Frederick W. Powers Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 000098

Scope and Contents

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The Frederick W. Powers Collection documents Powers’s service as an Electrician’s Mate aboard the USS Pintado (SS-387) during World War II, his later military service and civilian engineering careers, and his continued connection to the Pintado after the war. The collection includes certificates and cards, personnel records, photographs, a sketch, correspondence, printed materials, and a DVD.

Materials from Powers’s World War II service include a Presidential Unit Citation for the USS Pintado, a Pintado Gazette newsletter, a Submarine Combat Insignia card, a certificate of satisfactory service, and a 1943 submarine course certificate. A 1944 recommendation for a Silver Life Saving Medal and 1946 orders to inactive duty are also present. Photographs depict the USS Pintado, its crew, and its patches, and a sketch depicts servicemen working aboard an angled vessel. Other photographs show ships in Portland Harbor, Maine, and a 1918 parade in Portland, Maine. Powers’s personnel records span 1944 to 1985.

Materials from later decades include correspondence with B.A. Clarey (1967-1996) and assorted materials on the USS Pintado (SSN-672) and USS Pintado (SS-387) (1980-1997). Documents related to the USS Pintado (SS-387) and the National Museum of the Pacific War (NMPW) date from 1985 to 1991. Also present are a 1978 issue of All Hands magazine and copies of Pintado-related materials. Other items include “A Bit of Submarine Service in World War II” by John F. Lewis (1981) and “Under Protest” by Robert Bowen. Engineering staff biographies and 1976 Navy Executive Management Graduate Program documents relate to Powers’s engineering career.

Dates

Creation: 1918 - 1997

Creator

Powers, Frederick W. (Webster) Jr., 1923-1999 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection in any form must be obtained from the National Museum of the Pacific War, Center for Pacific War Studies.

Biographical / Historical

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Frederick Webster Powers Jr. was born on August 20, 1923, in Rockland, Maine, to Frederick W. Powers and Hazel M. Griffin. On September 14, 1942, he enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve, serving as Electrician’s Mate, Third Class. During World War II, he served aboard the USS Pintado (SS-387). He was released from active duty on January 18, 1946.

During the years between periods of active duty, Powers married Henrietta Mary “Penny” Symes on November 5, 1949. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the University of Maine in 1950 and subsequently attended a graduate school at the University of New Hampshire.

Powers was recalled to active duty on October 20, 1951, with the rank of ensign. He served aboard the USS Chivo while stationed out of Key West, Florida. He was released from active duty on March 19, 1953, with the rank of lieutenant, junior grade. On August 1, 1966, he was transferred to the Retired Reserve with the rank of lieutenant. His military decorations included the Submarine Combat Patrol Insignia with two stars, the Presidential Unit Citation for three patrols, and the Silver Life Saving Medal, awarded for rescuing a shipmate while swimming at Majuro during rest leave.

Following his military service, Powers pursued a civilian career in engineering and testing. He worked as an electronic engineer at Picatinny Arsenal, as a general engineer in air delivery at Yuma Proving Ground, as a systems experimentation engineer in the Advanced Project Department of General Electric Company, and as head of the Test and Evaluation Department at the National Parachute Test Range in El Centro, California.

Powers and his wife had four daughters. He died on April 8, 1999, in Yuma, Arizona.