If we talk about the disaster star battleships in World War II, many people probably think of the three auspicious signs of the Japanese Navy. Although the Nakano semicolonies were inexplicably labeled as such, the Yukikaze and Shigure were unshakably auspicious. The name "Wugang Xuefeng, Sasebo Shigure" is not just blown away, it is an "honor" that can only be obtained by a real auspicious vote of warships. But if we talk about the auspicious warships of the US Navy, there are really not many. Today we will talk about the disaster star battleship in the U.S. Navy, the USS William D. Porter. This was a destroyer that almost changed the entire World War II.
Because this destroyer almost hit the battleship USS Iowa with torpedo . At that time, the battleship USS Iowa had a vote of top American officials since President Roosevelt... William D. The Porter almost brought down the top leaders of the United States.
1. The rookie’s first mission
The William D. Porter is actually a member of the Fletcher class destroyer. When the United States’ war machine was in full swing, the William D. Porter was born there. The shipbuilding process is as follows: Dumpling-like in a shipyard in Orange, Texas. William D. Porter began construction in May 1942, was completed and launched on September 27, and was incorporated into the Atlantic Fleet on July 6 of the following year. It was 1943, a time when people in the Pacific were being beaten into dog heads. The U.S. Navy was flooded with a large number of new recruits, and the William D. Porter was no exception. Of the 353 officers and soldiers on board, 125 of them were They have never been on a boat, and the rest are all fishing boats or people who have been on a boat.
At that time, the U.S. Navy was busy expanding its military strength, preparing to beat the Japanese Navy to death in the Pacific, and recruiting troops frantically. Naturally, there was a serious decline in the quality of its personnel. If the newly recruited naval officers and soldiers are not student workers in the city, they must be farmers who used to herd cattle and cultivate land on the farm. The lack of quality as naval officers and soldiers is also an inevitable result. The captain, Major Wilfred Walter, was naturally prepared for this situation, so he stepped up the training of his young men, hoping that they could become qualified naval officers as soon as possible.
However, things went against expectations. Major Walter received the order just four months after organizing the training. The William D. Porter, who was at the Norfolk Naval Base, escorted the battleship Iowa to North Africa. On the way, he first went with the battleship Iowa. A trip to the Chesapeake Bay to pick up some "important cargo" on board. Major Walter did not dare to neglect and hurriedly ordered the William D. Porter to go to sea to join the battleship Iowa. However, this order caused an unexpected incident. The anchor of the William D. Porter was caught by a warship next door. The result of the strong pull was that when the anchor was pulled out, it took the guardrail and life raft of the warship next door with it. They were all thrown into the water.
Major Walter was ashamed and angry, but his subordinates were at this level. What would you do to him? He is also desperate. I had no choice but to apologize hastily, and then command the warship to leave quickly to avoid embarrassment. After arriving in the Chesapeake Bay, the sailors on the William D. Porter finally knew what the "cargo" was to be carried by the battleship Iowa. It included President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Hull. There are more than 80 American military and political leaders, including Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King. Major Walter understood that something big was going to happen this time. He looked at the group of rookie sailors under his command and began to pray that nothing big would happen.
2. A mistake
Major Walter may have a special skill, which is to poison himself. The more he prays that there will be no problem, the more the problem will appear. On its way to escort Roosevelt and others to a meeting in Tehran, the William D. Porter accidentally dropped depth charges into the sea while passing by the hunting area of the German submarine , causing the fleet to mistakenly believe that a German submarine was incoming. After getting busy with anti-submarine in the corner, I realized it was a false alarm. This is not over yet. Soon, another sailor on the William D. Porter was unfortunately swept from the deck into the sea by a large wave. Then the power system of the William D. Porter failed again, and he was far away from the fleet. In the back.
This series of self-inflicted incidents almost made Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King faint. He never expected that the William D. Porter would give him eye drops here, so he directly sent Walter to the hospital. The major cursed. Feeling the anger of his immediate superior, Major Walter himself was on the verge of tears. The people under his command were at this level, and there was nothing he could do with all his skills. Major Walter could only be cautious at the moment and see if there was any opportunity to make amends later. By chance, on November 114, the fleet decided to conduct an air defense exercise on the road, which was supposed to relieve the boredom of the president and others. Now Major Walter felt that he had found an opportunity and was determined to perform well.
As a result, trouble appeared quickly, and it was a big mess. At that time, the William D. Porter was responsible for peripheral security. There was nothing to do. Several large balloons used as targets happened to leak out from the anti-aircraft firepower and floated in the direction of the William D. Porter. Major Walter was ecstatic and hurriedly ordered the sailors to get busy. While preparing anti-aircraft firepower to attack the balloon, he began torpedo launching training. But Walter never expected that his rookie sailors would actually fire the torpedo because they forgot to take off the flash cap of the torpedo, and the torpedo headed straight for the battleship Iowa.
At this time, Major Walter was already frightened out of his mind. Military and political leaders, including President Roosevelt, were still on the battleship Iowa! Major Walter hurriedly issued a warning to the battleship Iowa, and the captain of the battleship Iowa also discovered the speeding torpedo and urgently ordered the battleship to avoid the torpedo's route. Thanks to the experienced sailors on the battleship Iowa, we were able to escape the torpedo attack. The escaped battleship Iowa immediately aimed all its artillery at the William D. Porter, and then ordered it to break away from the formation and rush to the U.S. Naval Base in Bermuda for investigation . Poor Major Walter was on the verge of tears because he knew he was in trouble.
3. An oolong ensued
After the unlucky William D. Porter arrived at the Bermuda base, it was immediately attacked by a group of vicious Marine officers and soldiers. The 353 officers and soldiers inside were imprisoned in prison . Now the U.S. Navy is very suspicious of the loyalty of the sailors on the William D. Porter, believing that there must be Axis spies hiding there, intent on assassinating President Roosevelt. If the navy's imagination were written into a novel, it would come up with almost five million words. Poor Major Walter is ready to die, because this is really just an own incident. As for such a big battle to deal with them?
The U.S. Navy investigated everyone, including eight generations of their ancestors, and finally announced that the incident was caused by a torpedo soldier named Dusen who forgot to take off the torpedo's flash cap, which caused the torpedo to be fired directly. , and he was afraid of taking responsibility and threw the torch into the sea. Now this 22-year-old sailor has been found guilty because he almost killed the president and will "like" 14 years of no worries about food and clothing - 14 years of food in prison. The unlucky Major Walter is not much better either. He has been revoked from his position as captain and is likely to be kicked out of the army. Fortunately, President Roosevelt was magnanimous and asked the Navy to absolve them of their crimes, so Duson was kicked out of the army and Major Walter was retained for observation.
The William D. Porter is also well-known. After so many own incidents, other warships in the U.S. Navy will send greetings when seeing the William D. Porter: "Don't fire! We are Republican!" This joke was made in response to the Republican William D. Porter attacking President Roosevelt because he was a Democrat. Although was just a joke, it was like a knife to the sailors of the William D. Porter, especially after they were assigned to the Aleutian Islands , this joke also sounded harsh.
However, the William D. Porter seems to be inseparable from the own incident in this life, and it can cause trouble even in the Aleutian Islands. During a break, a sailor on the William D. Porter drank too much and fell into a state of excitement. He broke into the turret in full view of the public and fired a 127mm cannon. The diameter of the shell fell into the garden of the base headquarters, and the base commander was hosting a banquet for officers of all levels. This shell scared them quite a bit, but fortunately there were no casualties. But the sailors of the William D. Porter were inevitably scrutinized again. The sailor who drank too much was naturally kicked out of the army, and the reputation of the William D. Porter became even worse.
Conclusion
Since then, the William D. Porter has become an unpopular existence. It was simply sent to the front line to participate in the war, and it was left to "fend for itself". The William D. Porter may have made too much trouble, and it will definitely suffer retribution in the end. During the Battle of Okinawa, the William D. Porter was severely damaged by the explosion of a Japanese suicide plane and required three hours of rescue. Later he was forced to abandon ship. It is worth mentioning that none of the crew of the William D. Porter died. On the contrary, the William D. Porter itself sank into the sea not long after the abandonment was completed.
Reference: "History of the U.S. Navy·Navy"
"History of the U.S. Navy"
"Secret History of World War II"
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-