See attached. 1. he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. Navy officials said this week the report on the Mississippi was authentic, but pointed out that it was later overruled by higher-ranking investigators. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. 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. Maybe I will get to see Hotel Street after all. We'll see. Class: Allen M. Sumner class destroyer Named for: Reigart Bolivar Lowry Complement: 336 Officers and Enlisted Displacement: 2200 tons Length: 376 feet 6 inches Beam: 40 feet Flank Speed: 34 knots Range: 6500 Nautical Miles Final Disposition:Scrapped October 1996 The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . They subsequently wrote lawmakers saying that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig's parents. 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. USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? US National Archives and Records Administration. Mississippi steamed to Australia on a U.S. Fleet good will tour in mid-1925. The scene inside was too terrible to describe. I heard family stories about my uncle being killed in a turret explosion on the USS Mississippi but I had no details about the events leading to and following the explosion. 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 . The military eats their own it takes a while to realize that.". There's some paper with this group and his hat. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. I served aboad the USS . New Photos Might Show Ukraines Drones Can Strike Deep Into Russia, Could Jail Stop Donald Trump from Becoming President Again? "This is essentially what happened. Photo courtesy of Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves (of blessed memory). The Senate Armed Services Committee has hearings on the explosion planned for today. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. It was also clear that each 16-inch gun turret required more sailors than the Navy could afford to assign. 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. Repulse have gone down. All others are marked with an "X.". First, it is aiming to offer interesting Truitt was in the magazine below the No. 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. After having sent almost 100 sailors to their deaths in two separate explosions, the 39-year-old Mississippi was scrapped in 1956. 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. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. They also repeated assurances that friction or other accidental means did not cause the Iowa deaths. 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. 138 killed and 60 injured. Caviezel and Robert McAvin, escaped, by diving down through a 40-foot hatchway that closed automatically behind them. From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War. 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. On 19 April 1989, the Iowa. As a battleship, the Mississippi was heavily armored to slug it out with enemy ships. The U.S.A. is now at war with Germany, Japan, and Italy. When his body was discovered, his hand was still clutching the flood control. 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. 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, Senior Chief Reginald Ziegler, told him that ripped bags of propellant were not always discarded as required by Navy safety rules. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. 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. The USS Iowa (BB-61) was the lead ship of the last class of battleships built by the U.S. Navy, and was the first of four in that class to be commissioned, on 22 February 1943.Although the Japanese super-battleships Yamato and Musashi were heavier and had larger guns (nine 18.1-inch) the Iowa-class (Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin) were without doubt the most sophisticated . 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. On December 9, 1941 Japanese forces occupied Makin Island. Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. The Senator from Michigan has asked for a Court Martial of leading admirals and in the 14th Naval District. After the explosion, Truitt mentioned the insurance policy in passing to Hartwig's family. Forty-seven coffins were arranged on the field. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. and provides links to, selected views concerning USS Mississippi (BB-41 and AG . 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. In the years since the blast, Carr has surmised what might have happened. The old warship was decommissioned in 1956, sold for scrap. Second, it is to showcase The main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft. "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! 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. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. ww2dbaseUSS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. According to the findings from a 1944 investigation by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the explosion in turret No. 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. Battleship USS Mississippi: A Strange History The USSMississippiis home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. 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. Your email address will not be published. Carr was eventually able to climb into the wrecked turret. The flames and gases had overcome the men so quickly that recovery crews found many of the men still at their positions. Battlecruiser Invincible suffers an explosion after it's turret Q is hit by a 12-inch shell from German battlecruiser Ltzow. W.D. Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. During his early months aboard the MISSISSIPPI, Seaman Fidler maintained a log book. 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. One man who was recognized as a hero of the disaster and credited with saving the ship was the turret captain, Lt. (jg) Thomas E. Zellars. 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. 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. 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. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa. The USS Mississippi is home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. . During 40 years of service, US Navy battleship . . The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. 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. HTML tags are not allowed. According to Truitt, Hartwig first told him about the insurance policy two years before the explosion as the Iowa was preparing for a six-month combat deployment to deter Libya from attacking merchant ships. Displayed at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum Navy Hall in San Pedro is a stone monument dedicated to the men who lost their lives in one of the nations greatest peacetime naval disasters. Get to see Hotel Street after all two suffered a rare flare.... 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