Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-14
40 i. s. SAILORS DIE
ON BAT TLESH|P AS
TURRET BLOWS OUT
Many Injured in Horrible Ac-
cident on American Dread
naught Mississippi

SAN PEDRO, Cal, June 13.-(By
the Associated Press)-Friday, the
thirteenth, and navy mourns it's
dead. Forty eight OF them; three
officers and forty-five enlisted men,
their lives snuffed out aboard the
dreadnaught Mississippi in the
fleets greatest peace-time disaster, a
disaster that brought to Il tragic
climax a week of sham battles and
target practice.
Aboard the hospital ship Relief
lay the dead, killed by a premature
explosion in the Mississippi's num-
Der two turret, and the injured
aboard the u. S. S. New Mexico,
flagship of division four of the bat
tie fleet, while members of a naval
board of inquiry prepared to open
their investigation of the disaster.
Aboard the Mississippi, anchored
outside the breakwater, officers and
men watched the flame-shattered
turret where 14-inch gun, with an,
as yet, unexploded charge damned
in it's breech, Npleant that the danger
of still another explosion had not yet
passed.
1t was a flare back" from one of
the guns that shot death in flames
and poisonous gases back into the
turret through it's open breech. A
second explosion, with the gun
breech locked, let loose in the harbor
here as the Mississippi steamed
home with it's dead and injured from
the drill grounds.
This blast hurled a steel projectile
"A q n rn1-rr Yclvr n
passenger liner. Should the third
guns charge explode before it can
be removed, however, it is believed,
that precautions already taken will
render the firing harmless.
Relatives Seek News
Meanwhile this harbor community
today was overrun with messenger
boys, their pockets stuffed with tele-
grams-envelopes containing the
anxious queries of mothers, wives,
sweethearts, from all parts of the
United States. Through the gloom
of the early morning hours they
hurried back and forth in the dark.
ened and deserted streets.
Then came automobiles from near
by cities and towns, carrying rela-
tives or friends of the dead and in
jured.
or the injured there were strange.
~ few. With a death list close to
the half hundred mark, only eight
men were numbered among the
hurt, and the injuries of these were
comparatively slight, consistine,
mainly of minor burns and lacera-
lions.
Just how the fatal explosion oc.
Cured was still undetermined.
though. from witnesses aboard the
mississippi, and aboard other vessels
near her when disaster broke up
their scheduled target practice. 4
fa1rly comprehensive picture of the
accident was obtained.
The battleships Mississippi. Ten
nessee, Idaho, and California, the
latter towing the target, were off
San Clemente Island, firty-five miles
from here, and were engaging in
secret gunnery practice, a feature
OF which was mass firing by thirty
six 14-inch rifles trained on a single
target.
The explosion itself did little dam.
staSe. The flames which followed it
syWere what created the inferno in
"A WINCH the forty-eight persisted.
\ Blast Blends With Gun
RI Many officers and men aboard the
snip did not know of the disaster
until several minutes after it oc
CURED. The blast came, of course
at a time when other guns were
roaring at the target.
One officer in the plotting room
relates the first intimation he re-
celVeC was dust and debris blown
through speaking tube into his
compartment
AS each gun is fired a reloaded
the word is passed to the plottinr
room by electric bulbs. This officer
stated that eight of the twelve
salvos had been fired when the ey.
plosion occurred.
other guns reported ready for the
next volley after the eighth round
but no flash came from the furret
number two.
Attempts to communicate having
failed. the alarm was about TO he
sounGed from the plotting room
when the terse command to FLOOD
the magazine announced the emer.
gency
Three officers who died were sta.
toned in a booth immediate,v he.
hind rhe. breaches of the three rifles
Their chance of escape was even
smaller than that of the men. beinr
located farthest away from the
matches.
Joe Caviezel, of Los Angeles !,
New Mexico seaman, and a Miss;s,
sippi bluejacket, were nearest The
exit free for the first moment from
the flame and made a simultaneous
Tor the opening and safety twenty
feet below.
Men Wedked i'm Hatch
SO great was their panic how
ever, that they became wedped in
the hatch and would have perisbaa
had not Robert MacAvin. boaswa;n
OF San Francisco, hurled the weiobt
or ms sin foot frame on the souirn,.
ms pair and catapulted then,
through, himself tumbIirw after
MacAvm is on the New Mexico
only eiSht are listed with the in.
lured. Rive We're stationed in tho
passages 20 the magazine below and
their injuries were comparativelv
shght amir burns and decorations
ok OF list injured are aboard the
Keller, the other two back on dutv
on their ships.
In halation of gas, flame and
POISONOUS fumes caused the death
OF the victims, rather than the VIC.
renee or the explosion, witnesses
pointed out.
Ensign j. ]. Leveauseur. observer
rom the New Mexico. dived from,
the shell deck down the shaft oi
tfp ppvier hatst L., ,s.. ........ =