The MISSISSIPPI was once again with the Pacific Fleet. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while the Mississippi was anchored in San Pedro Bay. Navy officials said this week the report on the Mississippi was authentic, but pointed out that it was later overruled by higher-ranking investigators. he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. 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. Mississippiwas instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of theConvair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. 2 turrets periscope holes, even as the ships other guns continued firing. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. After having sent almost 100 sailors to their deaths in two separate explosions, the 39-year-old Mississippi was scrapped in 1956. 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. 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, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. 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. Forty-eight men died of asphyxiation as a result of the explosion. They have been throwing torpedoes at us for the past four months. 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 . by tommy303 Fri Apr 04, 2014 5:30 pm, Post * November 1943: The battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. 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. Lt. Zellars' body had already been sent to Georgia for burial. 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. See attached. 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 was instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of the Convair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. She arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in June but soon shifted her base to Newport, Rhode Island. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. Naval officers in dress uniforms stood in front as 1200 sailors in dress blues stood on the sides of the coffins. This first appeared in 2019. Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. The turret explosion was captured by a camera mounted in one of the USS Iowa's towers. Shortly after midnight October 1, NEWPORT NEWS commenced a gunfire support mission from her station off the South Viet Nam coast against NVA troops and bunker positions in the vicinity of Quang Tri City. -23), the erstwhile Normandie, pride of the Compagnie . He already had policies that named his parents and another friend as beneficiaries. I was on active duty at that time. Caviezel and Robert McAvin, escaped, by diving down through a 40-foot hatchway that closed automatically behind them. 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. Iowa. "USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG . She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. While at Navy Federal, bankers told Hartwig that buying an extra life insurance policy would only cost $4 per month. Thank you. We'll see. 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. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. Forty-seven sailors in the turret died in the blast and ensuing fire. 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. Nearly twenty yearsand a major refit laterthe USSMississippiwent to war in the Pacific. 1943 - 1943: 9: My father, A.A. Frye was an anti-aircraft gunner's mate on the starboard side. . "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. The Navy Bureau of Ordnance is considered authoritative on both weapons. The yard long is dated 1942. Then No. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. 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). During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. 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. 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. 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 recoil severely crushed ten men inside and the salvo narrowly missed an outgoing passenger vessel. Seconds before Turret No. They are considered buried at sea by the US Navy. 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. The military looks for scapegoats when people die rather than admit their mistakes or acknowledge that accidents are even possible, Truitt said. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. After the war, Mississippi was effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. 138 killed and 60 injured. The Oklahoma capsizing is straight dope. 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. Here is a series of six photos of the funeral Where was the Missy Dec 7, 1941? Although the worst loss of life in peace time, the turret explosion aboard Iowa in 1989 is tied with the 1942 explosion in the No. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. 12 June 1924" "USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. 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. On June 12, 1924, there was an explosion in the USS Mississippi's No. 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. He is buried in St Mary's cemetery in Pittsburgh PA. As the rammer was withdrawn, there emerged from the breech a small grayish ball of smoke and flame followed by a large flash. 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. 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 USS Mississippi was commissioned into service. (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. 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. A news report about the USS Iowa gun turret explosion in 1989. It was one of the worst disasters suffered by the Navy during peacetime. 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. -November 1943, the battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. Later, the Navy would honor Zellars by naming a destroyer after him. USS Mississippi arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an overhaul. by paul.mercer Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:29 pm, Post Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. Only the turret officers can be identified. Carr was wearing headphones that allowed him to hear what the crews in the other turrets were saying. 2 was set to fire its trio of 16-inch guns, an explosion ripped through it, killing 47 sailors. 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. July 29, 2009 in EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS & MILITARY ARTWORK. Unfortunately, Fidler never made any other entries although he served aboard the MISSISSIPPI until March 1943. Mississippi sustained a turret explosion that killed 43 people. Warships, naval battles, technology, weapons, navies of all eras, modeling, etc. Iowa. The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. On June 12, 1924,Mississippifound herselfoff the coast of California conducting gun trials. 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. All others are marked with an "X.". USS Mississippi was decommissioned from service. The closing of the hatch sealed the fate of any others who might have survived the blast, trapping them in the toxic, flaming gas cloud created by the explosion. They are thick, alright. If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know thanks. April 20, 1989. Published April 02, 2018 09:40:36. 2 turret. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. Destroyers report there are six subs in back of us. The Americans have bombed Tokio and our bombers have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the bottom. The U.S.A. is now at war with Germany, Japan, and Italy. 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 . Initially this had been the area of a flag and platform for ceremonies and visits to the site from 1950-1960. His career ruined, Brotherton spent his last years a broken man. This need not have happened. The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . Forty-two sailors were killed and another sixteen wounded. RSS. The main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft. The investigation's findings, contained in a formerly classified document, said that the friction theory was still valid. Leaving Norfolk in early January 1942, she then transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco Harbor two weeks later. An explosion in the No. At first, because of the fumes, it was impossible to reach any of the men, even with masks and oxygen tanks. Team Mighty. 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. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. "I just thought they had some really strange questions for what I assumed was an honest attempt at an investigation.". 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. "We did not accuse Kendall Truitt of anything in the investigation or the other gent," Kelso said. 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. The last explosion was so strong that it blew the turret's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said. US Battleship Turret Explosions 1904-1989. 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. His work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Esquire, The National Interest, Car and Driver, Men's Health, and many others. 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. Damaged by suicide planes in both operations was sold for scrapping in of! Initially this had been the area of a flag and platform for ceremonies and visits to the site 1950-1960! 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