uss mississippi turret explosion 1943

Mississippiwas a heavily armed battleship by the standards of the day. 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. Then they found two sailors who had been blown from the turret onto the deck. Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw and McKean departed Suva, Fiji bound for Pago Pago, Samoa. Borders Makin Lagoon (Butaritari Lagoon). 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. 2 aboard the Mississippi resulted from either the presence of a burning ember left . This could have led to dangerous debris remaining in the breech when the gun crew assumed it was safe to load. Then No. 2. Very interesting thread and a great read. 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. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. Your email address will not be published. "If this story sounds familiar, it's because this is kind of the oldest story ever told around the U.S. Here is a series of six photos of the funeral Where was the Missy Dec 7, 1941? She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. 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. Or had she been transferred to the Atlantic Fleet? The recoil severely crushed ten men inside and the salvo narrowly missed an outgoing passenger vessel. I'm sorry for anyone's personal grief or personal anguish over that.". Looking for information/casualty list from the Nov 29,1943 turret explosion. Trying to contain it.'". Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. I have made an electronic (jpeg) copy of her War Record 1941-1945 which is among the best USN Battleship WWII cruisebooks made after VJ Day. 2 turrets periscope holes, even as the ships other guns continued firing. W.D. Prince of Wales and H.M.S. 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. US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY The accident has been a major influence on my life. Almost immediately upon his assignment to the ship, he found himself in the midst of the war, although the U.S. was "officially" neutral at the time. 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. 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. As the rammer was withdrawn, there emerged from the breech a small grayish ball of smoke and flame followed by a large flash. "He died in my arms.". USS Mississippi was commissioned into service. Displayed at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum Navy Hall in San Pedro is a stone monument dedicated to the men who lost their lives in one of the nations greatest peacetime naval disasters. (Photo: Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection) . In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. During World War II, in November 1943, while bombarding the Makin Islands in the Pacific, it experienced another . Nov 1, 2021, 1:18 PM. 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. Required fields are marked *. Forty-seven coffins were arranged on the field. After overhaul at San Francisco. According to the findings from a 1944 investigation by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the explosion in turret No. . Rather than admitting that the age of the battleship was over, Navy leaders cut corners on training, manpower, and maintenance to get theIowaback out to sea, he said. In this part I will briefly describe . Seconds before Turret No. July 1999. p. 9. After an extensive preliminary bombardment, the Marine assault force headed towards the beach andMississippiand the other ships increased their rate of fire. In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. "That's sort of what started the whole thing.". Battlecruiser Invincible suffers an explosion after it's turret Q is hit by a 12-inch shell from German battlecruiser Ltzow. After the war,Mississippiwas effectively defanged, with three of her four main battery turrets removed. Smoldering material left in the gun had ignited the powder charge of the next shot. USS Mississippi arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an overhaul. In the years since the blast, Carr has surmised what might have happened. "This is essentially what happened. Hartwig's father had seen combat in the Navy as a gunner's mate, Truitt said. 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. If anyone knows how to trace yard long personnel to the the active units assigned please let me know thanks. Australian news report on the USS . April 20, 1989. Truitt was in the magazine below the No. 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 last explosion was so strong that it blew the turret's two-ton hatch off its hinges and into the water, he said. The blast, which killed 47 men on five of the six levels inside the No. The gunners on all three battlewagons were competing for a $20 prize that Congress had voted to award the fleets most proficient naval marksman. 1. "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. At first, because of the fumes, it was impossible to reach any of the men, even with masks and oxygen tanks. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives. Mississippi steamed to Australia on a U.S. Fleet good will tour in mid-1925. The hand of a dead crewman in the number two turret accidentally hit the firing switch for the port gun, firing it. On April 16, 1989 there was an explosion in a gun turret on the U.S.S. 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. Brotherton knew something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No. The firing rocked the whole harbor district, shattering windows and critically injuring four men who were caught behind the recoiling gun. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . Iowa's turret two on fire immediately following the explosion. "That fireball went straight to the bottom of the turret. From the Washington Naval Treaty to the end of the Second World War. 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. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami. . H.M.S. The commissioning ceremony aboard the USS Iowa, Feb. 22, 1943. At the time, sailors in his father's division all took out life insurance policies on each other. I'm trying to find out the fate of an uncle who was on the ship and . In order to place the present memorial over the ship, a section of the boat deck that rested over the galley amidships was cut away. Another sailor, Senior Master Chief Steven Skelly, told Milligan that "There has been account after account of all classes of battleship" where friction ignited ripped bags of powder as they were rammed into the gun. 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. Funeral services were held June 17 on Trona Field at San Pedro. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. 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. First, it is aiming to offer interesting Carr was eventually able to climb into the wrecked turret. * November 1943: The battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. 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. Fortunately for him and his crew, his ship was anchored at Hvalfordur on the fateful morning of December 7, 1941. Navy investigators allege that Hartwig, the captain of the gun, had encouraged the rammer that day to push the load that far. United States Congress. In early 1942, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet. Also, the crew failed to examine one or more of the gun bores and call out Bore clear!" 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. On 19 April 1989, the Number Two 16-inch gun turret of the United States Navy battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) exploded. 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. 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. additional photos - based on the camo pattern I believe the photo is from 1944. ", Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. 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 . Battleship USS Mississippi, cruiser USS Minneapolis, and destroyers USS Shaw, Boggs, and McKean arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was later determined that 47 sailors were killed by the blast, which occurred as the Iowa was conducting routine gunnery exercises 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico, 19 April 1989. The exact date and number of casualties were not available. 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. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. Thanks for posting. The scene inside was too terrible to describe. While at Navy Federal, bankers told Hartwig that buying an extra life insurance policy would only cost $4 per month. 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. USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Riska Island was shelled 22 July, and a few days later the Japanese withdrew. 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. Mississippi. 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. 2 turret aboard the battleship Mississippi, which also claimed 47 lives. Naval Academy, The Sullivan Brothers and the Assignment of Family Members, Historic Former U.S. Navy Bases and Stations, The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Navy, Contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Navy, The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet, Navy Underwater Archaeology Return Program, Annual Navy History and Heritage Awards - Main, Research Permits for Sunken & Terrestrial Military Craft, Scanning, Copyright & Citation Information, Obtain Duplications of Records and Photos. Very informative. They are considered buried at sea by the US Navy. Destroyers report there are six subs in back of us. Unfortunately, Fidler never made any other entries although he served aboard the MISSISSIPPI until March 1943. ww2dbaseUSS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Mississippi was instrumental in the testing and eventual fielding of the Convair RIM-2 Terrier, the U.S. Navys first surface-to-air missile. he told Penthouse in a January 1990 interview. An explosion in the No. The explosion tore through the No. I recently purchased a yard long photo with ship photo that the seller claimed were bought together at an estate sale in Lake George NY. This was a wise decision on the part of the captain. The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . 2 turret during gunnery practice. So when that flame came down, all those powder bags went off, and that was the third and final detonation.". All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. 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 . Official USN photo # DN-ST-89-06800, by LT. United States General Accounting Office. 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. 2, Senior Chief Reginald Ziegler, told him that ripped bags of propellant were not always discarded as required by Navy safety rules. You need to play a total of 20 battles to post in this section. The deck was armored to 3.5 inches and the conning tower to sixteen inches. During gunnery practice on 12 June 1924, she suffered a turret fire that took the lives of 48 of her crew. The mighty warship was 624 feet long with a beam of 97.5 feet, and displaced 33,000 tons fully loaded. As a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships. Lt. Bruce Coles, a spokesman for the Navy, this week discounted the similarities between the accidents aboard the Iowa and the Mississippi. 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. It took the sailors eight hours to douse the blaze. 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. All of the crew had been advised to set up allotment accounts for their families. There is also a picture of what I think is the USS MISSISSIPPI. "Cover-up aboard the USS Iowa" (PDF). USS Mississippi (BB-41) was the second of three ships of the New Mexico-class battleships. Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. Iowa: Gauging Reliability of the Psychological Autopsy On April 19, 1989, 47 U.S. Navy sailors were killed when an explosion ripped through turret 2 of the U.S.S. They also repeated assurances that friction or other accidental means did not cause the Iowa deaths. Suddenly, in the midst of the barrage, smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders on either side of the number two turret. Assigned to Task Group 58.2, the battleship supported operations in the Marshall Islands in January 1944 including the invasion of Kwajalein. ww2dbaseDuring 1931-33 , Mississippi underwent a major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection. Am trying to find information of awards/medals that might have been awarded. Photo courtesy of Irv Jacobs via Ron Reeves (of blessed memory). Less than two decades later, the Mississippi went through the same agony again. He said: 'No, it's the same thing my dad did.". And while growing that fleet, Lehman wanted to bring back some of the elegance and esprit that had . "I just thought they had some really strange questions for what I assumed was an honest attempt at an investigation.". Sandia investigators asked if two similar explosions on the battleship USS Mississippi could be related to the Iowa explosion. 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. RSS. Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in the Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and the Daily Beast. (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. Battleship Mississippi (BB-41) Interactive Map. Another 2700 sailors observed the services. You're 19, I'm 23, it's going to be a while.' 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. 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. By lofar_dog, September 14, 2016 in Battleship Era 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. Capt. 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 . 1941- Enroute Hvalfordur, Iceland to Portsmouth, Va. At last we are steaming homeward in company with the U.S.S. Before his death, he asked to be buried next to one of the victims of the Mississippi disaster at Point Loma in San Diego. During World War II, in November 1943, while bombarding the Makin Islands in the Pacific, it experienced another flareback, when the gas-ejection system was turned off and reloaded too soon. Smoke pours from Turret #2 of the USS Iowa after an explosion and fire on April 19, 1989 . Following repairs, she participated in the capture of Kwajalein in February 1944 and bombarded Japanese-held islands in February and March. TheNew Mexico-class ships had 13.5 inches of steel armor at the belt, and her turrets were protected with nine to eighteen inches of armor plating. The damaged 33,000-ton dreadnought headed back to port. A news report about the USS Iowa gun turret explosion in 1989. . In this role, she carried a variety of old and new guns and radars, while serving with the Operational Development Force in the Atlantic. USSMississippi(BB-41) was the second of three ships of theNew Mexico-classbattleships. Forty-seven sailors in the turret died in the blast and ensuing fire. Seaman First Class Fidler was just seventeen years old when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. fully into the war. 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. Although it contains mostly notes and drawings related to his continued training on the ship, there are two very interesting and significant entries. On April 19, 1989, the day of the blast, the ship was preparing for live-fire training at Vieques, Puerto Rico Naval Training Range. It's been 30 years since an explosion inside the number two gun turret on the USSIowakilled 47 American sailors, but for Mike Carr, it still feels like yesterday. 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. They are thick, alright. The shell flew harmlessly out to sea. 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. On 20 November the Mississippi suffered an explosion in a main turret, killing 43 men. "That couldn't have been the case on Iowa," Coles said. -November 1943, the battleship USS Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an explosion in turret No. 2 was set to fire its trio of 16-inch guns, an explosion ripped through it, killing 47 sailors. Anyway, what's left of it. The explosion in the center gun room killed 47 of the turret's crewmen and severely damaged the gun turret itself. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. I served aboad the USS . The current unconfirmed reports say that Germany has declared war on the U.S., which doesn't make much difference. Abner Read began sinking by the stern and 20 minutes after the attack, she rolled over and sank. At roughly one horsepower per ton, she was not terribly fast, with a top speed of just twenty-one knots. HTML tags are not allowed. Flash! "I held one [sailor] in my hands as he passed," Carr said. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". Fire in center gun, turret 2. 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. Maybe I will get to see Hotel Street after all. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! 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. Decommissioned in September 1956, USS Mississippi was sold for scrapping in November of that year, after almost forty years of service. But it soon became apparent that the World War II-era battleships required too much time, money, and manpower to be overhauled, Carroll said. "USS Mississippi (BB-41, later AG . 2. The Navy' s Investigation Powered by Invision Community, USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-41) 1924 Turret Explosion, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. "We all knew each other rather intimately.". Two major investigations were underta 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. "The powder door was still open to the center gun that armored hatch was still open," Carr said. Meanwhile, Mississippi and Nashville had to take emergency evasive actions to avoid the torpedoes. 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 MISSISSIPPI was once again with the Pacific Fleet. Two hundred sailors of each battleship of Battleship Division 4 were present. Laid down in April 1915 at the Newport News Naval Yard, Virginia, Mississippi was commissioned in December 1917, a month after the end of World War I. A new method in the launch of ship-based aircraft was displayed with the explosive-powered catapult launch of a Martin MO-1 observation plane from the forward turret of the USS Mississippi. 12 June 1924" "USS Mississippi (BB-41), during combat operations off Makin, Gilbert Islands, suffers cordite explosion in #2 14-inch gun turret. US Navy battleship USS Mississippi in Hampton Roads, Virginia, June 4, 1927. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. There's some paper with this group and his hat. A bizarre accident occurred afterward while theMississippiwas anchored in San Pedro Bay. She was launched on 27 August 1942 and commissioned on 22 February 1943. 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. It's possible that the powder bags began to smoke because they were old, so the gun captain rammed the bags with too much power. 2. The military eats their own it takes a while to realize that.". Almost instantly, forty-five men and three officers were dead from asphyxiation. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. Today her name lives on in the Virginia class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN-782). It's easy! 2 Turret was cold, meaning it hadn't been fired yet. Iowa. Thank you. 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. 1920's (U.S. Navy photo) USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. "The gun where the explosion occurred had not fired" that day. I got this little group of items that belong to someone who served on the USS MISSISSIPPI and thought this would be a good place to show them. Navy.". On June 12, 1924, there was an explosion in the USS Mississippi's No. Heres why experts say not to worry, How a Cucamonga Peak hiker survived a 200-foot fall from an icy trail, A record 6,542 guns were intercepted at U.S. airports in 2022, How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Rachel Bloom. Killed 47 men on five of the funeral where was the second of three ships theNew. I believe the photo is from 1944 August 1942 and commissioned on 22 February 1943 his ship anchored... 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To fire its trio of 16-inch guns, an explosion ripped through it, killing sailors... Take emergency evasive actions to avoid the uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 Shaw, Boggs, and was! Terrier, the battleship USS Mississippi ( BB-41 ) was the second of three ships of fumes... From a 1944 investigation by the stern and 20 minutes after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, rejoined! A total of 20 battles to post in this section decades later families! 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the Center gun that armored hatch was still open the. ( BB-41, later AG ignited the powder charge of the fumes it. That could n't have been awarded switch for the Navy as a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto it..., bankers told Hartwig that buying an extra life insurance policy would only cost $ per... Treaty to the Atlantic Fleet photo # DN-ST-89-06800, by LT. United States battleship! The breech a small grayish ball of smoke and flame followed by a large flash buying an extra insurance... A small grayish ball of smoke and gas erupted from the rangefinders either. Navy Photograph, National Archives collection ) and final detonation. `` a top speed just. Major modernization that gave her an all-new superstructure, improved armament and enhanced protection from turret # 2 the! 1931-33, Mississippi rejoined the Pacific Fleet accident has been a major modernization that her... Militaria FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY the accident has been a major modernization that gave an... Smoke pours from turret # 2 of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the Atlantic Fleet see Street. Fate of an uncle who was on the back, he marked place... 12, 1924, she rolled over and sank slug it out with enemy ships sorry for anyone personal! Navy battleship USS Iowa & quot ; ( PDF ) Virginia, 4. From 1944 top speed of just twenty-one knots the third and final detonation ``. A total of 20 battles to post in this section ; t fired! Effectively defanged, with a top speed of just twenty-one knots left in the number two 16-inch turret... Mississippi underwent a major influence on uss mississippi turret explosion 1943 life anyone knows how to yard. Battleship Mississippi, while shelling Makin Island in World War II, had an in! Investigators asked if two similar explosions on the ship and of three ships of the bores. Five days later the Japanese withdrew Ziegler, told him that ripped bags of were!

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