The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. Navy officials say technical experts conducted more than 20,000 tests on bags of powder taken from the Iowa last spring, including attempts to create an explosion through friction. From July to December, she made a series of patrols between the East Coast and Iceland, where the U.S. had recently established a base at Hvalfjordur. The ships were simulating a chase, firing only their forward turrets at close range. Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the General Accounting . Initially this had been the area of a flag and platform for ceremonies and visits to the site from 1950-1960. The dope' is out that we are going to the West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth. 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. "We did not accuse Kendall Truitt of anything in the investigation or the other gent," Kelso said. 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. ww2dbaseMississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. Bipartisan. A Marine rifle squad fired three volleys. "I was like: OK; I'll bite; why? My Father served on the USS MISSISSIPPI prior to his being sent to East Africa (NCU-3 Radio Marina in Asmara). July 1999. p. 9. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. The USS Iowa turret explosion occurred in the Number Two 16inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USSIowa(BB61) on 19 April 1989. 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. 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. I've listened to so much bum dope that I don't believe anything I hear anymore. He had instinctively closed the doors to the ammunition hoist and flooded the magazines. 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. 2 turret. 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. Forty-seven sailors in the turret died in the blast and ensuing fire. 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 . She returned to the Pacific in October 1934 to resume her earlier pattern of regular exercises, Fleet Problems and training. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage . Iowa. "USS Mississippi (BB-41) cordite fire in the #2 14-inch gun turret. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. The damaged 33,000-ton dreadnought headed back to port. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. 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. * November 1943: The battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. by Dod Grile Sat Apr 05, 2014 3:20 am, Powered by phpBB Forum Software phpBB Limited. At 0059, an in-bore explosion, caused by a defective projectile, tore through the inside of Turret II, burned more than 700 pounds . 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. His work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Esquire, The National Interest, Car and Driver, Men's Health, and many others. Very informative. . USS Franklin (CV-13) approaches the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 28, 1945. . A photo taken from the bridge captures the explosion of the No. . 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. . USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Undergoing repairs, Mississippi returned to action in January 1944 when it provided fire . Fire in center gun, turret 2. Navy officials said this week the report on the Mississippi was authentic, but pointed out that it was later overruled by higher-ranking investigators. 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. Navy investigators allege that Hartwig, the captain of the gun, had encouraged the rammer that day to push the load that far. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. 12 June 1924" "USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. "They were trying to build up the Navy. Pictured are A and B Turrets of the ' USS Mississippi ' . 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. 12:00 a.m. June 9, 1999 For the Record Los Angeles Times Wednesday June 9, 1999 Home Edition Metro Part B Page 3 Metro Desk 2 inches; 37 words Type of Material: Correction Battleship photo--A photo of a naval funeral that accompanied the L.A. Then and Now column in Sundays Times was incorrectly credited. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Of her complement, 1026 officers and men were killed, including Rear-Admiral Hood. It was one of the worst disasters suffered by the Navy during peacetime. 20 November 1943. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. "He hit me on the shoulder one day, and he's like, 'If I ever die, you're going to be a rich man,'" Truitt recalled. Almost instantly, forty-five men and three officers were dead from asphyxiation. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Australian news report on the USS . 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. This first appeared in 2019. 2. When we're doing a shot with more than three shells, you would stage powder bags inside the powder flats. Was on board 1943-45. . Navy.". Destroyers report there are six subs in back of us. A fiery explosion ripped through a huge gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa yesterday, killing an estimated 47 sailors and injuring an undetermined number of others during a . The exact date and number of casualties were not available. Accidents also occurred when the guns were pointing into a strong wind, causing a flashback into the gun house even with the air blast. 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. "Thus helping Kendall suddenly become a suspect," Truitt said. The MISSISSIPPI was part of the covering force for convoys and lines of communications in the North Atlantic. By Naval officers in dress uniforms stood in front as 1200 sailors in dress blues stood on the sides of the coffins. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. "The gun where the explosion occurred had not fired" that day. Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. Even before the sailors caskets could be shipped to their hometowns, the court of inquiry was underway. 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 . By lofar_dog, September 14, 2016 in Battleship Era he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. Black smoke poured out from the burning No. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. Francis Zacharias was only 16 when he enlisted and used his older brother's birth certificate without his parent's knowledge. 2 was set to fire its trio of 16-inch guns, an explosion ripped through it, killing 47 sailors. The last U.S. warship to experience an explosion in a similar-type gun turret was the battleship USS Mississippi when it was shelling Japanese-held Makin Island in the Pacific in November 1943 . However, what he writes on December 10 and 11, 1941, tells the story well. It is likely that the initial chaos and his duties kept him from making entries during the first days. 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. Carr was eventually able to climb into the wrecked turret. But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. 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. Today her name lives on in theVirginiaclass nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). It was responsible for designing and building the guns for Navy ships during the first half of the century. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. Mississippiwas instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of theConvair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. Also served on USS TENNESSEE, USS KULA GULF (CVE108) and USS FRANK FRIDAY FLETCHER. Your uncle is the last named MISSISSIPPI sailor. In the years since the blast, Carr has surmised what might have happened. The MISSISSIPPI and her sister ships of Battleship Division Three represented most of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy. 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