ROAR OF DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 67, 20 March 1937, Page 39 (Supplement)

ROAR OF DEATH.

BATTLESHIP TRAGEDY.

EXPLOSION IN GUN ROOM

MANY KILLED AND INJURED.

(From Our Own Correspondent.)

LOS ANGELES, March 2,

Disasters of a highly terrifying nature recently struck California in rapid succession—in the air, on land and on sea—but undoubtedly by far the most tragic was when a sharp, splintering roar, unscheduled and terrifying, sounded aboard the old U.S.S. Wyoming. When the acrid powder smoke had cleared in a torn five-inch starboard gun casemate the mangled bodies of six United States marines, including a captain, were strewn among eleven injured.

The second major tragedy to strike ft United States warship in the San Clemente Island drill grounds, (10 miles from San Pedro, in seven months, and the fifth accidental explosion aboard a warship on the Pacific Battle Force in the past year caused the Wyoming to iwing slowlv out of line and put on full steam for the Los Angeles port of San Pedro, her wireless crackling out a message to the hospital ship Relief to prepare to take on her dead and wounded. The Relief, just aa 13 years ago she stood by to take on the torn and battered bodies of 48 dead officers and seamen of the ill-fated Mississippi after a similar gun room explosion, took aboard the dead and dying from the Wyoming at her anchorage behind the San Pedro breakwall. Asked about the condition of the injured and whether the dead were recognisable, Captain C, X. Hiukamp, showed evidence of terrific shock and strain and made only a terse statement. "It was a terrible accident—that is all I can say," said the officer. "One of the fiveinch guns, the after gun on the main dcck, starboard side, backfired." Survi.vors of the terrific blast gave graphit. eye-witness accounts of the tragedy, explaining that the Wyoming

with her sister ships, was laying down a protective barrage to cover evacuation by a landing party on the beach of San Clemente Island. The evacuation prob- ■ lem made up the final phase of landing • exercise problems in which Army, Navy and Marine Corps took part. "They were firing the barrage," said one marine, "and in the casemate of the five-inch starboard gun we heard a different kind of explosion we i, knew that something was wrong. The blast blew out parts of the bulkhead around the casemate, a small gun room projecting from the outer skin alongside the hull. "I saw one boy sort of drift past me, floating through the air, half ( his head shot off, and land on the deck It was awful." The twenty men usually crowding the . five-inch gun casemates on such a ship are confined to a space not more than 10ft by 14ft, with a height of about 7ft to the ceiling. So closely packed into the small room are the men that such an explosion would of necessity shatter many bodies. Thirty pounds of powder : exploded in the breech. As is her custom in such emergencies, the Relief held the bodies of those who were killed and those who might fail to recover from their terrible injuries. The bodies were embalmed aboard the hospital ship. Two of the six who died lingered for a few moments, lying on the Wyoming's main deck, their fellow-seamen standing helplessly by; Aboard the hospital ship surgeons went about the task of performing amputations, removing splinters of steel and iron from lacerated heads and bodies, and setting broken bones, the screams of the injured fading under the influence of sedatives as they were lowered tenderly into the sick bay. Death from Injuries. Only Navy men were allowed aboard the hospital ship. Eight of the injured transferred to the Relief were still alive at a late hour, but one died later. All the injured were unconscious and under the influence of opiates. Twelve Navy physicians worked in crews at three operating tables. The explosion aboard the old warship 1 recalled to veterans of the service the statement made by a naval officer last' -'illy at an inquest into the explosion 1 alboard the Marblehead cruiser, which ' brought death to three seamen. This 1 officer stated: "He history of every *

safety device Is written in blood. HiglJ explosive never is safe, and every mishap, is a lesson for future precautions."

(r . The Navy began a vigorous inquiry 0 into the explosion. A naval board of _ inquest aboard the Wyoming announced ' that no blame for the tragedy could be attributed to any memlber of "the battle--8 ship's personnel, but refused to make - known its findings as it sealed and ® turned them over to Admiral Arthur J. - Hepburn, commander-in-chief of the 1 I'nited States Fleet. Despite efforts at surrounding the t circumstances of the blast with secrecy, f however, it was learned that the "warhead" of the five-inch shell being shoved into gun.Xo. 13 during the fatal barrage, and not a powder charge, exploded. ® A survivor of the blast gave the first eye-witness account of the tragedy and was immediately stamped a hero for action which he unconsciously performed an instant after the explosion. Chief 1 Gunner's Mate J. G. Berry, U.S.N., gun"ery ® x P ert > who had been supervising the firing of the Wyoming's guns durin" the final evacuation phase of the land° . mg problem off San Clemente, was the • eye-witness "I was standing behind I Captain Edward J. Trumble in the case- • mate," said Bei'ry. "Captain Trumble ' was looking into, the barrel of the gun, and one of the crew was starting the five-inch shell into the breech, when the ; awful roar burst out and we were , blinded by the flash of the explosion. "Captain Trunfble, by standing where I he did, between me and the gun breech I saved my life. He took the full force of the blast in our direction. An instant later I saw a loader, completely blinded by the explosion, staggering around the gun breech, holding the 301b silken bag of powder in his arms. He was to have rammed the powder charge into the breech after the shell was in." Berry did not finish his story, but other survivors said he dashed to the staggering loader, seized the heavy ba" of powder from his grasp and hurled it out of the casemate, through an opening. "J don't know where I threw it," said Berry afterward "I guess I meant to throw it overboard—everything happened so fast ..." " B 1 Had the heat or sparks of the shell's explosion set off the bag of powder, the holocaust in the casemate would have been even more terrible, navv menpointed out. "There would have been noi survivors," they aaid. j