The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-06-14
SHIP HOLDS HER SECRET OF DISASTER Experts Reach No Con- clusion At End Of
 First Session MISSISSIPPI SEEMS THING OF MYSTERY Danger Of Further Blasts RemOved-Vessel Re-
 turns To Port SCENE DESCRIBED BY AN EYE WITNESS Most Of AS Dead Were SuffOcated, And Not
 Burned, He Says
MISSISSIPPI SEEMS
 THING OF MYSTERY
SCENE DESCRIBED
 BY AN EYE WITNESS
lBy Assoclated Press. )

SAN PEDRO, Cal, June 13.- Cold scientific investigation in the quiet of the wardroom of the U. S. S. Mississippi today replaced the tumult of death that yesterday cut down three officers and 45 men of the United States navy in gun turret No. 2, of the battleship, seri- ously injured five men and less dangerously hurt seven others.
 Grouped about the green-topped table, an admiral, two captains, and two gunnery experts, sought the cause of the tragedy.
 Tonight no conclusions had been reached. The facts remained as they were yestreday> when the Mis- sissippi headed at full speed for port with her dead and injured.
 Like Quarantined Ship
 The Mississippi herself, tonight was like a quarantined ship, isolated from her sisters in battleship row approach able to none but those with official business aboard and holding all her own company from contact with shore or other craft.
 The great. grey giant of battle, built to deal. death to the enemy but who had turned on herself, was a thing of mystery. Her scared turret held a secret and until the, five men in the wardroom of the Tennessee solved ik, Che was taboo, craft apaft
 Her fatal turret today was janned tight by the heat that Accompanied the explosion and all day her mechanics worked over the spot where their mates were swept to death by the blast of T. N. T. And it was but a little blast compared to the loss of life and injury it caused, according to at least one man who was in the turret and who lived to speak of it.
 Danger Removed
 All through the night the menace of another coup of death hung over the Mississippi. Today it was removed when her crew was able to pull the last gun charge from the big 14-inch rifle that can blow an ordinary vessel out of the water at ten miles.
 Last night this charge still lay in the gun, locked alone in the turret and the ship went to anchor outside the breakwaters lest a fatal chance might touch it off to wreck the crowded shore line or other craft in port.
 Tonight more than 40 of the gang" have been mustered out forever and their mess numbers are blank.
 | The explosion itself did little damage. The flames which followed it were what created the inferno in which the AS perished.
 Unaware Of Blast
 Many officers and men aboard the ship did not know of the disaster until several minutes after it occurred. The blast came. of course, at a time when other guns were roaring at the target. One officer in the plotting room re- lates the first intimation he received was dust and debris blown through a speaking tube into his compartment.
 As each gun is fired and reloaded, word is flashed to the plotting room by electric bulbs. This officer stated that eight of the twelve salvos had been fired when the explosion occurred. Other guns reported ready for the next volley after the eighth round, but
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