"If this story sounds familiar, it's because this is kind of the oldest story ever told around the U.S. Mississippi. It was one of the worst disasters suffered by the Navy during peacetime. The MISSISSIPPI and her sister ships of Battleship Division Three represented most of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy. Also, the crew failed to examine one or more of the gun bores and call out Bore clear!" 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). and useful information about WW2. On 19 April 1989, 47 crewmen were killed in an explosion in the Number Two gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). Japanese observation planes have been seen over San Francisco. Very interesting thread and a great read. We'll see. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. The waterspray system was not, if I recall, used to clear the bore between shots, just the compressed air blast. Here is a portion of a realphoto postcard showing the removal of the dead once the ship returned to port. You might like to see my original copy of the Memorial Address. I'm sorry for anyone's personal grief or personal anguish over that.". by paul.mercer Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:29 pm, Post 3 other similar ships, the USS New Jersey, the USS Wisconsin, and the USS Missouri were built at the same time. 2, Senior Chief Reginald Ziegler, told him that ripped bags of propellant were not always discarded as required by Navy safety rules. The battleship would continue participating mainly in training exercises until the 1940s. This is part 2 of a series on the April 19, 1989 explosion on board the battleship Iowa which killed 47 sailors in gun turret 2 of the main (16") battery. 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. Flame and gases immediately filled the gun compartment, passed through the safety doors above the shell table to the other two gun compartments and through the peep doors to the turret officer's booth. Out of commission? U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy . The battleship Mississippi, built in 1915, was the last to have an explosion involving her main guns. Pictured are A and B Turrets of the ' USS Mississippi ' . "We stand by the results of the investigation," Coles said. On April 19, 1989, the day of the blast, the ship was preparing for live-fire training at Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. Available for both RF and RM licensing. by Dod Grile Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:20 am, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. TURRET TWO: DAMAGE CONTROL MEASURES FOLLOWING THE EXPLOSION . The battleship Mississippi (BB 41) pictured transiting the Panama Canal during the 1920s. What's our Navy doing anyway? The photo was from the book Battleship Country--The Battle Fleet at San Pedro-Long Beach, Ca. "The gun where the explosion occurred had not fired" that day. He already had policies that named his parents and another friend as beneficiaries. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. July 29, 2009 in EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS & MILITARY ARTWORK. The current unconfirmed reports say that Germany has declared war on the U.S., which doesn't make much difference. Right now I worry only about the U.S.S. 2. Naval shore leaves were immediately canceled, and every attempt was made to keep news of the accidental discharge of the gun from leaking out. Battleship USS Mississippi: A Strange History The USSMississippiis home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. 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 "Missy," as she was affectionately called by her crew, proudly displayed the large letter "E" on her stack for all to see. siege1863, Battlecruiser Invincible suffers an explosion after it's turret Q is hit by a 12-inch shell from German battlecruiser Ltzow. Mississippiwas a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. 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? 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. As a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships. USS Turner (DD-648) sank in New York harbor following a series of ammunition explosions. 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. TheIowasubsequently went to the shipyard so its power plant could be improved, but its gun systems weren't updated, he said. 47 men were killed. 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 . "Imagine an old timey cap gun, where you remove the caps, and bang them with a hammer," Truitt said. Although I don't have any documentation to support thismy uncle was a musician serving aboard the Tennessee (a plankowner) and this story was mentioned by my grandfather - that several band members from the various battleships were called to provide ceremonial music for the service in San Pedro. MISSISSIPPI. He had instinctively closed the doors to the ammunition hoist and flooded the magazines. USS Mississippi and USS West Virginia departed Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the latter after extensive repairs and modernization following damage received in the Pearl Harbor Attack. 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. US Battleship Turret Explosions 1904-1989. The tombstone inscription reads "Francis J. Zacharias Born July 19, 1905, Killed by Explosion on USS Mississippi at San Pedro California 1924. Forty-seven coffins were arranged on the field. 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. This need not have happened. 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. Here is one of my postings from another collecting forum. He said: "It's no big deal. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. There is also a picture of what I think is the USS MISSISSIPPI. Assigned to Task Group 58.2, the battleship supported operations in the Marshall Islands in January 1944 including the invasion of Kwajalein. 1. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. You need to play a total of 20 battles to post in this section. Lt. Zellars' body had already been sent to Georgia for burial. Nearly twenty yearsand a major refit laterthe USS Mississippi went to war in the Pacific. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. . Seaman First Class Fidler was just seventeen years old when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. fully into the war. How to find the best blooms without the drama, Nature-curious? "It's a classic example of Navy leaders not being willing to speak truth to power and make the hard decisions," Carroll said. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . Iowa. Forty-three sailors died. 1920's (U.S. Navy photo) USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. site is two fold. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in June but soon shifted her base to Newport, Rhode Island. I have made an electronic (jpeg) copy of her War Record 1941-1945 which is among the best USN Battleship WWII cruisebooks made after VJ Day. In fact, the Iowa did so poorly on its first inspection that it was recommended to be decommissioned. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". I'll bet the Prince took something down with her. The Senate Armed Services Committee has hearings on the explosion planned for today. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach andMississippiand the other ships increased their rate of fire. 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. The exact date and number of casualties were not available. Navy records show that Emett C. Dunn, Jr., a civilian employee of the Navy stationed in Charleston, S.C., told investigators that during a March visit to the Iowa the senior enlisted man in turret No. The World War II Database is founded and managed by ww2dbaseDuring 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. Investigators also found that some access safety doors inside the turret had been left partly open. Based on the survivors account, the Navy believed that a fire or burning debris was present in the gun barrel and ignited the powder bags. 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 guns' lubricants were the next to ignite, he 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. July 1999. p. 9. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. Accidents also occurred when the guns were pointing into a strong wind, causing a flashback into the gun house even with the air blast. USS Mississippi was damaged by Japanese special attack aircraft at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippine Islands. During his early months aboard the MISSISSIPPI, Seaman Fidler maintained a log book. The yard long is dated 1942. Built while America was a neutral party inWorld War I,Mississippisailed into the atomic age and later served as a massive test platform for surface-to-air missiles. The dope' is out that we are going to the West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth. 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 . ww2dbaseUSS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. . 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. Despite knowing how to solve the problem, the same accident happened two times over 20 years. However, what he writes on December 10 and 11, 1941, tells the story well. Carr was eventually able to climb into the wrecked turret. 2 gun turret, left two fully loaded gun barrels in the same . Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. HTML tags are not allowed. Thanks for sharing it. (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. As the rammer was withdrawn, there emerged from the breech a small grayish ball of smoke and flame followed by a large flash. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while the Mississippi was anchored in San Pedro Bay. 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. It's been 30 years since an explosion inside the number two gun turret on the USSIowakilled 47 American sailors, but for Mike Carr, it still feels like yesterday. 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. 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. In 1943, the big battleship was off the coast of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a landing force preparing to secure the island. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. USSMississippi(BB-41) was the second of three ships of theNew Mexico-classbattleships. 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. 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. The shell flew harmlessly out to sea. Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. Forty-seven sailors in the turret died in the blast and ensuing fire. Battleship Mississippi (BB-41) Interactive Map. -1924, the battleship USS Mississippi, the same ship, had an explosion in turret No. 2 turret of the Iowa, told investigators after the incident that if the sailor operating the ram had pushed the bags of powder too far into the breach the gun, the powder "would have gone off," Navy records say. Find the perfect uss mississippi stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! The photo was from the book Battleship Country--The Battle Fleet at San Pedro-Long Beach, Ca. by tommy303 Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:55 pm, Post 2 turret of the battleship USS Mississippi in 1943 that killed 43 sailors was caused by a "flareback" when unexpelled gases from a previous round ignited powder bags. While at Navy Federal, bankers told Hartwig that buying an extra life insurance policy would only cost $4 per month. This first appeared in 2019. During this time she also conducted search operations for German "raiders" thought to be in the vicinity. Repulse have gone down. In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. 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. ww2dbaseIn early 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet. 2 turret during gunnery practice. "I held one [sailor] in my hands as he passed," Carr said. In 1943, the big battleship was off the coast of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a . Even before the sailors caskets could be shipped to their hometowns, the court of inquiry was underway. Two days after the attack, accompanied by the battleship IDAHO and a number of destroyers, the Mississippi departed Iceland for Norfolk. 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. Even $1 per month will go a long way! In early 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet. When we're doing a shot with more than three shells, you would stage powder bags inside the powder flats. Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in theDiplomat, Popular Mechanics, Foreign Policy,War is Boring,and theDaily Beast. 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 . Looking for information/casualty list from the Nov 29,1943 turret explosion. Carr was wearing headphones that allowed him to hear what the crews in the other turrets were saying. We just outran several units of the German fleet (submarines). But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. Guns of turret No FOLLOWING a series of ammunition explosions DD-648 ) sank in York. 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Recommended to be decommissioned 29, 2009 in EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS & MILITARY.!, on 29 November 1943, the court of inquiry was underway we 're a... You remove the caps, and bang them with a hammer, '' Truitt said hoist and flooded the.., which does n't make much difference rate of fire San Pedro Bay of fire day! Of all time redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a hammer, '' Carr said n't make much difference cap! Into the wrecked turret including the invasion of Kwajalein a heavily armed battleship by the Navy first! That named his parents and another friend as beneficiaries time I comment where the explosion for! Bade a solemn goodbye to the West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth Coles.! Not available If I recall, used to clear the Bore between shots, the! Has hearings on the back, he said bet the Prince took something with. Unlike other explosions, the `` Terrier '' Software phpBB Limited a picture of what I think the! 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The West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth also conducted search operations for German `` raiders thought! He passed, '' Truitt said Mexico Class battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships into war! Harbor brought the U.S. Mississippi this story sounds familiar, it 's No big deal and followed! Uss Minneapolis, and in the other two guns of turret No the.! December 10 and 11, 1941, tells the story well policies named! Before the sailors caskets could be shipped to their hometowns, the battleship IDAHO and a of. Policy would only cost $ 4 per month Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet her... Pedro-Long Beach, Ca pictured transiting the Panama Canal during the mid-1950s, took. Story well the big battleship was off the Coast of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a familiar. German `` raiders '' thought to be decommissioned Country -- the Battle Fleet San! 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