US warship nearly sank President Roosevelt's ship

In addition to the torpedo incident that nearly sank the president's ship, the infamous warship Porter also collided with a neighboring ship and fired shells into the base commanding officer's yard.

US Navy warship William D. Porter. Photo: Wikipedia

The USS William D. Porter is the most special warship of the US Navy. During its more than 10-year career, this warship has caused many serious incidents, significantly affecting the reputation of the world's most powerful and combative naval force, according to History.

In late 1943, US President Franklin Roosevelt and top military generals planned to cross the Atlantic on the battleship Iowa to attend a summit meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin to discuss the situation of World War II.

USSWilliam D. Porter was then aThe ship was launched four months ago, with 125 sailors, mostly rookies, assigned to the top secret mission of joining the escort, ensuring absolute safety for the Iowa carrying the President.

As soon as they left port, the sailors on the Porter forgot to weigh anchor. This fatal oversight caused the Porter to depart later than planned. Not stopping there, the Porter's anchor also hit the warship moored next to it, causing the ship's railing, lifeboat, a small boat and equipment to fall into the sea. The Porter's captain could only apologize a few words and hurriedly get the ship out of port to catch its journey.

Twenty-four hours later, the Porter made another blunder during an anti-submarine exercise. While conducting a simulated mine launch, the crew forgot to deactivate the real mines for safety reasons.

A mine fell onto the deck and rolled into the sea, far enough to sink the Iowa and the president. Fortunately, the mine had gone deep before it exploded, causing a shock wave that only threw one sailor from the Porter into the sea. However, the explosion set off alarms on other ships in the convoy, causing the entire fleet to panic, believing that they were under attack by Nazi Germany.

The above incident made the captainWilfred WalterPorter ship embarrassed before naval commander and PresidentRoosevelt. Hedecided to save the ship's honor by demonstrating mock torpedo firing skills while the convoy conducted an air defense exercise in Bermuda waters.

In the mock drills, the torpedoes would be stripped of propellant, making it impossible for them to exit the tube when the order to fire was given. In addition, torpedo firing drills required targets, and the sailors on the Porter aimed at the largest, closest target: the Iowa, the battleship carrying the President.

However, the torpedo crew forgot to remove the propellant from the torpedo in compartment 3. The torpedo launch drills in compartments 1 and 2 went smoothly under Captain Walter's orders, but in compartment 3, disaster struck.

Soviet General Secretary Josept Stalin, US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (from left to right) during a meeting in 1943. Photo: History

After the launch order, the sailors on the deck of the Porter were shocked to realize that the torpedo had shot out of the tube and headed straight for the Iowa. The entire ship immediately fell into a state of panic, racing against time, because the torpedo only needed two minutes to reach its target.

The sailors panicked and tried to radio the Iowa to avoid it, but the escort fleet had a rule against radio communication to ensure secrecy, so they were forced to use a signal code to notify the Iowa.

Once again, the unprofessionalism of the Porter's crew was demonstrated when, instead of signaling "Torpedoes heading towards Iowa," the radio operator mistakenly sent "Torpedoes launched from Iowa." Realizing the mistake, the sailor quickly sent another warning signal, but again mistakenly sent the message "Porter is retreating at full speed."

After regaining his composure, Captain Walter decided to ignore the security regulations and used the radio to call the Iowa to turn right because a torpedo was coming. While the Iowa's radio operator was bewildered, the lookout sailor on the ship also discovered the torpedo and shouted to turn right immediately.

The battleship Iowa listed sharply to one side as she made the sharp turn, and the sailors on board began firing at the torpedo in an attempt to disable it. Fortunately, the torpedo missed the ship's side by inches and exploded, sending a column of water soaring right next to the ship.

Suspect shipUSS William D. Porter rebelled, and the battleship Iowa turned all its guns on the ship, demanding an explanation. Although Captain Walter claimed it was an accident,The Porter was ordered to leave its escort fleet and dock at a US naval base in Bermuda for investigation.

When the ship docked, heavily armed Marines were waiting and arrested the entire crew, the first mass arrest in U.S. Navy history. An investigation determined that the incident was an accident during a training exercise.

After 1943, Porter was only allowed to participate in missions that did not pose a threat to the safety of other American warships. Other ships would often wave at Porter and say, "Don't shoot, we are Republicans," in a sarcastic manner to the crew.

Although the next generation of crews worked hard to improve their image, they still seemed to be haunted by the bad luck of the past. During a deployment in the Aleutian Islands, a drunken sailor fired a shell that hit the front yard of the base commander’s house while the officer was having a small party for his fellow officers and their wives. Fortunately, no one was killed in the incident.

USS William D.Porter was later sunk by Japanese aircraft in May 1945 off Okinawa, with the crew of the infamous ship fortunately rescued.

According to VNE