Never seen this before

[rockmedic109]

I believe the West Lock disaster at Pearl was a bunch of LSTs. I think six were destroyed.

As for mine handling explosions, being sent to a ACM in my game is a death sentence reserved for the most heinous crimes {chasing the admiral's daughter, spilling the "boiler" before the captain has had a cup.

[USSAmerica]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill

I was a divisional yeoman, so I made a lot of coffee over those 8 weeks.

I knew yeomans were good for something (ex-mm2(ss))[:D]

Just my duty during boot camp. I was an AT1 (well, ATAA - AT1) for the next 10 years. [:D]

[ny59giants]

I was on USS Canopus AS-34 in Rota, Spain (and Charleston) from 79 through 82 as an Electronics Tech who did the crypto repairs on board all those SSBNs. I know about how spoiled those subs were when it came to just about everything. I had a damn fine electronic type toolbox with just about anything I wanted in it and just before I left, they stopped allowing techs to take them with them when they left the service or transferred to another duty station. [:@]

[spence]

There's an old S&T magazine out there somewhere that cataloged all the losses of Dreadnaught BB's/BC's and IIRC "accidental" boiler/ammunition explosions were the proximate cause of a plurality of the ships lost from those classes.

[elxaime]

Here is a list of some World War II era conventional explosives accidents on ships:

USS Mount Hood (AE-11)- On 10 November 1944 the ammunition ship exploded in Seeadler Harbor at Manus Island with an estimated 3,800 tons of ordnance material on board. Mushrooming smoke rose to 7,000 feet (2000 m), obscuring the ship and the surrounding area for a radius of approximately 500 yards (500 m). Mount Hood's former position was revealed by a trench in the ocean floor 1000 feet (300 m) long, 200 feet (60 m) wide, and 30 to 40 feet (10 to 12 m) deep. The largest remaining piece of the hull was found in the trench and measured no bigger than 16 by 10 feet (5 by 3 m). All 296 men aboard the ship were killed. The USS Mindanao (ARG-3) was 350 yards (320 m) away and suffered extensive damage, with 23 crew killed, and 174 injured. Several other nearby ships were also damaged or destroyed. Altogether 372 were killed and 371 injured in the blast.

West Loch Disaster - On 21 May 1944 an ammunition handling accident in Pearl Harbor destroyed six LSTs and 3 LCTs. Four more LSTs, ten tugs, and a net tender were damaged. Eleven buildings were destroyed ashore and nine more damaged. Nearly 400 military personnel were killed.

Bombay Docks Explosion - On 14 April 1944 the SS Fort Stikine, carrying around 1,400 long tons (1,400 t) of explosives (among other goods), caught fire and exploded, killing around 800 people.

Japanese battleship Mutsu - While anchored near Hashirajima on 8 June 1943, the battleship was cut in two by an unexplained detonation of the magazine for #3 turret. The bow sank quickly, but the inverted stern remained afloat for 14 hours. There were 353 survivors of the 1474 aboard during the detonation.

Casablanca - On 13 September 1939 the French cruiser Pluton exploded and sank while offloading naval mines in the port of Casablanca, in French Morocco. The explosion killed 186 men, destroyed 3 nearby armed trawlers, and damaged 9 more.

[vettim89]

If you read this link (and its a long read), you will see that collisions, groundings, and other accidents were far more common than some would beleive. Note, this listing is confirmed actions, i.e verified by enemy sources. I think if we had this level of non-combat casualties in AE, people would be screaming.

Official USN Chronology of WWII

[jmalter]

i thought also of the Texas City ship explosion, but that happened in 1947. a liberty-type freighter carrying >2,000 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer caught fire, then left a hole, killing 581.

less conventionally, a German LBA night port-attack ruined a 30-ship convoy unloading in Bari, Italy on 2 Dec 43. One of the 17 ships sunk carried 2,000 mustard-gas bombs. the chemical agent from the bombs got loose in the water, where it mixed easily w/ fuel-oil. many sailors, rescuers & first-responders were contaminated. due to the secrecy of the shipment, doctors didn't know to de-clothe & wash down these people, who suffered unexplainable burns, blindness & death. an unknown number of civilians got caught from (thankfully) limited airborne exposure.

the Bari disaster could've been much worse, the port was closed down for 6 weeks. i've read that the US was stockpiling poison gas (in the form of artillery shells) for possible use in the invasion of the Home Islands - now there's something to program into the next AE upgrade - after 12/44, a .01% chance that a freighter explodes, & throws a random 10-90% damage to every ship, air, land & facility in the hex.

[Gunner98]

I've had the ACM & CMs with mine explosions but I cannot recall having any other ships damaged by the explosion. I guess what surprises me is that when there is some sort of ship explosion in a port, there should probably be a chance of damaging other ships of a similar class considering how they were often tied up in port (i.e. West Loch Disaster). An ACM may be the exception because it would likely blow up doing its job but a CM?

Just a thought.

Has anyone seen any DCs blow up on deck or is it just mines?

B

[jmalter]

hi vettim89,

i've only scanned a few pages from your link, but it's led me to some thoughts:
- a need to spend PP for allies to enjoy full use of some French bases. for example, Noumea wasn't exploited fully by the Allies until Halsey took command. (Frank writes that Ghormley "never confronted Vichy officials" regarding docking, warehouse & office-space problems.)
- there's no heavy weather pounding on one's ships, nor random damage possibility during docking, refueling at sea, or transiting shallow-water hexes.
- & what about aircraft ops losses, are they increased by weather effects in the base, target or transit hexes?

i like the way one's ships are randomly degraded by time at-sea, & the way that this damage is increased at full speed, but decreased at cruise. but our ships don't need regular yard-time maintenance, a feature i remember from S&T's WitP. imo, air sgns don't suffer the historical ops losses, airframe maintenance, morale loss, or supply usage. LCUs rebuild according to availability of pool replacements, but rarely require extended R&R down-time before their fatigue/disruption level is reduced to an acceptable level. Base facility increases are accomplished in far too short a time, unless the engr units are diverted to repair damage caused by enemy action.

no doubt there's a number of things that aren't modeled in the game, mebbe that's a good thing, it's fairly tough enough to play as it is, w/o having to cope w/ add'l probs caused by Typhoon Sally, bad navigation, & decreased unit effectiveness due to a large influx of replacements.

[LoBaron]

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

ORIGINAL: jmalter

ORIGINAL: awadley
In real life it did happen.

probably a rare occurrence aboard a diesel-powered LCI, though!

It was the coffee maker.

"Sir, we have critical pressure loss in boiler #2, reqest to reduce speed for repairs?"
"What the **** are you talking about?! Keep the diesel at current speed, and be very careful what you say at the moment,...Liutenant..."
"As you wish Sir, I cannot promise anything with only half the coffee available though..."

[James Fennell]

Vettim89, this is a great document. Much thanks.

[CV 2]

ORIGINAL: USS America

ORIGINAL: Don Bowen

ORIGINAL: jmalter


probably a rare occurrence aboard a diesel-powered LCI, though!

It was the coffee maker.

The company commanders in my division when I was in USN boot camp had a big, 40 cup coffee maker. It was one of the big tank types, and the Senior Chief always called it the boiler. As in, "Yeoman! The boiler's empty!" [:D]

I was a divisional yeoman, so I made a lot of coffee over those 8 weeks. [;)]

We were sitting up on the border in the Fulda gap one night in M113s (APCs) when all of a sudden there was a whoomp that sounded like a mortar round going off. Guys were screaming and bailing out of this one track. Being a medic, I grabbed my bag and scrambled over there to find 4 guys covered in beans. One of them had put a can in the personnel heater (a common practice) but didnt open the can first, and it exploded. No one was hurt, but goes to show how something innocent could lead to a major mistake. If that track had been loaded with demolitions for example (our units mission in Germany in the mid-70s was to blow bridges to slow the Russian advance).

[RevRick]

ORIGINAL: rockmedic109

I believe the West Lock disaster at Pearl was a bunch of LSTs. I think six were destroyed.

As for mine handling explosions, being sent to a ACM in my game is a death sentence reserved for the most heinous crimes {chasing the admiral's daughter, spilling the "boiler" before the captain has had a cup.

Don't forget the Port Chicago disaster!

[RevRick]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

I was on USS Canopus AS-34 in Rota, Spain (and Charleston) from 79 through 82 as an Electronics Tech who did the crypto repairs on board all those SSBNs. I know about how spoiled those subs were when it came to just about everything. I had a damn fine electronic type toolbox with just about anything I wanted in it and just before I left, they stopped allowing techs to take them with them when they left the service or transferred to another duty station. [:@]

I did crypto repair (off line) on the old Deuce. The off line machine was a real bear to work on.

[oldman45]

I was on the Holland, and the Simon Lake, I had all I could stand of the fine sailors in the boomer navy. [;)] My 5 1/2 years on the Frank Cable was all I could stand of the fast attack crews. Not to mention the two tours to NSSF New London.....

[Knavey]

Don't forget the infamous USS Iowa #2 turret explosion. Granted, it was a few years after WW2, but the ship did participate in our little gaming endeavor.

[Gunner98]

Also the 'Honda Point disaster'.
From Wiki: On the evening of September 8, 1923, seven destroyers, while traveling at 20 knots (37 km/h), ran aground at Honda Point, a few miles from the northern side of the Santa Barbara Channel off Point Arguello on the coast in Santa Barbara County, California. Two other ships grounded, but were able to maneuver free of the rocks

[Nikademus]

Oy!

Hadn't heard of this till now. What a fiasco! Some major heads must have rolled after that.

[Nikademus]

Did the "Wiki" interesting.

Its not clear from the links and stuff.....were the stranded DD's salvaged or were they left in place?


EDIT...ah....yeah those later period pictures show pretty clearly that the SEA did the salvaging. wow.

[Gunner98]

The part that gets me is that the lead ship had the new Radio navigation receiver and had ignored the indicators they were getting and steamed at 20 Knts into the rocks. Wiki said the Commodore, Capts and the Navigators were court marshalled, not sure what happened to them.

The Japanese connection it there though, unpredicted currents caused by the Tokyo earthquake!![X(]