Frederick Ashworth

For the rugby league footballer of the 1920s and '30s for Cumberland, and Oldham, see Fred Ashworth.

Frederick Lincoln Ashworth
Frederick Ashworth in 2004
Nickname	Dick
Born	24 January 1912 raised at Beverly, Massachusetts
Died	3 December 2005 Phoenix, Arizona
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Navy
Years of service	1933-1968
Rank	Vice Admiral
Unit	Manhattan Project Commander, U.S. 6th Fleet
Battles/wars	World War II

Vice Admiral Frederick Lincoln "Dick" Ashworth (January 24, 1912 – December 3, 2005) was a United States Navy officer who served as the weaponeer on the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945.

Main Article: Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Early life

A native of Beverly, Massachusetts, Ashworth graduated from Beverly High School in 1928. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1933.

Naval career

Holding the rank of commander, he became Director of Operations for Project Alberta, the portion of the Manhattan Project tasked with dropping of the weapons on Japan, and selected Tinian as the location of its operating airbase. The director of Project Alberta, Captain William Parsons, had been weaponeer during the first mission August 6, when Hiroshima had been bombed.

Prior to his being named to Project Alberta, Ashworth had been commander of Torpedo Squadron Eleven (VT-11), a Grumman TBF Avenger unit based on Guadalcanal and the USS Hornet.

Ashworth remained in the Navy after the war and was Commandant of Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy in 1958. He was promoted to vice admiral and served as commander of the United States Sixth Fleet from 1966 until his retirement in 1968.

Retirement

Frederick L. Ashworth lived for over three decades in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He died in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 93.

See also

	Biography portal
	World War II portal

• World War II

External links

• MPHPA Classic picture gallery- VADM Frederick Ashworth
• Obituary at Los Alamos National Laboratory

References

• Brown, Edward R. What Only Two Could Do: Frederick Lincoln Ashworth, a Beverly High School Graduate and the Delivery of the Atomic Bomb. Beverly, Mass.: Beverly Historical Society, 2006.

Persondata
Name	Ashworth, Frederick
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 January 1912
Place of birth	raised at Beverly, Massachusetts
Date of death	3 December 2005
Place of death	Phoenix, Arizona