THE MISSOURI DISASTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8002, 4 May 1904, Page 2

THE MISSOURI DISASTER.

THE OFFICIAL INQUIRY. United Press A_sociatioi_<-By Electrio Telegraph— Copyright. (Received May 4, 9.9 a.m.) NEW YORK, May 3. At the official inquiry into the cause o_ the Missouri explosion it was found that j it was due to the blazing of certain gases ' when the breech was opened* The officers and crew were exonerated. [Per Press Assoc___.aNr.3 r (Per R.M.S. Venture, at Auckland.) SAN FRANCISCO. April 2fc The most appalling disaster in the his^ tory of the American Navy since tjie blowing up of the Maine, in Havana Harbour, in 1898* occurred on board the firstrdass battleship Missouri, at Pensacola, Florida, tbday, when 20001 b of smokeless powder exploded, killing twenty-niue.o_icersari<f men outright, and injuring five more, two of whom will die. The accident happened about noon, while the Missouri, Captain W-illiws Cowie. commanding, was going through her .first regular target practice on the range, about fifteen miles distant from the naval station. H~re V .he was accompanied by the Texas and Brooklyn. As only one man of the twenty-five whjo composed the crews of the turret and handling room survives, the exact cause of the disaster can only be conjectured.* It is believed that the gun pointer accidentally fired the fourth shot of his string from the starboard gun in the after turret before _he breech was locked. This -was blown open by the exploding of the powder, filling the turret with' flaming gashes, and hurling the blazing powder into the handling room below, where four other charges of powder, weighing nearly 4001 b each, also ignited. All that is 'known is that the -first gun poipter in the after-turret had fired his string, and the second pointer had fired the third shot of his string just before the accident. The open tyfeech of the guv, and the explosion of the powder with suck ter*. /ribly fatal result, leave Tittle room for imagining there being but the ope theoryfailure to lock the breech, in the anxiety to make a record for quick-firing. An instant after the jiwo explosions in the turret and handling room, fire quarters were sounded,* and every man of the crew responded, the magazine and handling rooms being flooded with water. In less than five seconds, two streams of water were being playedin the rooms, and when volunteers were called for, every man responded, eager to go to the rescue of their comrades in the_ turret. Captain Cowles issued his commands, and but for tvs presence, of mind and that of his officers the Missouri must have been lost. The second explosion occurred near on© of the magazines, and so hot was the fir© that the brasswork of the magazine was melted. Leading the rescuing party was Captain Cowles. The officers endeavoured to keep him from going below, as men were falling unconscious as they eatened, and had to be pulled out again by their comrades, but Tmk«©<li n g their advice the commanding officer rushed below, followed by Lieutenant Hammer, the ordnance officer, and Lieutenant Clelland David. Captain Cowles caught up a dying bluejacket and staggered to the deck with him. The bluejacket, witb two others from the haj&dlingrdom, had crawled partly from their place of duty when they had been overcome. Before the fume® of the'burningvpowder had left the turret, officers and men were taking out the dead and dying men. Three minutes after th© explosion all were on j deck, and the suTgeons from the Missouri, Texas and Brooklyn were attending to the injured. The tweuty-five men of the turret were found lying in a» heap. They -had started for the exit when the first explosion occurred, and had just reached there when th©. more terrible explosion in th© handling-, room burned and strangled them to death.. Lieutenant Davidson, th© officer in charge of the turret, evidently had given some command to the anen, as he was on top of the heap of men, having fallen ther© -after he had allowed them to pass -him to get out of the turret. The bodies were hardly recognisable, the terrible fire having burned the- clothing from their bodies, and the. flesh hung from them in shreds. Their faces were mutilated by the smoke and flames. Only one man was breathing when £he turret crew was rescued, and h_ died a moment after he reached. the deck. News of the disaster was conveyed to the command Alt at Pensacola by wireless telegraphy from th© Missouri, and theme© by frim transmitted to Washington, while the battleship was steaming 'back to port with the dead lying on the deck. It can be stated that officials of the de-. partment for more than a week past, while rejoicing in the world-breaking records in target practice on Americas warships, have feanred just such an accident a« has occurred on the Missouri. A naval expert to-night said: "The Missouri accident is too appalling to discuss, 'but I fear that enthusiasm in making world records has led us past the danger lin© in our anxiety to pass the world in the rapidity of big gun fire. I fear we have permitted our enthusiasm to get the better of our judgment. How narrowly the entire ship escaped destruction outright is realised when it is recalled that near the handling-room is a magazine containing anywhere from fifty to a hundred charges.'' The Missouri is th© very latest of the big battleships io go into commission. The flag was hoisted- on her in December last ; at Norfolk by Captain Cowles, a brother- j in-law of President Roosevelt. Sh© col- ' lided with th© Illinois off Pensacola a fewweeks ago, and has had* very little firing . with her big guns. In fact*, th© nine or j ten rounds which had been fired from each gun was in th© course of official triads, and she was going through her first regular target practice when the disaster occraTed. The smokeless powder is put into the* 12- --■ inch gun.in three sections, each bag or section weighing l_Jolb. Some officers say that the turrets of the, Missouri had no bottoms, and express the opinion. that after this accident the turrets of all battleships will be equipped with bottoms for the protection of the anen in the handling-_oom underneath. .