USS IOWA TURRET EXPLOSION IN 1989
Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2015 1:42 pm
Although the Carrier Battle Group has drastically altered the doctrine of fleet operations in the modern age, four WW2 battleships which had been mothballed were given extensive modernization upgrades and returned to active duty during the Reagan years.One of these ships was the U.S.S. Iowa.
The chief armament of the Battleships are her sixteen inch guns. Little changed from WW2 days, they are loaded by first ramming, with a pneumatic ram, a mission specific projectile into the bore followed by the propellent. The propellent is bundled in silk bags, with the number of bags determining the total charge in the gun (normally 6). The propellent is rammed in behind the projectile and the breach is closed.Upon command to fire, the center gun on the number one turret fires, and radar tracks the projectile. A correction is computed and the remaining guns adjust themselves and fire.
On April 19th 1989 was 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico on a training cruise. At 9:55 A.M. during the loading cycle, the center gun in the number 2 turret exploded with an open breach, sending a blast wave into the turret that killed 47 sailors.The combination of a close friendship with one of the dead sailors, Clay Hartwig, plus some lead foil and a "Gung Ho" magazine led the Navy to accuse 21 year old Seaman Kendall Truitt (who was married) of having been one half of a failed homosexual love affair with Clay Hartwig, with his jilted lover then committing suicide in the number 2 turret.
The ferocity with which the Navy pursued this line of investigation made it apparent that there was another line of inquiry being hidden. Deliberate press leaks by the Iowa's Executive Officer to the Washington Post painted a picture of an unhappy gay sailor blowing himself and 46 of his fellow seamen into eternity. The story was then picked up by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Newport News Daily Press and Times Herald interviewed Truitt, promising him anonymity, then ran his name as page one news anyway.
Meanwhile, the Navy had discovered that the bags of propellent, dating from the Korean war, had been improperly stored for 5 months in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, the point at which the propellent becomes unstable The Navy's investigation also showed that the freshman sailor operating the rammer had over-rammed the propellent, 5 bags instead of the expected 6, slamming it into the warhead.
In response to accusations that the propellent was unstable, the Navy decided on a demonstration, and built a "drop test" rig. This was a simulated 16 inch gun barrel, with a ram at the base, that was dropped onto a concrete block to simulate over-ramming. The intention was to drop test the configuration again and again until it was evident that the propellent inside was safe from accidental detonation from over-ramming. Exactly the opposite was proven. On being dropped, the device detonated. The Navy then destroyed the remainder of the Iowa's propellent store and established new rules for the storing of propellent.
Despite this and other facts, the Navy's official report, issued on Thursday, September 7, 1989, concluded that the disaster was caused by a "wrongful intentional act ... most probably committed" by Clay Hartwig. This is the key point. Even with the correct cause of the explosion in hand, the Navy wilfully and falsely accused Clay Hartwig of a deliberate crime, and destroyed Kendall Truitt's life and career as well.
Is this a FAIR appraisal of this particular incident ???? I saw this report on the Internet but as I had not heard of it-I would be interested to see members comments as to the above's veracity
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CR ... /IOWA.html
The chief armament of the Battleships are her sixteen inch guns. Little changed from WW2 days, they are loaded by first ramming, with a pneumatic ram, a mission specific projectile into the bore followed by the propellent. The propellent is bundled in silk bags, with the number of bags determining the total charge in the gun (normally 6). The propellent is rammed in behind the projectile and the breach is closed.Upon command to fire, the center gun on the number one turret fires, and radar tracks the projectile. A correction is computed and the remaining guns adjust themselves and fire.
On April 19th 1989 was 330 miles northeast of Puerto Rico on a training cruise. At 9:55 A.M. during the loading cycle, the center gun in the number 2 turret exploded with an open breach, sending a blast wave into the turret that killed 47 sailors.The combination of a close friendship with one of the dead sailors, Clay Hartwig, plus some lead foil and a "Gung Ho" magazine led the Navy to accuse 21 year old Seaman Kendall Truitt (who was married) of having been one half of a failed homosexual love affair with Clay Hartwig, with his jilted lover then committing suicide in the number 2 turret.
The ferocity with which the Navy pursued this line of investigation made it apparent that there was another line of inquiry being hidden. Deliberate press leaks by the Iowa's Executive Officer to the Washington Post painted a picture of an unhappy gay sailor blowing himself and 46 of his fellow seamen into eternity. The story was then picked up by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. The Newport News Daily Press and Times Herald interviewed Truitt, promising him anonymity, then ran his name as page one news anyway.
Meanwhile, the Navy had discovered that the bags of propellent, dating from the Korean war, had been improperly stored for 5 months in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, the point at which the propellent becomes unstable The Navy's investigation also showed that the freshman sailor operating the rammer had over-rammed the propellent, 5 bags instead of the expected 6, slamming it into the warhead.
In response to accusations that the propellent was unstable, the Navy decided on a demonstration, and built a "drop test" rig. This was a simulated 16 inch gun barrel, with a ram at the base, that was dropped onto a concrete block to simulate over-ramming. The intention was to drop test the configuration again and again until it was evident that the propellent inside was safe from accidental detonation from over-ramming. Exactly the opposite was proven. On being dropped, the device detonated. The Navy then destroyed the remainder of the Iowa's propellent store and established new rules for the storing of propellent.
Despite this and other facts, the Navy's official report, issued on Thursday, September 7, 1989, concluded that the disaster was caused by a "wrongful intentional act ... most probably committed" by Clay Hartwig. This is the key point. Even with the correct cause of the explosion in hand, the Navy wilfully and falsely accused Clay Hartwig of a deliberate crime, and destroyed Kendall Truitt's life and career as well.
Is this a FAIR appraisal of this particular incident ???? I saw this report on the Internet but as I had not heard of it-I would be interested to see members comments as to the above's veracity
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/CR ... /IOWA.html