3. "This is essentially what happened. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. The deadly blast aboard the Iowa marked the first explosion in a battleship turret since 1943, when 43 sailors aboard the USS Mississippi were killed, the Government Accountability Office later determined. In 1943, the big battleship was off the coast of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a . April 20, 1989. Truitt was in the magazine below the No. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. Built while America was a neutral party in World War I, Mississippi sailed into the atomic age and later served as a massive test platform for surface-to-air missiles. Saturday, April 26, -(UP)An explosion in the forward turret of the U.S. heavy cruiser St. Paul killed 30 men Monday while the ship was firing on Communist targets in Korea, the Navy announced today. The 14-inch/50 caliber gun was plagued with technical issues, a major problem considering it was the primary armament on the majority of serving U.S. Navy battleships. The deadly blast aboard the Iowa marked the first explosion in a battleship turret since 1943, when 43 sailors aboard the USS Mississippi were killed, the Government Accountability Office later determined. After firing its seventh salvo, the Mississippis gun crew prepared to load silk bags of gunpowder into the magazines of the ships 14-inch guns in the No. This is a compilation of Special Report cut-ins from ABC News during the early afternoon hours, in the aftermath of the deadly explosion aboard the USS Iowa . However, what he writes on December 10 and 11, 1941, tells the story well. "That couldn't have been the case on Iowa," Coles said. "Then approximately two minutes later, I recognized Senior Chief [Reginald] Ziegler, who was the chief in charge of Turret 2, yell into the phones: 'Fire, fire, fire! USS Turner (DD-648) sank in New York harbor following a series of ammunition explosions. An Aichi D3A 'Val' crashed across Abner Read's main deck as it dropped a bomb down one the destroyer's stacks that exploded in the engine room. The 14-inch/50 caliber gun was plagued with technical issues, a major problem considering it was the primary armament on the majority of serving U.S. Navy battleships. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. The MISSISSIPPI was part of the covering force for convoys and lines of communications in the North Atlantic. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean departed Pago Pago, Samoa bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Fransisco. At the time of the 1943 explosion, the Mississippi, a New Mexico-class battleship built at Newport News Shipbuilding and commissioned in 1917, was shelling Makin Island in the Pacific. Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the General Accounting . On the eighth salvo, turret two, gun two suffered a rare flare back. The four powder bags inserted into the breech, totaling 470 pounds of explosive powder, caught fire and ignited other bags waiting to be loaded. Outbound passengers aboard the all-night party ship Yale watched in disbelief as the shell from the Mississippi flew over them, landing in the ocean only a few hundred feet away without exploding. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. First, it is aiming to offer interesting In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. Battleships USS Idaho, USS Mississippi, and USS New Mexico, escorted by 2 cruisers and 13 destroyers, were dispatched to patrol the Denmark Strait to protect American merchant shipping. On June 12, 1924,Mississippi found herself off the coast of California conducting gun trials. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. He is the founder and editor for the blogs Japan Security Watch, Asia Security Watch and War Is Boring. The gunners on all three battlewagons were competing for a $20 prize that Congress had voted to award the fleets most proficient naval marksman. She was commissioned in December 1917, and operated in the western Atlantic area until July 1919, when she transited the Panama Canal to the Pacific. . Funeral services were held June 17 on Trona Field at San Pedro. Iowa . Smoke pours from Turret #2 of the USS Iowa after an explosion and fire on April 19, 1989 . The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. On April 16, 1989 there was an explosion in a gun turret on the U.S.S. Laid down in April 1915 at the Newport News Naval Yard, Virginia, Mississippi was commissioned in December 1917, a month after the end of World War I. Please refrain from using strong language. I said, again, this is weird. An inquiry found that there had been inadequate air pressure forced through the gun to expel the incandescent gases and other flammable residue after firing. 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know thanks. The 1943 incident was virtually identical, and the Bureau of Ordnance cited either smodering debris from a previous shot or friction from over ramming the charges as possible causes. Mississippi steamed to Australia on a U.S. Fleet good will tour in mid-1925. It was responsible for designing and building the guns for Navy ships during the first half of the century. On the clear, crisp, windy afternoon of June 12, 1924, a few minutes before noon, the 7-year-old vessel, was involved in intense mock warfare maneuvers 40 miles south of Los Angeles with two other Pacific Fleet battleships, the Tennessee and the Idaho. Team Mighty. 3 other similar ships, the USS New Jersey, the USS Wisconsin, and the USS Missouri were built at the same time. Right now I worry only about the U.S.S. Battleship Mississippi (BB-41) Interactive Map. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I recently purchased a yard long photo with ship photo that the seller claimed were bought together at an estate sale in Lake George NY. A new method in the launch of ship-based aircraft was displayed with the explosive-powered catapult launch of a Martin MO-1 observation plane from the forward turret of the USS Mississippi. Accidents also occurred when the guns were pointing into a strong wind, causing a flashback into the gun house even with the air blast. Of her complement, 1026 officers and men were killed, including Rear-Admiral Hood. USSMississippi(BB-41) was the second of three ships of theNew Mexico-classbattleships. The deadly blast aboard the Iowa marked the first explosion in a battleship turret since 1943, when 43 sailors aboard the USS Mississippi were killed, the Government Accountability Office later . "I regret the accident occurred, obviously. Editorial Guidelines and Publishing Standards. 43 killed, 19 injured. Almost instantly, forty-five men and three officers were dead from asphyxiation. I'm trying to find out the fate of an uncle who was on the ship and . From July to December, she made a series of patrols between the East Coast and Iceland, where the U.S. had recently established a base at Hvalfjordur. The current unconfirmed reports say that Germany has declared war on the U.S., which doesn't make much difference. As a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. Hartwig's father had seen combat in the Navy as a gunner's mate, Truitt said. He braved the flames, smoke, and carnage inside the turret to turn on sprinklers so that bags of gunpowder would not go off, and he secured hatches so that the accumulating water would not sink the ship,he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. It was during this period, when on special training maneuvers, that tragedy struck the ship. 2 turret when the gun exploded above him. 2. USS Mississippi was commissioned into service. Forty-three sailors died. Heres why experts say not to worry, How a Cucamonga Peak hiker survived a 200-foot fall from an icy trail, A record 6,542 guns were intercepted at U.S. airports in 2022, How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Rachel Bloom. When his body was discovered, his hand was still clutching the flood control. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. 2 turret during gunnery practice. "USS Mississippi (BB-41) cordite fire in the #2 14-inch gun turret. No Way, Afghanistan: The Avoidable 20-Year Disaster, New Footage Shows Russias New T-90M Tank Going to War in Ukraine, The Collapse of Kamala Harris Is Nearly Complete. 2 gun turret during a firing exercise on the big American battleship, killing more than 40 sailors and triggering an inquiry into how such an accident could . Today located in Republic of Kiribati. The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . Gunners mate Kendall L. Truitt, one of the 12 sailors who escaped the No. Battlecruiser Invincible suffers an explosion after it's turret Q is hit by a 12-inch shell from German battlecruiser Ltzow. The right gun had just fired and was returned to loading position and the plug opened. You're 19, I'm 23, it's going to be a while.' The reports by psycholgists of the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service indicated Hartwig deliberately caused the April 19 blast in one of the battleship's gun turrents, killing himself and 46 . You might like to see my original copy of the Memorial Address. Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Lingayen landings in January 1945 and for the conquest of Okinawa in March-June. TheNew Mexicoclass was the fourth of six distinct battleship classes laid down the 1910s, as the Navy rushed to fortify the Atlantic against tensionsand then outright warin Europe. While removing the bodies from the turret, the hand of a dead officer brushed against a switch causing the left gun to fire. HTML tags are not allowed. But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. Very interesting thread and a great read. siege1863, Mississippiwas instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of theConvair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. Two hundred sailors of each battleship of Battleship Division 4 were present. The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf (Filipino: Paglusob sa Golpo ng Lingayen), 6-9 January 1945, was an Allied amphibious operation in the Philippines during World War II.In the early morning of 6 January 1945, a large Allied force commanded by Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf began approaching the shores of Lingayen from Lingayen Gulf, on the island of Luzon. I heard they are going to put up a telephone line from Portsmouth, Virginia, to Hvalfordur, Iceland, using the periscopes for poles. The last U.S. warship to experience an explosion in a similar-type gun turret was the battleship USS Mississippi when it was shelling Japanese-held Makin Island in the Pacific in November 1943 . The Senator from Michigan has asked for a Court Martial of leading admirals and in the 14th Naval District. It wasn't long after the Iowa returned home that the Navy seemed to be looking for someone to blame the disaster on. "He died in my arms.". Seaman First Class Fidler was just seventeen years old when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. fully into the war. The MISSISSIPPI was once again with the Pacific Fleet. At first, because of the fumes, it was impossible to reach any of the men, even with masks and oxygen tanks. In 1924 and 1943, open breech explosions had occurred in the Turret Two center gun aboard Mississippi, each time killing most of the crewmen in the turret. TheNew Mexico-class ships had 13.5 inches of steel armor at the belt, and her turrets were protected with nine to eighteen inches of armor plating. Forty-two sailors were killed and another sixteen wounded. Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Sandia National Laboratories. It was one of the worst disasters suffered by the Navy during peacetime. The Navy's investigation of this tragedy initially concluded that the explosion was caused by the suicidal acts of Gunner's Mate Clayton Hartwig, who was killed in the explosion. Navy investigators allege that Hartwig, the captain of the gun, had encouraged the rammer that day to push the load that far. W.D. Powered by Invision Community, USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-41) 1924 Turret Explosion, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". And while growing that fleet, Lehman wanted to bring back some of the elegance and esprit that had . On April 19, 1989, the day of the blast, the ship was preparing for live-fire training at Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. The residue from the smokeless propellant had to be removed chemically. Facts later emerged that undermined the Navy's first investigation into the explosion, Truitt said. Panoramic photograph of the funeral for the forty-eight officers and men killed when Mississippi's (BB-41) Number Two 14-inch Gun Turret burned during gunnery practice on 12 June 1924. Then No. Those people turned out to be Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Clayton Hartwig, whom the Navy had initially claimed had loaded the gun before it exploded, and his best friend, Gunner's Mate 3rd Class Kendall Truitt. The tombstone inscription reads "Francis J. Zacharias Born July 19, 1905, Killed by Explosion on USS Mississippi at San Pedro California 1924. 1920's (U.S. Navy photo) USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Lt. Zellars' body had already been sent to Georgia for burial. The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. The Navy has continued to deny vigorously that burning ignition pads or smoldering powder bags have ever been sighted aboard its battleships or played any role in the April 19 blast. Hartwig who died in the blast had planted a bomb in the gun. On 19 April 1989, the Iowa. Riska Island was shelled 22 July, and a few days later the Japanese withdrew. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! When the Iowa investigation was completed and released on Sept. 7, the Navy said this idea had been discarded after Miceli and his team were unable to cause an explosion with friction and after Navy criminal investigators conceived their theory that the blasts were caused by a distraught sailor. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while theMississippiwas anchored in San Pedro Bay. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in June but soon shifted her base to Newport, Rhode Island. 47 men were killed. Available for both RF and RM licensing. What's our Navy doing anyway? 24 were killed. An explosion in the No. The exact date and number of casualties were not available. It was a foreseeable result of lack of training and the running . Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. She returned to the Pacific in October 1934 to resume her earlier pattern of regular exercises, Fleet Problems and training. Out of commission? The damaged 33,000-ton dreadnought headed back to port. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. They subsequently wrote lawmakers saying that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig's parents. 2. In June 1941, in response to the deteriorating war situation in Europe, she was brought back to the Atlantic, operating between the United States and Iceland during much of the rest of that year. She was bombed from the air. This guy served on the USS MISSISSIPPI and USS NEVADA from 1917-1919. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach andMississippiand the other ships increased their rate of fire. "We did not accuse Kendall Truitt of anything in the investigation or the other gent," Kelso said. ww2dbaseMississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. 2s 14-inch guns went off again. The U.S.A. is now at war with Germany, Japan, and Italy. The investigations produced conflicting conclusions. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. -23), the erstwhile Normandie, pride of the Compagnie . site is two fold. 2. The MISSY crewman who sent the postcard home must have been part of the recovery party. Bipartisan. Black smoke poured out from the burning No. by Dod Grile Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:20 am, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. Thanks for sharing it. A battleship force on station at the northern entrance to Surigao Strait consisting of battleships USS Mississippi, California, and Pennsylvania screened by cruisers USS Phoenix, Boise, Nashville, and HMAS Shropshire along with destroyers Ammen, Bush, Leutze, Newcomb, Bennion, Heywood L. Edwards, Robinson, Richard P. Leary, Bryant, and Claxton came under an intense Japanese air attacking force that included special attack aircraft. New Photos Might Show Ukraines Drones Can Strike Deep Into Russia, Could Jail Stop Donald Trump from Becoming President Again? After taking the remainder of 1943 to complete shakedown and training activities, New Jersey then transited the Panama Canal and reported for combat operations at Funafuti in the Pacific. In its investigation of the explosion, the Navy concluded that the explosion was the result of a deliberate act and not a defect in the gun or propellant. USS Ammen sustained a glancing blow from a Yokosuka P1Y 'Francis' that caused considerable topside damage and killed 5 men. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Later in the year, she was part of the force that invaded Peleliu and Leyte and defeated a Japanese task force in the Battle of Surigao Strait. USS Mississippi (BB-41) was the second of three ships of the New Mexico-class battleships. Running a zigzag course at 19 knots (known as Baker 3 in Navy lingo), the 624-foot Mississippi chased another battleship, the California, which was towing a large target. Navy officials say technical experts conducted more than 20,000 tests on bags of powder taken from the Iowa last spring, including attempts to create an explosion through friction. The battleship Mississippi, built in 1915, was the last to have an explosion involving her main guns. Iowa's turret two on fire immediately following the explosion. "Dec. 10. Abner Read began sinking by the stern and 20 minutes after the attack, she rolled over and sank. 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. A news report about the USS Iowa gun turret explosion in 1989. Find the perfect uss mississippi stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. Smoldering material left in the gun had ignited the powder charge of the next shot. USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. By the way, my uncle's name was Francis Zacharias. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. The fleet in Pearl Harbor must have been asleep and I do not mean dozing. The shell flew harmlessly out to sea. 43 killed, 19 injured. . The Navy' s Investigation 2 turret. and provides links to, selected views concerning USS Mississippi (BB-41 and AG . The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. Copyright 2004-2023 Lava Development, LLC., all rights reserved, Battleship Mississippi (BB-41) Photo Gallery, See all 12 photographs of Battleship Mississippi (BB-41), Philippines Campaign, Phase 1, the Leyte Campaign, 8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 steam turbines, 4 screws, 12x14in/50cal guns, 14x5in/51cal guns, 4x3in/50cal guns, 2x21in torpedo tubes, 8-13.5in belt, 18in turret face, 16in conning tower, 3.5in decks. All others are marked with an "X.". Today her name lives on in the Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. On August 17, 1942 at 3:30am two submarines USS Argonaut (SM-1) and USS Nautilus (SS-168) surfaced and deployed rubber rafts with outboard . Australian news report on the USS . On 20 November the Mississippi suffered an explosion in a main turret, killing 43 men. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. They have been throwing torpedoes at us for the past four months. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I was on active duty at that time. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. During 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. Ward Carroll, a naval aviator who was a spokesman for the Naval Safety Center at the time. "At 10 minutes to 10 a.m., somebody came over the phones and said, 'We're having a problem, Turret 2, center gun,'" Carr recalled. Over more than a decade, she operated with the fleet's other battleships, conducting exercises and training operations in the Pacific and in the Caribbean. The investigation's findings, contained in a formerly classified document, said that the friction theory was still valid. "I knew all 47 guys inside that turret because as part of the ship's policy we had rotated between all three turrets," Carr, who served as a gunner's mate in the Iowa's aft 16-inch turret, told Task & Purpose. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . Sounding the fire alarm, Brotherton shouted orders to cut electric power, flood the magazines and stop the ship. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. Mississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. In this part I will briefly describe . Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. 3 January 1944. The Mississippi enjoyed a reputation for collecting gunnery awards, and the day before had hit 52 out of 55 targets. "Cover-up aboard the USS Iowa" (PDF). Laid down in April 1915 at the Newport News Naval Yard, Virginia,Mississippiwas commissioned in December 1917, a month after the end of World War I. RSS. The commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Iowa, Feb. 22, 1943. Photo courtesy of Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves (of blessed memory). "They were the real gun experts," said retired Rear Adm. Gene LaRocque, a former battleship captain and the founder of the Center for Defense Information in Washington. Then they found two sailors who had been blown from the turret onto the deck. In a chilling reprise of the 1924 disaster, another turret explosion occurred on Nov. 29, 1943 near Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands, killing 43 men. In the case of theIowa, the devastating blast happened toward the tail end of the Cold War, when the Navy felt it needed 600 ships to counter the Soviets. by tommy303 Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:55 pm, Post Trying to contain it.'". Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. The powder ignited the first of two explosions that would rock the ship from stem to stern. But it soon became apparent that the World War II-era battleships required too much time, money, and manpower to be overhauled, Carroll said. They also repeated assurances that friction or other accidental means did not cause the Iowa deaths. Luckily, the fire did not set off the powder bags in the other two guns. The next shell was rammed into the gun and the four powder bags on the spanner tray were rammed into place behind it. You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. Does anyone know or have a list of the sailors killed in the Nov. 1943 #2 turret explosion on the USS Mississippi? Lava's technical capabilities. Several salvos were fired by each ship, but then there was trouble with "Missy's" number two turret. Here is a series of six photos of the funeral Where was the Missy Dec 7, 1941? She was powered by nine Babcock and Wilcox boilers and her four screws were driven by four Curtis turbines producing a maximum 32,000 horsepower. 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