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Posted on 09/10/2005 7:55:11 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 FULL SIZE VIEW The Navy's Greatest Navigational Tragedy The Navy's greatest navigational tragedy took place in September 1923 at an isolated California coastal headland locally known as Honda Point. Officially called Point Pedernales, Honda is a few miles from the northern entrance of the heavily-traveled Santa Barbara Channel. Completely exposed to wind and wave, and often obscured by fog, this rocky shore has claimed many vessels, but never more at one stroke than at about 9 PM on the dark evening of 8 September 1923, when seven nearly new U.S. Navy destroyers and twenty-three lives were lost there.  FULL SIZE VIEW Just over twelve hours earlier Destroyer Squadron ELEVEN left San Francisco Bay and formed up for a morning of combat maneuvers. In an important test of engineering efficiency, this was followed by a twenty-knot run south, including a night passage through the Santa Barbara Channel. In late afternoon the fourteen destroyers fell into column formation, led by their flagship, USS Delphy. Poor visibility ensured that squadron commander Captain Edward H. Watson and two other experienced navigators on board Delphy had to work largely by the time-honored, if imprecise, technique of dead reckoning. Soundings could not be taken at twenty knots, but they checked their chartwork against bearings obtained from the radio direction finding (RDF) station at Point Arguello, a few miles south of Honda. At the time they expected to turn into the Channel, the Point Arguello station reported they were still to the northward. However, RDF was still new and not completely trusted, so this information was discounted, and DesRon 11 was ordered to turn eastward, with each ship following Delphy.  FULL SIZE VIEW However, the Squadron was actually several miles north, and further east, than Delphy's navigators believed. It was very dark, and almost immediately the ships entered a dense fog. About five minutes after making her turn, Delphy slammed into the Honda shore and stuck fast. A few hundred yards astern, USS S.P. Lee saw the flagship's sudden stop and turned sharply to port, but quickly struck the hidden coast to the north of Delphy. Following her, USS Young had no time to turn before she ripped her hull open on submerged rocks, came to a stop just south of Delphy and rapidly turned over on her starboard side. The next two destroyers in line, Woodbury and Nicholas, turned right and left respectively, but also hit the rocks. Steaming behind them, USS Farragut backed away with relatively minor damage, USS Fuller piled up near Woodbury, USS Percival and Somers both narrowly evaded the catastrophe, but USS Chauncey tried to rescue the men clinging to the capsized Young and herself went aground nearby. The last four destroyers, Kennedy, Paul Hamilton, Stoddert and Thompson successfully turned clear of the coast and were unharmed. In the darkness and fog enveloping the seven stranded ships, several hundred crewmen were suddenly thrown into a battle for survival against crashing waves and a hostile shore.  FULL SIZE VIEW For more images related to the September 1923 Honda Point Disaster, see:      |
Has that broad cindy sheehan's name been added to the traitor's section? She's sure earned it.
Yeah, I would think they frown even more on Captains that run their ship and nine others aground, losing seven of them. But I sure as heck wouldn't have wanted to be him. I wonder how many people with that tech level could have atually navigated that without incident given the terrible weather. I sure couldn't do it. The only safe option seems to be turn back the way you came, or sit still till the sun comes up.
Cool graphic. 8)
Hello Allen H.
The Army would never screw up like that and loose sevewn destroyers.
Comments?
Oh, and, well. I didn't think the Army had Destroyers? ;) Heh heh.
No details, please.
Rated as displacing 11,688 tons on one site, 10,288 tons in another. Only 348 feet long, but 69' 3" beam. Maximum draft was 27' 2".
Armor was eighteen inches thick on the sides. Turret armor was 17" thick on the front and sides and 6" on the top. She could steam 5,500 nautical miles without refueling.
A very superior weapon in her day.
Welcome to the Foxhole. When snippy comes back, she'll put you on the ping list and ping you to the Foxhole articles.
Now where'd you get the idea for that?
Here's a pic that Samwise and P.E. might enjoy. When I first looked at it I thought cool ramp shot and then I saw the gallon jug and went Ohhhhh
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Oh my! That's pretty cool.
Don't drop your eyeglasses at the scene. Doh!
A role model is born.
Howdy neighbor
I didn't either until now. I posted the pic using a computer with one of these new fangled 14" CRT things. I couldn't read the caption.
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