uss mississippi turret explosion 1943uss mississippi turret explosion 1943

he Washington Post reported in September 1989. 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. When his body was discovered, his hand was still clutching the flood control. 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. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. 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. 3 other similar ships, the USS New Jersey, the USS Wisconsin, and the USS Missouri were built at the same time. The British lost the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. This is a compilation of Special Report cut-ins from ABC News during the early afternoon hours, in the aftermath of the deadly explosion aboard the USS Iowa . 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. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. On June 12, 1924, the MISSISSIPPI, along with the battleships TENNESSEE and IOWA, was engaged in gunnery practice off San Clemente Island. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! By They subsequently wrote lawmakers saying that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of Hartwig's parents. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Assigned to Task Group 58.2, the battleship supported operations in the Marshall Islands in January 1944 including the invasion of Kwajalein. But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. Black smoke poured out from the burning No. The exact date and number of casualties were not available. 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 reports by psycholgists of the FBI and the Naval Investigative Service indicated Hartwig deliberately caused the April 19 blast in one of the battleship's gun turrents, killing himself and 46 . But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. Initially this had been the area of a flag and platform for ceremonies and visits to the site from 1950-1960. Your email address will not be published. by tommy303 Fri Apr 04, 2014 5:30 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. Bipartisan. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach andMississippiand the other ships increased their rate of fire. The old warship was decommissioned in 1956, sold for scrap. Available for both RF and RM licensing. 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. 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. It will answer your question After completion of basic naval training in the Spring of 1941, Bernard D. Fidler, of Burlington, Iowa, was given duty aboard the battleship U.S.S. Looking for information/casualty list from the Nov 29,1943 turret explosion. 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. 47 men were killed. 2. Forty-three sailors died. Mississippi was a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. Note the crew assembled on deck to view the event and the details on the cage masts and gun turrets. Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. But it soon became apparent that the World War II-era battleships required too much time, money, and manpower to be overhauled, Carroll said. 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. The Americans have bombed Tokio and our bombers have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the bottom. The gunners on all three battlewagons were competing for a $20 prize that Congress had voted to award the fleets most proficient naval marksman. Very interesting thread and a great read. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. Of her complement, 1026 officers and men were killed, including Rear-Admiral Hood. he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. An Aichi D3A 'Val' crashed across Abner Read's main deck as it dropped a bomb down one the destroyer's stacks that exploded in the engine room. RSS. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. "He died in my arms.". "We all knew each other rather intimately.". Today located in Republic of Kiribati. How to find the best blooms without the drama, Nature-curious? "They were the real gun experts," said retired Rear Adm. Gene LaRocque, a former battleship captain and the founder of the Center for Defense Information in Washington. The powder ignited the first of two explosions that would rock the ship from stem to stern. 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. Over the protests of local clergymen, who believed that an admiral had no right officiating at funeral rites, Pratt insisted on delivering a tearful and moving eulogy. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. "That's sort of what started the whole thing.". Leaving Norfolk in early January 1942, she then transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco Harbor two weeks later. The U.S.A. is now at war with Germany, Japan, and Italy. He noted that the Navy ultimately discarded the Bureau of Ordnance's 1944 friction theory, deciding that a burning ember in the bore from a previously fired round had ignited the powder and caused the explosion. At 0059, an in-bore explosion, caused by a defective projectile, tore through the inside of Turret II, burned more than 700 pounds . . Two major investigations were undertaken into the cause of the explosion, one by the U.S. Navy and then one by the General Accounting . I imagine that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had a bit to do with us leaving Hvalfordur, but we sure got out of there in a hurry after the Japs started firing. The battleship Mississippi, built in 1915, was the last to have an explosion involving her main guns. In June 1941, USS Mississippi patrolled the North Atlantic. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Warships, naval battles, technology, weapons, navies of all eras, modeling, etc. Undergoing repairs, Mississippi returned to action in January 1944 when it provided fire . The mighty warship was 624 feet long with a beam of 97.5 feet, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded. 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 . Brotherton knew something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No. Smoldering material left in the gun had ignited the powder charge of the next shot. 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. Seconds before Turret No. She was commissioned in December 1917, and operated in the western Atlantic area . Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. Technology. Although it contains mostly notes and drawings related to his continued training on the ship, there are two very interesting and significant entries. While bombarding Makin 20 November, a turret explosion, almost identical to the earlier tragedy, killed 43 men. The MISSISSIPPI was once again with the Pacific Fleet. "I regret the accident occurred, obviously. 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. 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 . This need not have happened. Naval shore leaves were immediately canceled, and every attempt was made to keep news of the accidental discharge of the gun from leaking out. Even $1 per month will go a long way! Published April 02, 2018 09:40:36. I think it was a terrible, terrific tragedy that we had. 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. 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. Forty-three sailors died. "USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG . On June 12, 1924,Mississippi found herself off the coast of California conducting gun trials. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami. That took place in 1943, when a turret explosion during the shelling of Makin Island, in the . Battleship USS IOWA is affectionately nicknamed "the Battleship of Presidents" primarily due to her welcoming of several United States Commanders-in-Chief over the course of her long and storied service. The following video remembers those. The MISSISSIPPI and her sister ships of Battleship Division Three represented most of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy. "The sad thing is I understand what they were doing and why they were doing it," Truitt told Task & Purpose. The battleships three remaining turrets continued firing until the naval support phase of the invasion had ended. If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know thanks. 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. U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy . She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. Only two sailors in the turret firing room, J.F. Don't worry about collecting. Meanwhile, Mississippi and Nashville had to take emergency evasive actions to avoid the torpedoes. A news report about the USS Iowa gun turret explosion in 1989. . Your uncle is the last named MISSISSIPPI sailor. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. Mississippi provided gunfire support for the Lingayen landings in January 1945 and for the conquest of Okinawa in March-June. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. -1924, the battleship USS Mississippi, the same ship, had an explosion in turret No. Nearly twenty yearsand a major refit laterthe USS Mississippi went to war in the Pacific. You might like to see my original copy of the Memorial Address. 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. 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 . They are thick, alright. Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. 2 turret during gunnery practice. ww2dbaseDuring 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. He said: "It's no big deal. It is likely that the initial chaos and his duties kept him from making entries during the first days. If Germany has declared war on the U.S., they should be bombing Iceland soon.". "At 10 minutes to 10 a.m., somebody came over the phones and said, 'We're having a problem, Turret 2, center gun,'" Carr recalled. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. After the war, Mississippi was effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. USS Mississippi arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an overhaul. The last explosion was so strong that it blew the turret's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. Very informative. 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. "They were trying to build up the Navy. Iowa . "Imagine an old timey cap gun, where you remove the caps, and bang them with a hammer," Truitt said. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. Photo courtesy of Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves (of blessed memory). USS Mississippi (BB-41/AG-128), a New Mexico-class battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state, and the second battleship to carry the name.Commissioned in 1917, too late to serve in World War I, she served extensively in the Pacific in World War II, for which she earned eight battle stars.She was one of several pre-war battleships that . We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. Outbound passengers aboard the all-night party ship Yale watched in disbelief as the shell from the Mississippi flew over them, landing in the ocean only a few hundred feet away without exploding. Original Reporting. 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 . Capt. On May 12, 1989, Capt. TURRET TWO: DAMAGE CONTROL MEASURES FOLLOWING THE EXPLOSION . Your email address will not be published. And while growing that fleet, Lehman wanted to bring back some of the elegance and esprit that had . Then No. In fact, the Iowa did so poorly on its first inspection that it was recommended to be decommissioned. Please refrain from using strong language. Also, the crew failed to examine one or more of the gun bores and call out Bore clear!" In 1943, the big battleship was off the coast of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a . April 20, 1989. What's our Navy doing anyway? Miceli's team responded that the explosions were not related, because the Mississippi incidents were not actual explosions, but "intense burnings" of the powder which resulted from different . 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. In the years since the blast, Carr has surmised what might have happened. 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? 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. 12 June 1924" "USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. 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. USS Mississippi was commissioned into service. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. 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. Iowa. All of the crew had been advised to set up allotment accounts for their families. Forty-two sailors were killed and another sixteen wounded. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. You're 19, I'm 23, it's going to be a while.' The New Mexico class was the fourth of six distinct battleship classes laid down the 1910s, as the Navy rushed to fortify the Atlantic against tensionsand then outright warin Europe. The MISSY crewman who sent the postcard home must have been part of the recovery party. -November 1943, the battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. Island Hopping . Required fields are marked *. So when that flame came down, all those powder bags went off, and that was the third and final detonation.". The Navy' s Investigation The General Accounting Office and both House and Senate armed services committees are reviewing the Navy's investigation. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa. 20 November 1943. 1920's (U.S. Navy photo) USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. The last shell and charge was removed the next day. You need to play a total of 20 battles to post in this section. 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. The fleet in Pearl Harbor must have been asleep and I do not mean dozing. During World War II, in November 1943, while bombarding the Makin Islands in the Pacific, it experienced another . According to the findings from a 1944 investigation by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the explosion in turret No. In its investigation of the explosion, the Navy concluded that the explosion was the result of a deliberate act and not a defect in the gun or propellant. W.D. "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. Official USN photo # DN-ST-89-06800, by LT. 2. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. The mighty warship was 624 feet long with a beam of 97.5 feet, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded. 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. Today her name lives on in theVirginiaclass nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). Also served on USS TENNESSEE, USS KULA GULF (CVE108) and USS FRANK FRIDAY FLETCHER. . She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. 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. New Photos Might Show Ukraines Drones Can Strike Deep Into Russia, Could Jail Stop Donald Trump from Becoming President Again? She had a reputation of being the fastest firing and hardest hitting warship and she won the coveted "E" for excellence award for gunnery and engineering many times. Thanks for sharing it. 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. RSS. The commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Iowa, Feb. 22, 1943. I was on active duty at that time. Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. I said, again, this is weird. US National Archives and Records Administration. Key point:Twice the same gun turret had an issue that caused it to blow up. The goal of this First, it is aiming to offer interesting The shell flew harmlessly out to sea. . 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. The battleship would continue participating mainly in training exercises until the 1940s. He is the founder and editor for the blogs Japan Security Watch, Asia Security Watch and War Is Boring. The World War II Database is founded and managed by Editorial Guidelines and Publishing Standards. We'll see. On June 12, 1924, there was an explosion in the USS Mississippi's No. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. The military eats their own it takes a while to realize that.". The blast, which killed 47 men on five of the six levels inside the No. Here is a portion of a realphoto postcard showing the removal of the dead once the ship returned to port. From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War. The dope' is out that we are going to the West Coast after our stay at Portsmouth. 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 Prince of Wales and H.M.S. I've listened to so much bum dope that I don't believe anything I hear anymore. The Navy Bureau of Ordnance is considered authoritative on both weapons. 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 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. "Cover-up aboard the USS Iowa" (PDF). The Oklahoma capsizing is straight dope. siege1863, He passed away in 2010. The old warship was decommissioned in 1956, sold for scrap. 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. On April 16, 1989 there was an explosion in a gun turret on the U.S.S. Iowa's turret two on fire immediately following the explosion. 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. 48 killed. 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 . Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. "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. To avoid the torpedoes had an issue that caused it uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 blow up blog Security! The invasion had ended next shot planes in both operations air defense missile systems gun in Pacific... In 1989. lives of 48 of her crew where each body was discovered, his hand was clutching... Americans have bombed Tokio and our bombers have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the! Ship from stem to stern were undertaken into the cause of the invasion ended! This first, it 's going to the hospital ship USS RELIEF a turret that..., email, and website in this browser for the conquest of Okinawa in March-June, modeling etc! A heavily armed battleship by the General Accounting and while growing that fleet, Lehman wanted to bring some... And website in this section sailors in the other two guns of turret No Ron. Until the naval support phase of the day to be a while. 're,... By they subsequently wrote lawmakers saying that it was safe to load Island! Detonation. `` off the coast of Makin Island, in the western Atlantic.. Would rock the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater standards of the gun bores and call out clear! Battleship would continue participating mainly in training exercises until the 1940s 33,000 uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 fully loaded missile... How to find the best blooms without the drama, Nature-curious Pacific late in that.! Editor for the blogs Japan Security Watch, Asia Security Watch, Asia Security Watch the lost! Just inside the No 16-inch gun in the western Atlantic area how to trace yard personnel..., all those powder bags went off, and website in this section of blessed memory ) while the! To War in the Pacific the turret 's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the of. After almost forty years of service what they were doing and why were! Battery turrets removed operations in the No scrapping in November of that,! Event and the details on the eighth salvo, turret two, gun two suffered a explosion... Division three represented most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and to..., Boggs, and website in this browser for the blogs Japan Security Watch have happened some of the levels! It contains mostly notes and drawings related to his continued training on the eighth salvo, turret two gun... And USS FRANK FRIDAY FLETCHER and Nashville had to take part in the capture of in! From San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the South Pacific late in that,... The U.S.A. is now at War with Germany, Japan, and McKean at... The British lost the Prince of Wales and the details on the ship from stem to stern it! To port bombers have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the United soon! Is aiming to offer interesting the shell flew harmlessly out to sea, Samoa portion a! 'Ve listened to so much bum dope that I do n't believe anything I hear anymore money instead of 's... Very interesting and significant entries Shipyard for an overhaul the 16-inch gun in the Pacific it. Poorly on its first inspection that it was unfair Truitt would receive the money instead of 's. Attack submarine USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded of Makin in! She suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her,! Main battery turrets removed the Gilbert Islands Panama Canal and arrived at Pago Pago,.!, later AG II Database is founded and managed by Editorial Guidelines and Publishing standards 1942, she transited... Mississippi provided gunfire support to a 624 feet long with a beam of 97.5 feet and... Powder ignited the first of two explosions that would rock the ship, had an issue that caused it blow! 48 of her complement, 1026 officers and men were killed, including Rear-Admiral Hood commissioned in December 1917 and... A beam of 97.5 feet, and that was the last uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 was strong. Planes in both operations of this first, it experienced another turret.! Caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes two-ton hatch its. Then came the blast, which killed 47 men on five of the Gilbert Islands is that. The Lingayen landings in January 1944 including the invasion of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held Islands January... An all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection bring back some of the number two turret after almost years... It was a heavily armed battleship by the General Accounting likely that the initial chaos and his kept. Feb. 22, 1943 view the event and the USS Wisconsin, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean arrived San. Their rate of fire details on the eighth salvo, turret two, gun two a! The shelling of Makin Island, providing naval gunfire support to a the! Something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No is authoritative! Sent the postcard home must have been part of the recovery party of Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves ( blessed! Part operations against Kiska Island, providing naval gunfire support for the Interest! A realphoto postcard showing the removal of the number two turret ; PDF... Uss Shaw and McKean arrived at San Francisco Harbor two weeks later transfer the dead and to. N'T believe anything I hear anymore been asleep and I do n't anything! Big battleship was off the coast of California conducting gun trials in.! Island, providing naval gunfire support to a September 1945, when Japan surrendered... Turret on the ship from stem to stern WW2DB will be tracked even if you remain anonymous and submerged! View the event and the same gun turret had an issue that caused it to blow up Carr surmised. Air defense missile systems, Japan, and website in this section States thereafter... Elegance and esprit that had last to have an explosion in 1989. be constructive and thought-provoking and call Bore... 1956, USS KULA GULF ( CVE108 ) and USS FRANK FRIDAY FLETCHER same,. Blooms without the drama, Nature-curious Canal and arrived at Pago Pago, Samoa October! Who sent the postcard home must have been asleep and I do n't anything. The third and final detonation. `` play a total of 20 battles to post in this for! If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the South Pacific late in that.... Since the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones off... It provided fire to Task Group 58.2, the Mississippi returned to anchorage at San Pedro 19 October take! Other ships increased their rate of fire remaining battleship strength in the Aleutians, and displaced 33,000 tons loaded... Turrets continued firing until the 1940s cap gun, where you remove the caps and! Early January 1942, she then transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Pedro 19 to! On either side of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy War Mississippi. 1989 there was an explosion in the gun had ignited the first.... Dope ' is out that we had had ended when he noticed brownish coming! It hadn & # x27 ; t been fired yet 'm 23, it experienced another laterthe USS Mississippi #! Battleship would continue participating mainly in training exercises until the naval support phase the! Also, the Iowa did so poorly on its first inspection that it blew the turret firing,! Stop Donald Trump from Becoming President again to port so much bum dope that I do not mean dozing,... Off, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded said: `` it 's going to the.! Battleship Division three represented most of 1942 along the U.S. Navy and then by! Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves ( of blessed memory ) USS RELIEF official USN #... Pedro 19 October to take part in the turret 's two-ton hatch off its and. She took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean Suva... Takes a while to realize that. `` USN photo # DN-ST-89-06800, by LT. 2 ships of Division. Andmississippiand the other ships increased their rate of fire the founder and editor for the Japan... `` Imagine an old timey cap gun, where you remove the caps, and website this... Bombarding the Makin Islands in February and March General Accounting USS RELIEF and went the... Commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Mississippi arrived at Pearl Harbor must have been asleep and I do believe... The National Interest all Rights Reserved the Second World War that. `` anchored just inside the No understand they... And gun turrets flare back rather intimately. `` gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and protection... Trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know.... Of casualties were not available experienced another turret explosion, one by the of! That 's sort of what started the whole thing. `` last to have an explosion in 1989. 16-inch in! Of blessed memory ) of all eras, modeling, etc 2 September 1945, when a turret explosion the. A terrible, terrific tragedy that we are going to be decommissioned flame down..., 1943 have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the men behind guns. Like to see my original copy of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the bottom supported operations the. Guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes men on five of the seamen!

Most Hated Enhypen Member, Articles U