Evening star., 1950-02-28
MissouriCaptain
Takes All Blame
For GROUNDING
Brown Reyerses
Earlier Attitude
Toward Officers
BY the Associated Press


William D. Brown, commanding
officer of the battleship Missouri,
said today, Il and I alone bear
the sole responsibility for the
ships grounding last month.
"As captain of the ship, it was
my duty to keep her safe and Sc
cure. didn't do it," the 47-year-
old officer told a Naval Court Of
Inquiry.
This dramatic reversal of Capt.
Browns previous defense tactics
came as the court opened it's 18th
day of sessions designed to fix re-
sponsibility for the grounding,
which occurred in Chesapeake Bay
January II.
When Capt. Brown took the
stand in his own defense February
l8 and February 20, he testified
his team of officers" fell down
when he needed it most" and
he felt utterly alone as far as
assistance from my team of officers
was concerned"
Admits Decision on Course.
Today, he stood tall and straight
before the court and reading from
a prepared statement said:
Il feel, and I feel it strongly,
that despite all of the numerous
shortcomings of others which have
been revealed in this courtroom,
I could have, and should have,
kept the ship in deep water"
The decision to place the ship
on the course that took her
aground, Capt. Brown said, was
made by me, without the positive
concurrence of any one in the
ship. AS the court well knows,
that decision was made on the
basis of my firm conviction =
uncontested that the spar
buoys marked the exit of the
acoustic range"
go - think it perhaps worthy
of mention that my own explana-
ton of this decision to my
self stems from what we now
know was an over r-intentness
an over-Zealousness to complete
the job I had started (trying to
run the range)-without giving
the far more important job Of
safely navigating the ship its
proper due. I cannot now, nor
will ever be able to explain, this
lapse of judgment"
The range Capt. Brown referred
to was the secret electronic range
outside the main channel which
the Missouri was trying to run
when she stranded. The spar
buoys he mentioned were not part
of the buoy system marking the
range, but were planted in Is feet
of water to mark a channel for
small vessels.
Defends Subordinates.
Capt. Brown said "as concerns
my subordinates. whose conduct
of duty has been questioned here.
I trust that the court will view
their performance in the light Of
day-to-day practice, and not in
any sense connected with the
of the ship.
TN any further dealing with
them which hope may not be
necessary, I trust also that the
court will take into full consid-
Grafton the fact that the ship had
been in the (Norfolk NavaD ship
yard for a long period OF time
and that all hands were OBJ
viously and necessarily rusty.
"The relocating of the Missouri
while properly not part of this
inquiry, nevertheless prompts my
that both Comdr.
John RD Millett and 1t. Comdr.
Crank GD Morris were outstand-
ing in their devotion to duty in
this trying period. I have nothing
but the warmest praise for their
effective work which I consider
contributed materially to the SAL
wage job"
Hopes Lessons Will be Passed On.
Comdr. Millett is the Missouri's
operations officer and 1t. Comdr.
Morris is her navigator. Previous
testimony has been to the effect
these two officers gave Capt.
Brown conflicting advice as the
ship approached the electronic
range. And Capt. Brown testified
chat he had "distrusted" the navi-
gator and had come to lean
heavily" on the operations officer
because of his obviously more
evel head and greater experience"
In his statement today, Capt.
Brown said, Il trust that the bit
ter lessons evolved here will be
fully and effectively passed on to
the naval service.
Whatever the personal ordeal,
take solace in the thought that
better ships and better men are
inevitably developed as a result
of the mistakes of others
Defendants before the court be-
sides Capt. Brown are Comdr. Mil
lett, 1t. Comdr. Morris and 1t.
John E. Carr, the Mighty Mos"
combat operations officer.