DD-770 General Specifications. Lava's technical capabilities. The blast, which killed 47 men on five of the six levels inside the No. 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. Leaving Norfolk in early January 1942, she then transited the Panama Canal and arrived at San Francisco Harbor two weeks later. A tragic reminder the costs of peace time training can be paid by lives as well. 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 . . The goal of this The battleship Mississippi, built in 1915, was the last to have an explosion involving her main guns. 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. . 2, the ship was anchored just inside the breakwater. 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. 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. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. Although investigators concluded that a faulty gas-ejection system prevented one of the guns breech plugs from closing securely, thereby permitting a jet of flame to spurt back into the powder-filled room when a salvo was fired, the Mississippis skipper, Brotherton, still faced the Navys unforgiving notions of a commanders accountability. During the latter operation, on 29 November 1943, Mississippi experienced another turret explosion, which took 43 lives . additional photos - based on the camo pattern I believe the photo is from 1944. The next shell was rammed into the gun and the four powder bags on the spanner tray were rammed into place behind it. 2. 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 battleships three remaining turrets continued firing until the naval support phase of the invasion had ended. 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. 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. . 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 . 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. Japanese observation planes have been seen over San Francisco. 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. 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. The fleet in Pearl Harbor must have been asleep and I do not mean dozing. The main battery was distributed two turrets forward and two aft. Only the turret officers can be identified. 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. 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. 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. First, it is aiming to offer interesting Battleship Mississippi (BB-41) Interactive Map. Brotherton knew something was drastically wrong when he noticed brownish smoke coming from the No. She spent most of 1942 along the U.S. west coast and went to the South Pacific late in that year. 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. The scene inside was too terrible to describe. On April 16, 1989 there was an explosion in a gun turret on the U.S.S. "It's a classic example of Navy leaders not being willing to speak truth to power and make the hard decisions," Carroll said. 3. 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 . 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. . The last shell and charge was removed the next day. The waterspray system was not, if I recall, used to clear the bore between shots, just the compressed air blast. We just outran several units of the German fleet (submarines). After the explosion, Truitt mentioned the insurance policy in passing to Hartwig's family. On the back, he marked the place where each body was found! USS Mississippi, a 32,000 ton New Mexico class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia. According to the findings from a 1944 investigation by the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the explosion in turret No. Five days later, families and shipmates of the fallen seamen bade a solemn goodbye to the men behind the guns. US Battleship Turret Explosions 1904-1989. 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. While at Navy Federal, bankers told Hartwig that buying an extra life insurance policy would only cost $4 per month. "The powder door was still open to the center gun that armored hatch was still open," Carr said. Lt. Bruce Coles, a spokesman for the Navy, this week discounted the similarities between the accidents aboard the Iowa and the Mississippi. She was present in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945, when Japan formally surrendered and returned to the United States soon thereafter. 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. Key point:Twice the same gun turret had an issue that caused it to blow up. Before his death, he asked to be buried next to one of the victims of the Mississippi disaster at Point Loma in San Diego. At the time, sailors in his father's division all took out life insurance policies on each other. As a battleship, theMississippiwasheavily armoredto slug it out with enemy ships. On 19 April 1989, 47 crewmen were killed in an explosion in the Number Two gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). Bipartisan. Following the explosion, the MISSISSIPPI returned to anchorage at San Pedro to transfer the dead and wounded to the hospital ship USS RELIEF. All of the crew had been advised to set up allotment accounts for their families. The new Mississippi displaced 32,000 tons, could make 21 knots, and carried twelve 14 . That investigation continues to attract scrutiny. This guy served on the USS MISSISSIPPI and USS NEVADA from 1917-1919. I met my life-long friend Dave Welch, got to experience Fleet Week in NYC, and lived through the turret 2 explosion. 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. During the mid-1950s, she was test ship for the Navy's first surface-to-air guided missile, the "Terrier". Nov 1, 2021, 1:18 PM. 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. Your email address will not be published. In the years since the blast, Carr has surmised what might have happened. Although it contains mostly notes and drawings related to his continued training on the ship, there are two very interesting and significant entries. 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. 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. Nearly twenty yearsand a major refit laterthe USS Mississippi went to war in the Pacific. He battled to contain the fire until he passed out from smoke inhalation, waking up later in an emergency dress battle station. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. In 1943, she took part operations against Kiska Island, in the Aleutians, and in the capture of the Gilbert Islands. Mississippi. 3 January 1944. I'll bet the Prince took something down with her. Editorial Guidelines and Publishing Standards. 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. Battleship USS Mississippi: A Strange History The USSMississippiis home to one of the most intriguing naval coincidences of all time. 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. "That couldn't have been the case on Iowa," Coles said. Powered by Invision Community, USS MISSISSIPPI (BB-41) 1924 Turret Explosion, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. USS Franklin (CV-13) approaches the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 28, 1945. . 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. Investigators also found that some access safety doors inside the turret had been left partly open. She was redesignated AG-128 and equipped with a number of radars and prototype air defense missile systems. USS Mississippi (BB-41) was the second of three ships of the New Mexico-class battleships. It is likely that the initial chaos and his duties kept him from making entries during the first days. Then came the blast, which was so strong that it ripped the headphones right off Carr's head. WASHINGTON Friction, the cause initially considered for the explosions aboard the USS Iowa this year, was also thought by Navy gun experts to be a possible cause of a 1943 explosion aboard the battleship USS Mississippi that killed 42 sailors. 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