This day 83 years ago (err yesterday)
Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:48 am
Disaster at Honda Point! Seven Clemson class destroyers Run aground at Honda point on September 8, 1923. The destroyers Chauncey, Young, Fuller, Woodbury, Nicholas, S.P. Lee, and Delphy ran aground and were subsequently smashed and sunk. The Destroyer Farragut also grounded, but was able to free herself with relatively minor damage. The survivors of the disaster were finally rescured the next day, September 9. A total of 23 men were lost, six never being accounted for (it is assumed they were swept out to sea). Of those, 20 were killed on the Young and 3 on the Delphy. No other destroyer suffered casualties.
None of the seven destroyers could be salvaged, but on those that were safe enough guns, torpedoes, and the like were salvaged, the hulks left to their fate. The strong pacific tides that had brought them in broke up the hulks, and by 1924 the wrecks could hardly be identified.
The Desron Commander Edward H. Watson, and the commanders of the flagship Delphy and the destroyer Nicholas were found guilty in the subsequent court martial, though the two destroyer commanders convictions were overturned.
According to the US Naval Library, the dstroyers plowed in to the rocks at 20 knots, and the strong currents that helped force them in to the rocks were blamed on the earth quakes that struck Japan on September 2nd.
Go here for more information US Naval Library: Honda Point Disaster 8 September 1923.
None of the seven destroyers could be salvaged, but on those that were safe enough guns, torpedoes, and the like were salvaged, the hulks left to their fate. The strong pacific tides that had brought them in broke up the hulks, and by 1924 the wrecks could hardly be identified.
The Desron Commander Edward H. Watson, and the commanders of the flagship Delphy and the destroyer Nicholas were found guilty in the subsequent court martial, though the two destroyer commanders convictions were overturned.
According to the US Naval Library, the dstroyers plowed in to the rocks at 20 knots, and the strong currents that helped force them in to the rocks were blamed on the earth quakes that struck Japan on September 2nd.
Go here for more information US Naval Library: Honda Point Disaster 8 September 1923.