The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I'll bet the Prince took something down with her. Because there were still unfired rounds in the other two guns of Turret No. The next shell was rammed into the gun and the four powder bags on the spanner tray were rammed into place behind it. He passed away in 2010. Debris from firing the big guns had again ignited powder bags, causing the same accident and the same damage. The commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Iowa, Feb. 22, 1943. Accidents also occurred when the guns were pointing into a strong wind, causing a flashback into the gun house even with the air blast. The photo was from the book Battleship Country--The Battle Fleet at San Pedro-Long Beach, Ca. Note, however, he is identified as Frederick. Post Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. Undergoing repairs, Mississippi returned to action in January 1944 when it provided fire . After taking the remainder of 1943 to complete shakedown and training activities, New Jersey then transited the Panama Canal and reported for combat operations at Funafuti in the Pacific. 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. 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. . 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. Ward Carroll, a naval aviator who was a spokesman for the Naval Safety Center at the time. * November 1943: The battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. 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 . Assigned to USS IOWA Commissioning Crew on 22 February 1943. The firing rocked the whole harbor district, shattering windows and critically injuring four men who were caught behind the recoiling gun. The USS Iowa turret explosion occurred in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) on April 19, 1989. Mississippi was instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of the Convair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. In June 1941, USS Mississippi patrolled the North Atlantic. (Photo: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection) . Thanks for sharing it. Before his death, he asked to be buried next to one of the victims of the Mississippi disaster at Point Loma in San Diego. 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. She was commissioned in December 1917, and operated in the western Atlantic area . Mississippi was a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. After the war, Mississippi was effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. This need not have happened. "They knew more about guns than everybody else in the Navy put together.". 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. An explosion in the No. Forty-three sailors died. 1943 - 1943: 9: My father, A.A. Frye was an anti-aircraft gunner's mate on the starboard side. Navy.". 12 June 1924" "USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. Hartwig's father had seen combat in the Navy as a gunner's mate, Truitt said. Brotherton knew something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No. The Mississippi enjoyed a reputation for collecting gunnery awards, and the day before had hit 52 out of 55 targets. 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. 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. The USS Iowa turret explosion occurred in the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) on 19 April 1989.The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. He is buried in St Mary's cemetery in Pittsburgh PA. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. 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. He said the owners told him that the yard long was the crew of the ship but I figure that it contains the sailor that was assigned to the ship pictured. 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 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. On April 19, 1989, the day of the blast, the ship was preparing for live-fire training at Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. The Navy' s Investigation Only the turret officers can be identified. The accident has been a major influence on my life. July 29, 2009 in EPHEMERA, PHOTOGRAPHS & MILITARY ARTWORK. Flash! On May 12, 1989, Capt. USS Ammen sustained a glancing blow from a Yokosuka P1Y 'Francis' that caused considerable topside damage and killed 5 men. While removing the bodies from the turret, the hand of a dead officer brushed against a switch causing the left gun to fire. "This is essentially what happened. Destroyers report there are six subs in back of us. 24 were killed. The ships were simulating a chase, firing only their forward turrets at close range. The heat of the explosion was so great that it welded two of the massive steel turret doors shut. The following video remembers those. Despite there being only two pages, we should consider ourselves fortunate to have them. The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching. Find the perfect uss mississippi stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. US Navy battleship USS Mississippi in Hampton Roads, Virginia, June 4, 1927. 20 November 1943. 13 June 1924 US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY turret II as the crew loaded the gun. "The sad thing is I understand what they were doing and why they were doing it," Truitt told Task & Purpose. By Despite her forty years of service,Mississippiwas bound to tragedy, experiencing two major accidents in the same turret, in the same gun, twenty years apart. Then-Navy Secretary John Lehman fell in love with the idea of using battleships to build strike groups, easing the strain on aircraft carriers, according to retired Cmdr. On June 12, 1924, there was an explosion in the USS Mississippi's No. Forty - six deaths are reported to have resulted through an explosion on the U S battleship , ' USS Mississippi ' off San Pedro . 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. 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. 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. The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. The accident occurred when rescuers were removing the body of the gun pointer, who was found sitting at his post with his finger still on the trigger. "USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG . On 19 April 1989, 47 crewmen were killed in an explosion in the Number Two gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). At the time of her commissioning in 1943, the USS Iowa was one of the world's most formidable war machines. and useful information about WW2. The Navy's initial investigation also found that sailors aboard the Iowa had decided to experiment with using five bags filled with an unauthorized type of gun power for the test shoot when the explosion occurred, an August 1991 Government Accountability Office report found. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. The Ironclad & Pre-dreadnought Era (1860-1905), Movies, Films, Documentaries and Games. siege1863, All others are marked with an "X.". 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. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. Even before the sailors caskets could be shipped to their hometowns, the court of inquiry was underway. Forty-eight sailors were killed, and only one of the sailors manning the turret survived. 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. Island Hopping . 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. The MISSISSIPPI was once again with the Pacific Fleet. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. USS Mississippi (BB-41/AG-128), the second of three members of the New Mexico class of battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state.The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching in January 1917, and her commissioning in December that year. Bipartisan. by tommy303 Thu Apr 03, 2014 11:55 pm, Post Seaman First Class Fidler was just seventeen years old when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. fully into the war. German dive bombers would sink both ships in the spring of 1941. "Imagine an old timey cap gun, where you remove the caps, and bang them with a hammer," Truitt said. Nearly twenty yearsand a major refit laterthe USSMississippiwent to war in the Pacific. Second, it is to showcase ww2dbaseDuring 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. 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. Available for both RF and RM licensing. After the war,Mississippiwas effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. 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. Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. 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. 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. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. USS Franklin (CV-13) approaches the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 28, 1945. . I said, again, this is weird. Key point:Twice the same gun turret had an issue that caused it to blow up. 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. Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. 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. 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