#naval disaster

[longreads]

There is a noise that, for a Navy captain, may well be the worst sound imaginable—worse than the boom of cannon fire, the whistle of a missile, or the whoosh of a torpedo. That noise is the long, piercing scrape of metal against rock. It’s the sound, quite simply, of everything going wrong.

The latest Atavist Magazine story by Robert Kolker recounts how a a wrong turn led to the largest peacetime disaster in American naval history. Read an excerpt on Longreads now.

[redarmyscreaming]

Honda Point disaster 100 years ago today. A lean budget and distrust of new technology combined to help precipitate a naval tragedy at Honda Point, California. On an early fall night in 1923, the U.S. Navy lost more warships in ten minutes than it did to enemy action in World War I.

Captain Watson, who flew his flag aboard the USS Delphy (DD-261), had DesRon 11 form a column on the Delphy to decrease the risk of any mishaps. Using dead reckoning, the navigator aboard the flagship determined that the squadron was ready to turn east into the entrance of the Santa Barbara Channel at 21:00. The radio navigation aids aboard the Delphy indicated that they were off course by several miles northeast, but the squadron’s navigator believed the reports to be erroneous and chose to ignore them in favor of his own calculations.Captain Watson had DesRon 11 simulating wartime conditions as an exercise and did not want his ships to reduce their speeds. Captain Watson ordered the ships to travel in close formation and barreled into what he believed to be the Santa Barbara Channel at a speed of 20 knots. Heavy fog blanketed the area and concealed the perils of what was actually Honda Point from their sights.

Unfortunately, the men of DesRon 11 would not realize their mistake until it was too late. A mere 5 minutes after turning east, the Delphy plowed ashore at 20 knots. Sailors aboard the Delphy scrambled to sound the ship’s siren, but the wheels of disaster were already well in motion. The USS S.P. Lee (DD-310) saw the Delphy come to a sudden stop a few hundred yards ahead and quickly turned to port to avoid the flagship but swung herself broadside into the nearby bluffs instead. The USS Young (DD-312) made no move to change her course and sailed directly over a series of sharp, submerged rocks which tore a gaping hole in her hull. As the Young capsized onto her starboard side, rushing water trapped much of her fire and engine crew in the lower compartments of the ship.  The USS Woodbury (DD-309), USS Nicholas (DD-311), and the USS Fuller (DD-297) all struck rocks and ran aground in shallow waters. Stunned by the unfolding chaos, men aboard the USS Chauncey (DD-296) decided to make way to the capsizing Young to save her crew, instead crashing ashore nearby. 

Like many calamities, a clear chain of events can be followed that lead unerringly to the final act on 8 September 1923. No single link was necessarily fatal. Modify or change any one of them and the tragedy disappears. Change none and, on this occasion, 23 lives were lost and $13 million worth of first-line Navy combat warships was destroyed.

[gwydionmisha]

Dead Reckoning

Fourteen U.S. destroyers barreled down the California coast in a dense fog—until a wrong turn led to the largest peacetime disaster in Ameri

[regulusmasamune]

This video was made by one of my favorite Youtubers. Her name is Caitlin. She is a mortician. Her channel, Ask a Mortician, makes documentaries centered around death. This ranges from Bone Chapels in Portugal, to lost tradgedies. Like this one.

Youtube decided this video offended them, and it was buried. Their reasoning: it wasn't educational. The entire thing is educational. Caitlin's team worked with the families of the survivors, historians and researchers to make this video. It took months. In response, Caitlin asked her viewers to share the video. This video does discuss a major naval tradgedy, and how the dead were recovered, treated, and identified. It is sad. It is heavy. I personally believe that this is a story that needs to not be forgotten.

I know its not everyone's cup of tea. If you can watch it, please do. If you need to protect your mental health thats also okay. Please let me know if I need to add tags.

[scotianostra]

On July 9th 1917 tragedy  struck when the HMS Vanguard blew up in Scapa Flow with the loss of over 800 lives. 

Built in 1909 this was the eighth ship to bear the name Vanguard and was part of a new generation of Dreadnought battleships.

After conducting exercises in Scapa Flow she proceeded to anchor for the evening. At 11.20pm a series of internal explosions sank the ship almost immediately. Some 843 men died. Only two men survived, although another source says three.

It was initially feared that a German U-boat had caused the disaster but an investigation determined that an accidental explosion probably caused by cordite inside the battleship’s magazines sank the ship.

101 years on it is still the worst accident in the Royal Navy’s wartime history. On the night of the explosion, 16 of the ship’s officers were on another vessel watching a concert. Another eight ratings tasked with collecting the officers had just left the Vanguard in a small boat.

Only three men who were on-board HMS Vanguard (out of 845) survived the initial explosion, however, Lieutenant Commander Alan Duke, later died of his injuries, which is probably why the other source gave me three survivors? The other two men, Marine J Williams and Stoker 1st Class FW Cox, miraculously survived the explosion. The men are said to have been unable to recall the disaster and described being asleep in their bunks before waking up swimming away from the battleship. Very little is known about the lives of the two sailors following the disaster.

The wreck was heavily salvaged after the war, but was eventually protected as a war grave in 1984. It was designated as a controlled site under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, and diving on the wreck is generally forbidden.

A simple Celtic Cross memorial remembers those lost that night at Lyness Naval Cemetery, Orkney there are 445 Commonwealth burials here of the First World War, 109 of which are unidentified. The majority of the graves are of officers, ratings, and members of the land forces lost from the Vanguard. It is one of the largest military graveyards in the country.

[citizen69]

Thousands line the streets of Belfast for the Funerals of 12 American servicemen in 1918. 

The soldiers were victims of the HMS Otranto disaster. The ship was at the head of a convoy travelling from America. Caught in a bad storm of the coast of Islay, Scotland in the North Channel. The Otranto collided with another ship and sank resulting in the death of 470 souls, 372 of them American servicemen. Most of the dead and some survivors were found by other ships in the convoy and brought to the Island of Islay, some were brought to Northern Ireland.

In total 21 of the Americans were buried in Belfast City Cemetery. They were all later repatriated to the US or an American military cemetery in England.

on a side note, the Otranto was built at the Workman & Clark shipyard in Belfast in 1909.

[navyhistory]

In 2004, Chief Petty Officer Jordan Joseph “Joe” Garrett, USN (Ret.) sent us a memoir donation for our oral history program. The following are some of the excerpts of his harrowing ordeal with the loss of USS Houston. 

"Bandy kept on hollering 'Swim fast, boy, or the ship’s gonna suck you down.' So we swam just as hard as we could until I was just about to give out. The ship’s stern was swinging toward us, so it was hard to get away fast enough. Finally, a friend from Arkansas named Callahan floated by. He was shot all to pieces. Bandy said, 'Take that man’s life jacket ‘cause he’s dead and you’re going to be dead before long if you don’t get a life jacket.' So he helped me get the life jacket off the man and I put it on."

[scotianostra]

On  April 30th 1940 the Free French Destroyer Maillé Brézé exploded and sinks off Greenock. 

Maillé Brézé was severely damaged by a two of its own torpedoes at Greenock, Scotland. She was scuttled by her crew to prevent her magazines from exploding and causing major damage to the civilian areas nearby.Two live torpedoes were accidentally discharged into her own forward section causing a terrific explosion with flames shooting 50 feet high into the air. Some of her crew members tried to squeeze themselves through the portholes to safety. There were 25 dead and 48 wounded among her crew.

There is more info and details of the salvage operation in 1954 here  https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/13992471.wartime-tragedy-on-river/