Condition Red

A documentary-style adaptation of Captain Frederick J. Bell's Condition Red uses the destroyer he calls the G to explain life and combat aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer in the South Pacific. It moves from a Japanese air attack to damage control, anti-submarine tactics, the responsibilities expected of junior officers, cramped living conditions and the ship's constant readiness for another alarm. Rather than one continuous plot, the broadcast combines action scenes with Bell's descriptions of destroyer crews, training, endurance and the peculiar pride sailors develop in an uncomfortable but hard-hitting ship.

This Words at War broadcast aired on January 25, 1944. NBC Radio Network carried the broadcast. The cast includes Jack Lloyd, Alan Bunce, Jerry Macy, and Geoffrey Bryant. Other credited names include Anton M. Leader as director, Gerald Holland as radio adaptor, and Jack Costello as host.

The surviving recording runs about 29 minutes.

This version dramatizes Condition Red. Frederick Bell is credited as author and Gerald Holland adapted it for radio.