USS Mount Hood ( AE - 11 ) USS " Mount Hood " ( AE - 11 ) was the lead ship of her class of ammunition ship s for the United States Navy in World War II . She was the first ship named after Mount Hood , a volcano in the Cascade Range in Oregon . Soon after 18 men who had left the ship for shore had reached the dock , the USS " Mount Hood " exploded in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island on 10 November 1944 killing all men aboard , obliterating the ship itself , and sinking or severely damaging 22 smaller craft nearby . History . " Marco Polo " was a cargo ship built under Maritime Commission contract ( MC hull 1356 ) , by the North Carolina Shipbuilding Co . , Wilmington , N . C . ; renamed " Mount Hood " , 10 November 1943 ; launched 28 November 1943 ; sponsored by Mrs . A . J . Reynolds ; acquired by the Navy on loan - charter basis , 28 January 1944 ; converted by the Norfolk Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co . , Norfolk , Virginia , and the Norfolk Navy Yard ; and commissioned 1 July 1944 , Comdr . Harold A . Turner in command . Following an abbreviated fitting out and shakedown period in the Chesapeake Bay area , ammunition ship " Mount Hood " reported for duty to ComServFor , Atlantic Fleet , 5 August 1944 . Assigned to carry her vital cargos to the Pacific , she put into Norfolk , where her holds were loaded . On 21 August , as a unit of TG 29 . 6 , she departed for the Panama Canal , transited that system of locks and lakes on the 27th , and continued on , independently , toward what would be her ultimate destination , Manus in the Admiralty Islands . Proceeding via Finschafen , New Guinea , she arrived in Seeadler Harbor , 22 September , and , as a unit under ComSoWesPac , commenced dispensing ammunition and explosives to ships preparing for the Philippine offensive . Disaster . At 08 : 30 , 10 November 1944 , a party consisting of communications officer , Lt . Lester H . Wallace , and 17 men left the ship and headed for shore . At 08 : 55 , while walking on the beach , they saw a flash from the harbor , followed by two quick explosions . Scrambling into their boat , they headed back to the ship , only to turn around again shortly thereafter as " There was nothing but debris all around . . . " " Mount Hood " , anchored in about of water , had exploded with an estimated 3 , 800 tons of ordnance material on board . The initial explosion caused flame and smoke to shoot up from amidships to more than masthead height . Within seconds , the bulk of her cargo detonated with a more intense explosion . Mushrooming smoke rose to , obscuring the ship and the surrounding area for a radius of approximately . " Mount Hood ' s " former position was revealed by a trench in the ocean floor long , wide , and deep . The largest remaining piece of the hull was found in the trench and measured no bigger than . No other remains of " Mount Hood " were found except fragments of metal which had struck other ships in the harbor and a few tattered pages of a signal notebook found floating in the water several hundred yards away . No human remains were recovered of the 350 men aboard " Mount Hood " or small boats loading alongside at the time of the explosion . The only survivors from the " Mount Hood " crew were a junior officer and five enlisted men who had left the ship a short time before the explosion . Two of the crew were being transferred to the base brig for trial by court martial ; and the remainder of the party were picking up mail at the base post office . Charges against the prisoners were dropped following the explosion . The concussion and metal fragments hurled from the ship also caused casualties and damage to ships and small craft within . The repair ship " Mindanao " , which was broadside - on to the blast , was the most seriously damaged . All personnel topside on " Mindanao " were killed outright , and dozens of men were killed or wounded below decks as numerous heavy fragments from " Mount Hood " penetrated the side plating . Eighty - two of " Mindanao " ' s crew died . The damage to other vessels required more than 100 , 000 man - hours to repair , while 22 small boats and landing craft were sunk , destroyed , or damaged beyond repair ; 371 sailors were injured from all ships in the harbor . A board convened to examine evidence relating to the disaster was unable to ascertain the exact cause . After only a little over four months ' service , " Mount Hood " was struck from the Naval Register on 11 December 1944 . List of ships damaged . The following ships were damaged by the explosion of " Mount Hood " : In addition to the above ships , nine medium landing craft ( LCM ) and a pontoon barge moored alongside " Mount Hood " were also destroyed , and 13 small boats or landing craft were sunk or damaged beyond repair .