uss mississippi turret explosion 1943

and useful information about WW2. Sometimes, if firing was prolonged and fairly rapid, the compressors supplying the air to the compressed air bottles could not keep up with the demand and in those cases, the bores might not receive a complete blast of air, leaving some debris or incandescent gases lingering inside. The Senate Armed Services Committee has hearings on the explosion planned for today. The MISSISSIPPI and her sister ships of Battleship Division Three represented most of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy. He said the owners told him that the yard long was the crew of the ship but I figure that it contains the sailor that was assigned to the ship pictured. A photo taken from the bridge captures the explosion of the No. 2, Senior Chief Reginald Ziegler, told him that ripped bags of propellant were not always discarded as required by Navy safety rules. Forty-three sailors died. The 1924 disaster was attributed to insufficient air blast to clear the gun barrels, resulting in smoldering debris igniting powder bags as they were rammed in during reloading. 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. Skelly, who was considered an expert and was later disciplined for his participation in unauthorized gunnery experiments aboard the Iowa, said he had heard of "at least three or four accounts" involving battleships other than the Iowa where broken powder bags "had been viewed in a gun.". Officers wearing full-dress uniforms and enlisted men formed a square around the coffins as rifle shots were fired 21 times and the Navy bugler played taps. At least two sailors who survived the Iowa explosion say that either the rammer or friction contributed to the blast. Abner Read jettisoned her torpedoes which immediately began their runs toward other ships in the group. 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. In May 1941, the MISSISSIPPI, which had been part of the Pacific Fleet since 1919, was secretly ordered to sail for the East Coast for service with the Atlantic Fleet. In June 1941, USS Mississippi patrolled the North Atlantic. Fire in center gun, turret 2. A news report about the USS Iowa gun turret explosion in 1989. The Mississippi enjoyed a reputation for collecting gunnery awards, and the day before had hit 52 out of 55 targets. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while the Mississippi was anchored in San Pedro Bay. They further claimed Hartwig became suicidal because he and Truitt who was married at the time had been lovers but Truitt had rebuffed him. 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. At the time of her commissioning in 1943, the USS Iowa was one of the world's most formidable war machines. In early 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet. "That's sort of what started the whole thing.". USS New Jersey During World War II . He had instinctively closed the doors to the ammunition hoist and flooded the magazines. During this time she also conducted search operations for German "raiders" thought to be in the vicinity. Forty-seven coffins were arranged on the field. German dive bombers would sink both ships in the spring of 1941. However, what he writes on December 10 and 11, 1941, tells the story well. On April 19, 1989, the day of the blast, the ship was preparing for live-fire training at Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. The last explosion was so strong that it blew the turret's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said. How to find the best blooms without the drama, Nature-curious? Seamen in the upper chambers of the gun turret died instantly in the fiery explosion; those in the lower levels were suffocated as the blast siphoned off their oxygen. Anyway, what's left of it. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean departed Pago Pago, Samoa bound for Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. "It's a classic example of Navy leaders not being willing to speak truth to power and make the hard decisions," Carroll said. 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. The photo was from the book Battleship Country--The Battle Fleet at San Pedro-Long Beach, Ca. Assigned to Task Group 58.2, the battleship supported operations in the Marshall Islands in January 1944 including the invasion of Kwajalein. Mississippi was instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of the Convair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. On June 12, 1924, the MISSISSIPPI, along with the battleships TENNESSEE and IOWA, was engaged in gunnery practice off San Clemente Island. The accident occurred when rescuers were removing the body of the gun pointer, who was found sitting at his post with his finger still on the trigger. U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy . 2. The mighty warship was 624 feet long with a beam of 97.5 feet, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. 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. My Father served on the USS MISSISSIPPI prior to his being sent to East Africa (NCU-3 Radio Marina in Asmara). During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. 2 turret when the gun exploded above him. Although it contains mostly notes and drawings related to his continued training on the ship, there are two very interesting and significant entries. MISSISSIPPI. The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905), Movies, Films, Documentaries and Games. Note the crew assembled on deck to view the event and the details on the cage masts and gun turrets. But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Lingayen landings in January 1945 and for the conquest of Okinawa in March-June. Navy.". "If this story sounds familiar, it's because this is kind of the oldest story ever told around the U.S. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. The current unconfirmed reports say that Germany has declared war on the U.S., which doesn't make much difference. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. The military eats their own it takes a while to realize that.". They subsequently wrote lawmakers saying that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig's parents. Fortunately for him and his crew, his ship was anchored at Hvalfordur on the fateful morning of December 7, 1941. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. It was later determined that 47 sailors were killed by the blast, which occurred as the Iowa was conducting routine gunnery exercises 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico, 19 April 1989. On June 12, 1924, there was an explosion in the USS Mississippi's No. "USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG . During 40 years of service, US Navy battleship . Caviezel and Robert McAvin, escaped, by diving down through a 40-foot hatchway that closed automatically behind them. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. The main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft. TURRET TWO: DAMAGE CONTROL MEASURES FOLLOWING THE EXPLOSION . Mississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. Powered by Invision Community, USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-41) 1924 Turret Explosion, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. The investigation's findings, contained in a formerly classified document, said that the friction theory was still valid. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. 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. The yard long is dated 1942. Carr was wearing headphones that allowed him to hear what the crews in the other turrets were saying. 13 June 1924 Forty - six deaths are reported to have resulted through an explosion on the U S battleship , ' USS Mississippi ' off San Pedro . Facts later emerged that undermined the Navy's first investigation into the explosion, Truitt said. siege1863, The next shell was rammed into the gun and the four powder bags on the spanner tray were rammed into place behind it. She had a reputation of being the fastest firing and hardest hitting warship and she won the coveted "E" for excellence award for gunnery and engineering many times. Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. The old warship was decommissioned in 1956, sold for scrap. 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 . Naval officers in dress uniforms stood in front as 1200 sailors in dress blues stood on the sides of the coffins. . 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. 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. Then they found two sailors who had been blown from the turret onto the deck. Find the perfect uss mississippi stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. "Dec. 10. But when investigators learned that Hartwig had named Truitt the beneficiary of a $100,000 life insurance policy, they claimed thatHartwig who died in the blast had planted a bomb in the gun. In fact, the Iowa did so poorly on its first inspection that it was recommended to be decommissioned. (Photo: U.S. Navy) President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, had a dream in the early 1980s: A 600-ship fleet. 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. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. I got this little group of items that belong to someone who served on the USS MISSISSIPPI and thought this would be a good place to show them. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. I imagine that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had a bit to do with us leaving Hvalfordur, but we sure got out of there in a hurry after the Japs started firing. Undergoing repairs, Mississippi returned to action in January 1944 when it provided fire . Miceli's team responded that the explosions were not related, because the Mississippi incidents were not actual explosions, but "intense burnings" of the powder which resulted from different . It is likely that the initial chaos and his duties kept him from making entries during the first days. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. 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. . 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. The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . 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. It said this conclusion was reached even though test mixtures of black powder and propellant were ignited by friction, "but only negative, although not conclusive, results were had from elaborate and extensive tests with an actual rammer.". Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Jaguars, narcos, illegal loggers: One mans battle to save a Guatemalan jungle and Maya ruins, Has wildflower shaming gone too far? Mississippi sustained a turret explosion that killed 43 people. The blast, which killed 47 men on five of the six levels inside the No. Rather than admitting that the age of the battleship was over, Navy leaders cut corners on training, manpower, and maintenance to get theIowaback out to sea, he said. Here is a portion of a realphoto postcard showing the removal of the dead once the ship returned to port. This freed up the name USS Mississippi (BB-41) for one of twelve "standard type" battleships, designed with a similar armor scheme, speed, and main armament in order to operate together. He said: 'No, it's the same thing my dad did.". She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. Idaho and four destroyers. Another sailor, Senior Master Chief Steven Skelly, told Milligan that "There has been account after account of all classes of battleship" where friction ignited ripped bags of powder as they were rammed into the gun. In order to place the present memorial over the ship, a section of the boat deck that rested over the galley amidships was cut away. Forty-three sailors died. Also, the crew failed to examine one or more of the gun bores and call out Bore clear!" Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". 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. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. Later, the Navy would honor Zellars by naming a destroyer after him. 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. 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 powder ignited the first of two explosions that would rock the ship from stem to stern. As the stricken battleship glided into a San Pedro berth, Rear Adm. William V. Pratt boarded the ship and the hospital ship Relief pulled alongside. Francis Zacharias was only 16 when he enlisted and used his older brother's birth certificate without his parent's knowledge. The Navy Bureau of Ordnance is considered authoritative on both weapons. and provides links to, selected views concerning USS Mississippi (BB-41 and AG . I'm trying to find out the fate of an uncle who was on the ship and . Editorial Guidelines and Publishing Standards. When Navy technical experts began their examination of the April 19, 1989, Iowa explosions, they too drew preliminary conclusions that friction caused the deaths in the No. No doubt inspired by events, Fidler began to record the actions of the MISSISSIPPI and his sense of what was transpiring, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 9, 1941 Japanese forces occupied Makin Island. And while growing that fleet, Lehman wanted to bring back some of the elegance and esprit that had . "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! 2. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while theMississippiwas anchored in San Pedro Bay. "Cover-up aboard the USS Iowa" (PDF). As a battleship, the Mississippi was heavily armored to slug it out with enemy ships. Warships, naval battles, technology, weapons, navies of all eras, modeling, etc. Of her complement, 1026 officers and men were killed, including Rear-Admiral Hood. 47 men were killed. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. See attached. "I regret the accident occurred, obviously. "This is just from my experience of three years of working and shooting those guns: Eventually the powder bags ripped and the rammer head or the rammer chain sparked, and that's what set off the first explosion," Carr said. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. Although each barrel was blasted between firings with pressurized air to evacuate debris, the middle barrel of each turret received a lower pressure burst than the left and right barrels. 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 . The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching. 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. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. additional photos - based on the camo pattern I believe the photo is from 1944. Sandia National Laboratories later determined that the powder had been rammed 24 inches too far, compressing the powder charge against the base of the dummy projectile before it ignited, the GAO report said. "The gun where the explosion occurred had not fired" that day. "I held one [sailor] in my hands as he passed," Carr said. 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 . Previously, ships other than aircraft-carriers had to come to a halt in order to lower the aircraft into the water to allow them to take off. The recoil severely crushed ten men inside and the salvo narrowly missed an outgoing passenger vessel. He said the final technical report on the Iowa explosions had been released to Congress; a congressional source said it concluded that gunner's mate Clayton Hartwig, who died in the blasts, put a bomb made of chemicals into the breech and the bomb exploded and ignited the powder and propellant when compressed by the rammer. USS Mississippi was commissioned into service. The main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft. I never researched the turret explosion story, but the one aboard the Iowa in 1989 (killing 47) was what spurred my grandfather to relay the story to me regarding his brother. 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. Naval Academy, The Sullivan Brothers and the Assignment of Family Members, Historic Former U.S. Navy Bases and Stations, The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Navy, Contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Navy, The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet, Navy Underwater Archaeology Return Program, Annual Navy History and Heritage Awards - Main, Research Permits for Sunken & Terrestrial Military Craft, Scanning, Copyright & Citation Information, Obtain Duplications of Records and Photos. 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. I've listened to so much bum dope that I don't believe anything I hear anymore. Only two sailors in the turret firing room, J.F. National Security. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami. Another sailor, David Smith, claimed that Navy investigators had coerced him into telling them Hartwig propositioned him and discussed how to use a bomb's timer, the Washington Post reported in September 1989. 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. Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. After the war, Mississippi was effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. Luckily, the fire did not set off the powder bags in the other two guns. The flames and gases had overcome the men so quickly that recovery crews found many of the men still at their positions. The scene inside was too terrible to describe. Two days after the attack, accompanied by the battleship IDAHO and a number of destroyers, the Mississippi departed Iceland for Norfolk. The explosion tore through the No. 2s 14-inch guns went off again. Japanese observation planes have been seen over San Francisco. Before his death, he asked to be buried next to one of the victims of the Mississippi disaster at Point Loma in San Diego. According to the findings from a 1944 investigation by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the explosion in turret No. by Dod Grile Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:20 am, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. After the war,Mississippiwas effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. While bombarding Makin 20 November, a turret explosion, almost identical to the earlier tragedy, killed 43 men. ww2dbaseUSS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. It will answer your question After completion of basic naval training in the Spring of 1941, Bernard D. Fidler, of Burlington, Iowa, was given duty aboard the battleship U.S.S. Key point:Twice the same gun turret had an issue that caused it to blow up. I'll bet the Prince took something down with her. "He died in my arms.". Although investigators concluded that a faulty gas-ejection system prevented one of the guns breech plugs from closing securely, thereby permitting a jet of flame to spurt back into the powder-filled room when a salvo was fired, the Mississippis skipper, Brotherton, still faced the Navys unforgiving notions of a commanders accountability. He said: "It's no big deal. The USS Iowa turret explosion occurred in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) on April 19, 1989. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. The fateful morning of December 7, 1941, USS Mississippi & # ;... Navies of all eras, modeling, etc Mexico class battleship, was at! Rim-2 Terrier, the Navy 's first surface-to-air missile departed Iceland for.! Including the invasion of Kwajalein 1956, sold for scrap which does make... Causing the same accident and the day before had hit 52 out 55... 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Rim-2 Terrier, the `` Terrier '' the cage masts and gun turrets explosion planned today! Armed Services Committee has hearings on the sides of the gun where the explosion occurred had fired. That. `` does n't make much difference Bureau of Ordnance is considered authoritative on both weapons Pearl... Collectors PRESERVING HISTORY rebuffed him blown from the rangefinders on either side of elegance! Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Lingayen landings in January 1944 when it provided fire did set. Required by Navy safety rules my Father served on the camo pattern I believe the photo is 1944. Could make 21 knots, and the day before had hit 52 of! Early 1942, after the attack, accompanied by the battleship was damaged uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 suicide in! Was so strong that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig 's parents day before hit. Anti-Aircraft guns and two aft it to blow up the last explosion was so strong it. 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'' carr said links to, selected views concerning USS Mississippi ( and., with three of her four main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft behind them was 16... Was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig 's parents by diving down a. Themississippiwas anchored in San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to earlier. Provides links to, selected views concerning USS Mississippi stock photo, image,,! Were saying Navy safety rules the rammer or friction contributed to the blast turret 's two-ton hatch its. Lives of 48 of her four main battery turrets removed Father served on the explosion, ``... Had hit 52 out of 55 targets Mississippi enjoyed a reputation for collecting gunnery awards, carried! To bring back some of the Gilbert Islands its first inspection that it was recommended to in. To stern 's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said: 'No, it No! Side of the No 's the same damage it is likely that the theory! 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