Evening star., 1924-06-13
Premature Discharge or
Glowing Fragment Left in
Breech Blamed for Trag-
edy on Mississippi.
GUN CREW is TRAPPED,
ONLY 4 MEN ESCAPING
Vessels at Target Practice
ond Charge Goes Off as Vessel
Arrives in Port to Take Of Dead
and Injured - Ensign Is Hero.
Explosion Is Being Probed.
By the Associated Press.

SAN PEDRO, Calf, June 13-The
lives of. three officers and forty-hve
enlisted men were snuffed out
aboard the dreadnaught Mississippi
yesterday in the Navy's greatest
peace-time disaster, which brought
to a tragic climax week of sham
battles and target practice.
Aboard the hospital ship Relief
today lay the dead, killed by a
premature explosion in the Missis-
sippis No. turret, and the injured.
Aboard the L. S. S. New Mexico.
flagship of division four of the bat
tie feet, members of a naval board
of inquiry prepared to open their in
vestigation OF the disaster Aboard
the Mississippi, anchored outside
the breakwater, officers and men
watched the fame shattered turret.
where fourteen-inch gnu, with an
unexploded charge jammed in its
breech, meant that the danger of still
another explosion had not passed.
Flare-Back Caused Diaaster.
1t was flare back" from one of
the guns that shot death in flames
and poisonous gases back into the
turret through its open breech. A
second. the breech locked, let loose in
the harbor here as the Mississippi
steamed home with it's dead and in
Jured from the drill grounds, and
hurled steel projectile dangerously
near to an outbound passenger liner
Should the third guns charge ex-
plode before IL can be removed. how
ever, ii is believed that the precau-
tions already taken will render the
firing harmless.
OF the injured. there were strange
~ rev. With death list close to the
half-hundred mark, only eight men
were numbered among the hurt, and
their injuries were compar atively
slight, consisting mainly of minor
burns and lacerations
Just how the fatal explosion oc-
Cured still was undetermined today,
though from witnesses aboard the
when disaster broke up their sched :
uled target practice. a fairly compre-
hensive picture Of the accident was
obtained.
On Secret Gunnery Practice.
The batleships Mississippi, Tennes-
see. Idaho and California, the latter
towing the target, were off San
Clemente Island, As miles from here.
and were engaging in secret gunnery
practice. feature of which was mass
firing by thirty-six 14-inch rifles
trained on a single target.
1t was about O'Clock. In the
plotting room of the Mississnpi
electric bulbs flashed. one by one,
their signals as each gun was fired
and reloaded.
Eight of the twelve scheduled
the great ship as the guns belched
their steel at the target. After the
eighth salvo other guns in other
turrets reported ready for the next
volley. but no flash came from tur-
ret number 2, near the bow of the
ship.
In the plotting room anxiety grew.
Attempts to communicate with the
turret failed. Then came terse COM
mand: Flood the magazines"
On deck, men and officers hastened
to the rescue, but it was more than
half an hour before any attempt
could be made to enter the doomed
turret. There were eighty odd men
there; forty-eight of them perished.
Flame Cuts on Escape.
When the bareback from the first
it may have been caused by a pre-
mature signal to throw the electric
switch setting off the charge, or by
a still glowing fragment left in the
breech after the previous firing-the
only avenues of escape were cut off
by fame. Four men leaped through
matches to safety. All others in that
part of the turret containing the
guns suffocated in the atmosphere OF
flame, gas and poisonous fumes.
Joe Caviesel, seaman, from the New
Mexico. and another bluejacket at
tached to the Mississippi, hurled
themselves through an open hatch,
with Robert MacAvin, New Mexico
boatswain, catapulting after them.
Ensign J. j. Leveasseur. another OBJ
server from the New Mexico, dived
from the shell deck down the shaft
of the powder hoist leading away
from the turret.
For half an hour, every hame-ex-
tinguishing agency on board was di-
rected toward quelfing the burning
gases and the flaming oil drip OF the
gun operating machinery. The
matches were choked with dead, and
forced through the entrances.
Ensign In Hero.
Then came Ensign H. D. Smith of
Spokane, Wash, today acknowledged
outstanding hero of the disaster.
Smith answered the call for volun.
teers willing to enter the death tur-
ret. He was chosen because of his
small stature.
Equipped with a gas mask and an
air hose, he forced his way through
the piled-up bodies of victims and,
Drawing an inferno of heat, gas and
flames, made a complete inspection
of the turret and reported no sur
vivors. Then he went back and
brought out the first bodies.
BY then other vessels in the diyi-
sion knew what had happened. The
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