as an instructor. He was then assigned to the USS Connecticut as her executive officer, a position he held from June 1921 until the following spring. He then assumed command of the submarine tender USS Rainbow and the Submarine Division 12. From 1923 until 1926, he again returned to Annapolis as an instructor. From 1926 until 1928 he commanded Submarine Division 11. In 1929 Friedell completed a senior course and the Naval War College and became head of the Department of Electric Engineering at Annapolis until the summer of 1931. In February 1936 he took command of the USS Colorado. While in command in 1937, he aided in the search for Amelia Earhart 
after her plane went missing. In November 1940 he took command of the Submarine Force, U.S. Fleet until January 1941. He served as the Commandant of Mare Island Naval Shipyard from early 1941 until 1944 when he took command of the Eleventh Naval District and Naval Base San Diego. Friedell retired in 1946 as a Rear Admiral.
Death and burial ground of Friedell, Wilhelm Lee.
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 01-05-1946 and Admiral Friedell passed away 27-01-1958, age 74, at Naval Medical Center San Diego and was buried at Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California.
Leave a Reply