Posted on 11/20/2016 9:57:58 AM PST by BenLurkin
It's a confounding mystery of World War II: What happened to the 136 missing sailors from the explosion and sinking of the USS Turner?
After all, the ship did not go down in battle or even in the open sea, but while anchored near New York Harbor in 1944, so close to the city that shockwaves from the onboard munitions blasts shattered windows in some buildings.
...
The Pentagon still officially lists 136 Turner sailors as missing. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the federal office responsible for recovering and identifying the nation's missing war dead, didn't respond to repeated requests from The Associated Press about Darcy's findings.
The Turner, a 10-month-old destroyer returning from convoy duty in the Atlantic, was anchored a few miles off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, when an explosion erupted below deck, setting much of the ship ablaze. More explosions followed, the last breaking the ship in two.
While no cause of the initial blast was ever determined, a Navy report mentioned anti-submarine munitions were being defused around the time
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Credit: AP
Large explosions can vaporize bodies, fires can burn them to ash and sea creatures eat. Unrecoverable bodies happen.
Looks like a Benson/Gleaves-class?
I looked it up. Thought from the photo it might have been a DDE and not a DD. I was wrong.
You are correct. Gleaves class destroyer.
Good. They should be identified and given proper burials.
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