Picking
Sherwood Picking
A story was written about him by the Dobbs Ferry Register at age 8;
"Dobbs Ferry Register, NY 1898
MASCOT OF THE WABASH.
Eight-Year-Old Sherwood Picking of the Recruiting Ship Wabash.
Eight-year-old Sherwood Picking is the mascot of the United States recruiting ship Wabash, anchored off the Navy yard, says the Boston Herald. He has never received any certified commission from the Navy Department, yet he says he is the "...captain of the captain's launch..." He Is the son of Captain Picking, and is 8 years old. "Sherd," as he says his short name is, goes to school every day and returns on board with great dignity every after-noon. Besides being a dignified and popular ship's mascot, he is a born naval fighter."
He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in the class of 1911 on June 2nd. Picking was seemingly very highly thought of by his class mates as a formidable thinker and debater and throughly knowledgeable in all navy ships, types and armaments. His nickname at the academy was “Our Admiral”. Maybe an allusion to his father having been an Admiral and he having grown up in a Navy family.
After leaving the Naval Academy, he was assigned to the battleship USS North Dakota (Battleship No. 29), and reported aboard on July 6th 1911 as a Midshipman. On March 6, 1912, he was commissioned an Ensign.
On January 3, 1914, he was detached from the North Dakota and given orders to report to the Asiatic Station. He sailed from San Francisco on February 6th and reported aboard the Decatur (Destroyer No. 5) at Cavite, Philippines on March 5, 1914. From there, he was detached to the USS Mohican, an old steam sloop-of-war that served as the designated receiving ship at Cavite and stationary tender for the 1st Submarine Group, Torpedo Flotilla, Asiatic Fleet. He was ordered to instruction in submarine duty.
He was then attached for further instruction to the A-7 (Submarine No. 8). He was given command of the A-6 (Submarine No. 7) on August 4, 1914. On September 15 was also given command of the the A-7. It seems it wasn't uncommon to have multiple commands and he had both the A-6 and the A-7 under his command until relieved for both on May 15, 1915 to command the B-2 (Submarine No. 11).
On July 2, 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade, retroactive to March 7, 1915. On November 15, he was again placed in command of the A-6 in addition to his other duties.
On Oct 6 he was detached from all command duties and the B-2 and ordered to the USS Fulton Submarine Tender No. 1 and reported aboard on January 2, 1917 for further submarine instruction. He was detached from Fulton on June 24, 1917 to the Fore River Shipyard to oversee the fitting out of the O-10 (Submarine No. 71).
He was appointed a temporary Lieutenant on July 1, 1917.
On September 11, 1917, he was assigned to oversee the fitting out of the submarines O-11 thru 13 and it seems he was to also command the O-11 though there is no record of this command.
In April, prior to the commissioning of the O-10, he was sent overseas to “Special Duty in European waters”. During this time he went to sea aboard several French submarines with the intention of gaining wartime experience that he could apply to coming USN operations. He returned on July 5th.
LT Picking was the commissioning CO of the O-10 on Aug 17, 1918 and made defensive anti-German submarine patrols off the U.S. eastern seaboard. On November 2, the O-10, part of a 20 sub contingent, departed Newport for service in European waters. However, before the ships had reached the Azores, the Armistice ended the fighting and the subs returned to the U.S. For his service during World War I, he was cited with a Navy Cross as a submarine commander.
It is interesting to note that all of the Commanding Officers of the O-class submarines that made the transit overseas in November 1918 (O-3 thru O-10) were awarded the Navy Cross, with the exception of the Commanding Officer of USS O-6, LCDR Carroll Q. Wright, Jr. who was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, (probably for having been shelled by a British steamer and hit 6 times and surviving), which was higher in precedence than the Navy Cross until 1942. (Thanks to Wendy Gulley, curator Nautilus Museum Archives, Groton, CT)
Picking was detached from the O-10 on April 18, 1919 to the Portsmouth Navy Yard to oversee the building of the S-5 (SS-110) and to take command of her upon commissioning.
On August 14, 1919 Picking was ordered to the tender Fulton, which was overseeing the operations of the surrendered German submarine U-111. He later was attached to the Bushnell (AS-2) in the same capacity. The U-111 had been surrendered at Harwich, England on November 20, 1918 after the Armistice and was one of five German U-Boats given to the U.S. by the British to study. The U-111 had arrived in Philadelphia on April 20, 1919. The U-111 was used in Victory Bond drives and then taken to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in January 1920, where it was inspected and machinery and equipment removed for testing in U.S. submarines. Sherwood Picking was involved in this effort. On May 18, 1920 Picking was assigned to the fitting out of the S-7 (SS-112) and placed her in commission on July 1, 1920.
Picking was detached from the S-7 on May 24, 1922 to become the Executive Officer of the tender Beaver AS-5). On July 10, 1922 he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He was then ordered to the USS Chaumont (AP-5), a transport ship, for delivery from San Pedro to Hampton Roads. Upon arrival, he was transferred to the Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department to be in charge of the Aeronautical Test Laboratory in Washington DC. He was detached from this assignment on June 15, 1923.
After 15 days leave, he reported to the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, ME. On April 7, 1924 he was ordered to the fitting out of the new submarine V-1 (SF-4) and placed her in commission as the commanding officer on August 1, 1924.
Jan. 31, 1925 the V-1 found a merchant sailor clinging to a barrel near the Virginia Capes. The rescue, at dusk, of a Lascar* sailor, who had fallen from a British vessel near the entrance to the Virginia Capes, was successful. The sailor was almost exhausted. The V-l made the rescue at 6:30 pm, 20 miles eastward of Thimble Shoals Light in Hampton Roads. He was delirious when picked up. Upon arrival off Cape Henry the pilot boat was requested to take charge of the man, and he was accordingly transferred. By wireless it was ascertained that he belonged to the steamship Luceric.
A story written up in the newspapers had this to say: "Faizalli Mshrshacca, 20, a Lascar fireman in the British steamer Luceric, which came into Norfolk, Va., recently, had been denied shore leave and was determined to land in America. So when the ship was passing Thimble Shoals he threw a keg overboard and jumped after it, clinging to it through the chilly dawn. The submarine B-1 (sic) was proceeding down the harbor and sighted the Lascar, still clinging to his keg. He was almost frozen, but he fought against rescue and was subdued by force. The submarine carried the man to Cape Henry and placed him aboard the pilot boat Relief, which hastened to overtake the Luceric, and put the man back aboard her as she passed through the Virginia Capes."
- Note - A "Lascar" was a derogatory term, now out of fashion, for a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland, or other lands east of the Cape of Good Hope who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the mid-20th century.
While Picking was in command of the V-1 in the spring of 1926, nearing the end of a transit from Key West to Portsmouth, near Provincetown, MA, the submarine, while surfacing from a dive, struck an object and the whole submarine shuddered from the impact. Upon reaching the surface, investigation reveled that the V-1 had collided with a 58 foot whale and had broken the whale's back and killed it. The whale was still partly wrapped around the bow. The submarine towed the whale to Provincetown so the locals could view it then towed it back to sea to sink.
On June 25, 1927 Sherwood Picking and Elizabeth Warner were married by clergyman named William Safford Jones at Portsmouth, NH. They eventually had three children; oldest being Frances Picking, second, Henry Picking, born Feb. 28, 1931 died Feb 22, 2013; and Elizabeth Picking, born 1933, died 2013. Research is incomplete but Elizabeth Warner is thought to have been the sister of the first Asst. Secretary of the Navy, Edward P. Warner.
On June 6, 1928 Picking was an usher at the wedding of a naval officer, possibly from his submarine, LT James S. Foskett (later Rear Admiral and Naval Aide to President Truman ) to a Miss Florence Kane.
On August 1, 1927, Picking was detached from the V-1 and was transferred to the Bureau of Ordnance in Washington DC, where he stayed until July 8, 1929, when he was given command of the USS James K. Paulding (DD-238). He stayed there until November 11, 1930 when he was transferred to the battleship Arizona (BB-39) in the position of First Lieutenant. He remained with the Arizona until June 24, 1931 when he was transferred to the Bureau of Engineering at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC from where he was then, again, transferred to be the Naval Inspector of Machinery at the Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT. where he stayed until May of 1934.
In 1932, he was made a full Commander and also picked up additional duties as Inspector of Navigational Materials in New York and Inspector of Ordnance during the building of the submarine Cuttlefish (SS-171).
On June 1, 1934, he reported aboard the battleship Texas (BB-35) as First Lieutenant. He served on that ship until August 2, 1934, when he was appointed as Commander, Submarine Squadron Five and Commander, Submarine Division Ten. He stayed there until July 3, 1936, when he was transferred to the Harvard University Naval Officers Training Unit until 1939.
On January 30, 1939 he received orders as Commander, Submarine Squadron Three and Commanding Officer of the Submarine Base Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. On July 1, 1939 he was commissioned a full Captain.
In April of 1941 he was ordered to the Office of Chief of Naval Operations, Navy Department, Washington, DC, as the Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence. In August he was sent to London on temporary duty, to work for naval attache Captain Charles Lockwood who was observing European submarine observations. While in route, the plane in which he and nine other people were riding crashed into the side of a mountain near Campbeltown, Scotland on September 1, 1941 at about 11:30 am. All were killed. His remains were cremated on September 5, 1941, and returned to the U.S. for burial. A great and influential naval officer and submarine sailor had performed his last tour of duty.
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Map of Picking crash site -
Photo of Picking crash site
Thanks to James Haas for assisting in research. Thanks also go to Wendy S. Gulley, Archivist, Submarine Force Museum, Robert Cressman, Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves, and many more I can't recall at this time.
The personal images were provided by Wendy Gulley and the Submarine Force Library & Museum.
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Ric Hedman & David Johnston
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