Thanks for sharing it. The World War II Database is founded and managed by Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Lingayen landings in January 1945 and for the conquest of Okinawa in March-June. "They knew more about guns than everybody else in the Navy put together.". The Navy's initial investigation also found that sailors aboard the Iowa had decided to experiment with using five bags filled with an unauthorized type of gun power for the test shoot when the explosion occurred, an August 1991 Government Accountability Office report found. 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. . Required fields are marked *. That investigation continues to attract scrutiny. The accident has been a major influence on my life. Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. Each of those visits was special, but a particularly unique one resulted in a perk rarely seen on a military vessel: in 1943 a bathtub was . USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . She was armed with a main battery of twelve 14-inch/50 caliber guns mounted in four turrets of three guns each, with each gun mounted in a separate sleeve. They have been throwing torpedoes at us for the past four months. I'll bet the Prince took something down with her. Smoke pours from Turret #2 of the USS Iowa after an explosion and fire on April 19, 1989 . The blast, which killed 47 men on five of the six levels inside the No. Team Mighty. 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. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. 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. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. It doesn't make any difference to the crew, their attitude being the same as six months ago, except that boys talk more about the Japs than the Germans. Published April 02, 2018 09:40:36. Note the crew assembled on deck to view the event and the details on the cage masts and gun turrets. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". The explosion tore through the No. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. Mississippi was a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. 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. Mississippi steamed to Australia on a U.S. Fleet good will tour in mid-1925. Today her name lives on in the Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching. It's possible that the powder bags began to smoke because they were old, so the gun captain rammed the bags with too much power. 2 turret aboard the battleship Mississippi, which also claimed 47 lives. 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. 20 November 1943. USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG-128), 1917-1956, DANFS - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Permitting Policy and Resource Management, The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: 20 Years Later, "Ex Scientia Tridens": The U.S. 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. On December 9, 1941 Japanese forces occupied Makin Island. U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy . Returning to Pearl Harbor in March 1943, . siege1863, The dope' is out that we are going to the West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth. -November 1943, the battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. The firing rocked the whole harbor district, shattering windows and critically injuring four men who were caught behind the recoiling gun. USS Mississippi was decommissioned from service. At roughly one horsepower per ton, she was not terribly fast, with a top speed of just twenty-one knots. Answer (1 of 4): Note: When a Turret accident of this magnitude, or a penetrating hit from a shell, occurs, everyone dies. The tombstone inscription reads "Francis J. Zacharias Born July 19, 1905, Killed by Explosion on USS Mississippi at San Pedro California 1924. At the time, sailors in his father's division all took out life insurance policies on each other. Hartwig who died in the blast had planted a bomb in the gun. After the war, Mississippi was effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. I think it was a terrible, terrific tragedy that we had. 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. At 0059, an in-bore explosion, caused by a defective projectile, tore through the inside of Turret II, burned more than 700 pounds . USS Mississippi was damaged by Japanese special attack aircraft at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands. The yard long is dated 1942. 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. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. She was bombed from the air. The right gun had just fired and was returned to loading position and the plug opened. 2 gun turret, left two fully loaded gun barrels in the same . "The gun where the explosion occurred had not fired" that day. MISSISSIPPI. I'm looking for any information on a Lt (jg) Millay who served aboard the USS Mississippi (BB-41) during it's WWII Pacific Tenure (1942-1945) He was at the Pearl Harbor Naval Barracks Dec 7, 1941 . 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. Gunners mate Kendall L. Truitt, one of the 12 sailors who escaped the No. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. "I held one [sailor] in my hands as he passed," Carr said. "We did not accuse Kendall Truitt of anything in the investigation or the other gent," Kelso said. In this part I will briefly describe . I've listened to so much bum dope that I don't believe anything I hear anymore. "I just thought they had some really strange questions for what I assumed was an honest attempt at an investigation.". During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . 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. 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. Two major investigations were underta The New 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. USSMississippi(BB-41) was the second of three ships of theNew Mexico-classbattleships. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. 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. 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. Then No. 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 . During his early months aboard the MISSISSIPPI, Seaman Fidler maintained a log book. He is the founder and editor for the blogs Japan Security Watch, Asia Security Watch and War Is Boring. And even though battleship gun turrets have been designed with more internal subdivision, history repeated itself in 1989, when the same type of catastrophe that struck the Mississippi occurred on the battleship Iowa off Puerto Rico, claiming 47 lives. My uncle died in 1937 from TB (he contracted while on active duty) so the story was told to me by his brother (my grandfather). (Photo: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection) . he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. All others are marked with an "X.". The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Fransisco. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. They are thick, alright. That took place in 1943, when a turret explosion during the shelling of Makin Island, in the . Funeral services were held June 17 on Trona Field at San Pedro. Despite her forty years of service,Mississippiwas bound to tragedy, experiencing two major accidents in the same turret, in the same gun, twenty years apart. 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. What's our Navy doing anyway? Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. The ceremony was held at San Pedro, California on 17 June 1924. 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. and useful information about WW2. Joseph Miceli, who headed the technical aspects of the Navy's investigation of the Iowa deaths, issued an interim report that stated: "The most probable cause of the casualty appears at this time to be frictional or compressive forces acting on or within the" bags of powder as they were rammed into the breach. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! Out of commission? During 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. Initially this had been the area of a flag and platform for ceremonies and visits to the site from 1950-1960. The last shell and charge was removed the next day. 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. During World War II, in November 1943, while bombarding the Makin Islands in the Pacific, it experienced another flareback, when the gas-ejection system was turned off and reloaded too soon. "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! . Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. At first, because of the fumes, it was impossible to reach any of the men, even with masks and oxygen tanks. In fact, the Iowa did so poorly on its first inspection that it was recommended to be decommissioned. Right now I worry only about the U.S.S. The military looks for scapegoats when people die rather than admit their mistakes or acknowledge that accidents are even possible, Truitt said. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. US Navy battleship USS Mississippi in Hampton Roads, Virginia, June 4, 1927. BB-41 suffered another turret explosion killing 43 men 20 November 1943 off Makin Island. They also repeated assurances that friction or other accidental means did not cause the Iowa deaths. In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. Ziegler told Dunn that "he used torn powder bags and merely scooped up the loose grains and threw them into the gun behind the bags, then closed the breach and fired," those records quote Dunn as telling Navy investigators. 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. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War. The USS Mississippi is home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. German dive bombers would sink both ships in the spring of 1941. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. "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. Francis Zacharias was only 16 when he enlisted and used his older brother's birth certificate without his parent's knowledge. Later, the Navy would honor Zellars by naming a destroyer after him. 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. --another violation of regulations. "He died in my arms.". Forty-three sailors died. Incredibly it had happened again: in their haste to lay down a rain of shells on the Japanese, the gunners of number two turret had apparently experienced yet another flare back. Black smoke poured out from the burning No. 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. 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. I still think we will make it without any casualties.". 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. 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. "Cover-up aboard the USS Iowa" (PDF). Incredibly it had happened again: in their haste to lay down a rain of shells on the Japanese, the gunners of number two turret had apparently experienced yet another flare back. Brotherton knew something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No. Article on accident here. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in June but soon shifted her base to Newport, Rhode Island. Don't worry about collecting. Carr was wearing headphones that allowed him to hear what the crews in the other turrets were saying. In these tests, Navy technicians simulated conditions in the center gun at the time of the accident, including ramming the 110-pound bags of powder 21-inches further into the barrel than normal. Assigned to USS IOWA Commissioning Crew on 22 February 1943. 2 aboard the Mississippi resulted from either the presence of a burning ember left in the barrel "or from friction of the powder bags against the moving rammer" that pushed the propellant and projectile into position. 47 men were killed. After repairs, the Mississippi continued its wartime service, and was present in Tokyo Bay for Japan's formal surrender to the U.S. on Sept. 2, 1945. . 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. Sounding the fire alarm, Brotherton shouted orders to cut electric power, flood the magazines and stop the ship. "We all knew each other rather intimately.". The goal of this The crew members in the upper chambers of the massive gun turret aboard the USS Iowa were killed by the explosion and fire while sailors working several levels below suffocated when the blast sucked all the oxygen from their chambers, Navy officials said Friday. by tommy303 Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:55 pm, Post You're 19, I'm 23, it's going to be a while.' He passed away in 2010. RSS. 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. 3 other similar ships, the USS New Jersey, the USS Wisconsin, and the USS Missouri were built at the same time. Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while theMississippiwas anchored in San Pedro Bay. Bipartisan. 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