You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. The USS Mississippi is home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. The aging battlewagon had served longer than most ships at the time, but it had also experienced two rare tragedies, in the same place, under similar circumstances. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. 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. Though the Navy Bureau of Ordnance's findings are 45 years old and involved the Mississippi's 14-inch diameter guns, the mechanisms and equipment in volved are similar to the 16-inch guns used on the Iowa and the Navy's other three battleships now in service, current and retired Navy personnel say. 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. U.S. Navy and Royal Australian Navy . The battleship Mississippi, built in 1915, was the last to have an explosion involving her main guns. The shell flew harmlessly out to sea. 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. ww2dbaseMississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while the Mississippi was anchored in San Pedro Bay. 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. We'll see. 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. But unlike other explosions, the 16-inch gun in the No. Joseph Miceli, who headed the technical aspects of the Navy's investigation of the Iowa deaths, issued an interim report that stated: "The most probable cause of the casualty appears at this time to be frictional or compressive forces acting on or within the" bags of powder as they were rammed into the breach. Sandia investigators asked if two similar explosions on the battleship USS Mississippi could be related to the Iowa explosion. When we're doing a shot with more than three shells, you would stage powder bags inside the powder flats. See attached. Ward Carroll, a naval aviator who was a spokesman for the Naval Safety Center at the time. TheNew Mexicoclass 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. Mississippi was converted to a gunnery training and weapons development ship in 1946, and given the new hull number AG-128. "That couldn't have been the case on Iowa," Coles said. The turret explosion was captured by a camera mounted in one of the USS Iowa's towers. "Imagine an old timey cap gun, where you remove the caps, and bang them with a hammer," Truitt said. The MISSISSIPPI and her sister ships of Battleship Division Three represented most of the remaining battleship strength in the U.S. Navy. Fearing that the same might happen with the remaining gun, the captain moved the MISSISSIPPI outside the breakwater. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. 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 spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. 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. Forty-eight sailors were killed, and only one of the sailors manning the turret survived. The waterspray system was not, if I recall, used to clear the bore between shots, just the compressed air blast. The flames and gases had overcome the men so quickly that recovery crews found many of the men still at their positions. Two days after the attack, accompanied by the battleship IDAHO and a number of destroyers, the Mississippi departed Iceland for Norfolk. 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. US National Archives and Records Administration. 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. 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 . From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War. 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 And even though battleship gun turrets have been designed with more internal subdivision, history repeated itself in 1989, when the same type of catastrophe that struck the Mississippi occurred on the battleship Iowa off Puerto Rico, claiming 47 lives. April 20, 1989. 2 gun turret, left two fully loaded gun barrels in the same . 1919-1940, by Harvey M. Beigel. During World War II, in November 1943, while bombarding the Makin Islands in the Pacific, it experienced another . The battleship was damaged by suicide planes in both operations. 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. 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). During 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. "That's sort of what started the whole thing.". Thank you. The 1943 incident was virtually identical, and the Bureau of Ordnance . Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. Leaving Norfolk in early January 1942, she then transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco Harbor two weeks later. 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. Here is a portion of a realphoto postcard showing the removal of the dead once the ship returned to port. The scene inside was too terrible to describe. As a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. The Case of the U.S.S. She also featured twelve 5-inch/51 caliber guns, eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns and two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes. . BB-41 suffered another turret explosion killing 43 men 20 November 1943 off Makin Island. In this part I will briefly describe . ww2dbaseUSS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. For example, Hartwig had not been responsible for loading the gun, as the Navy initially claimed. It was also clear that each 16-inch gun turret required more sailors than the Navy could afford to assign. Find the perfect uss mississippi stock photo, image, vector, illustration or 360 image. 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. MISSISSIPPI. 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 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. Powered by Invision Community, USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-41) 1924 Turret Explosion, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. His career ruined, Brotherton spent his last years a broken man. 24 were killed. This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. Second, it is to showcase 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. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while theMississippiwas anchored in San Pedro Bay. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. She was powered by nine Babcock and Wilcox boilers and her four screws were driven by four Curtis turbines producing a maximum 32,000 horsepower. Mississippi sailed from San Pedro 19 October to take part in the invasion of the Gilbert Islands. Maybe I will get to see Hotel Street after all. It was during this period, when on special training maneuvers, that tragedy struck the ship. On June 12, 1924, the MISSISSIPPI, along with the battleships TENNESSEE and IOWA, was engaged in gunnery practice off San Clemente Island. Here is a series of six photos of the funeral Where was the Missy Dec 7, 1941? By lofar_dog, September 14, 2016 in Battleship Era Later in the year, she was part of the force that invaded Peleliu and Leyte and defeated a Japanese task force in the Battle of Surigao Strait. Several salvos were fired by each ship, but then there was trouble with "Missy's" number two turret. Mississippiwas a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. The last explosion was so strong that it blew the turret's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said. Was on board 1943-45. . . 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. The military eats their own it takes a while to realize that.". During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives. First, it is aiming to offer interesting USSMississippi(BB-41) was the second of three ships of theNew Mexico-classbattleships. 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. 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. The ceremony was held at San Pedro, California on 17 June 1924. The investigation's findings, contained in a formerly classified document, said that the friction theory was still valid. -23), the erstwhile Normandie, pride of the Compagnie . Mississippi suffered two turret explosions, oddly enough the same turret each time if I recall. Abner Read jettisoned her torpedoes which immediately began their runs toward other ships in the group. Black smoke poured out from the burning No. 3. Forty-eight men died of asphyxiation as a result of the explosion. Today her name lives on in the Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). "We all knew each other rather intimately.". Navy.". Forty-three sailors died. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Published April 02, 2018 09:40:36. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". They are thick, alright. "The powder door was still open to the center gun that armored hatch was still open," Carr said. Politics. 2. "It's a classic example of Navy leaders not being willing to speak truth to power and make the hard decisions," Carroll said. Please refrain from using strong language. 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. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach and Mississippi and the other ships increased their rate of fire. If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know thanks. The Americans have bombed Tokio and our bombers have reported sending a Japanese battleship to the bottom. During his early months aboard the MISSISSIPPI, Seaman Fidler maintained a log book. "Dec. 10. Required fields are marked *. 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. 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