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That time 7 destroyers were all wrecked hitting the rocks sailing 20knots in dense fog
Photos Honda bay 1923
- Thread starter colin traveller
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A lean budget and distrust of new technology combined to help precipitate a naval tragedy at Honda Point, California. On an early fall night in 1923, the U.S. Navy lost more warships in ten minutes than it did to enemy action in World War I.
The essential creed of the early- to mid-20th century destroyer driver was speed. Lightly armored and gunned, his ship depended on swiftness to deliver her most potent weapons-torpedoes. This nurtured a style of command that emphasized determination and self-confidence. In wartime those qualities could achieve the impossible, while in peacetime the same attributes contributed in no small measure to one of the U.S. Navy's most significant disasters. Like many calamities, a clear chain of events can be followed that lead unerringly to the final act on 8 September 1923. No single link was necessarily fatal. Modify or change any one of them and the tragedy disappears. Change none and, on this occasion, 23 lives were lost and $13 million worth of first-line Navy combat warships was destroyed.
The trail began with the successful completion of the summer's Pacific Battle Fleet maneuvers in the Puget Sound area, to be followed by the participants' return to their homeports. For the 18 ships (a 19th was in dry dock) of Destroyer Squadron Eleven (DesRon 11) that meant a run along the California coast to San Diego after a stop in San Francisco. They were Clemson-class vessels laid down between 1918 and 1919, averaging 314 feet long, with a 32-foot beam, and a displacement of 1,250 tons. Driven by two high-power and two low-power turbines-and characterized by four tall thin funnels-their book speed topped 32 knots. Each had an authorized crew of 131, but because of postwar budget cutbacks most were operating 20 to 30 percent below full complement.
The full story here:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2010-02/naval-tragedys-chain-errors
The essential creed of the early- to mid-20th century destroyer driver was speed. Lightly armored and gunned, his ship depended on swiftness to deliver her most potent weapons-torpedoes. This nurtured a style of command that emphasized determination and self-confidence. In wartime those qualities could achieve the impossible, while in peacetime the same attributes contributed in no small measure to one of the U.S. Navy's most significant disasters. Like many calamities, a clear chain of events can be followed that lead unerringly to the final act on 8 September 1923. No single link was necessarily fatal. Modify or change any one of them and the tragedy disappears. Change none and, on this occasion, 23 lives were lost and $13 million worth of first-line Navy combat warships was destroyed.
The trail began with the successful completion of the summer's Pacific Battle Fleet maneuvers in the Puget Sound area, to be followed by the participants' return to their homeports. For the 18 ships (a 19th was in dry dock) of Destroyer Squadron Eleven (DesRon 11) that meant a run along the California coast to San Diego after a stop in San Francisco. They were Clemson-class vessels laid down between 1918 and 1919, averaging 314 feet long, with a 32-foot beam, and a displacement of 1,250 tons. Driven by two high-power and two low-power turbines-and characterized by four tall thin funnels-their book speed topped 32 knots. Each had an authorized crew of 131, but because of postwar budget cutbacks most were operating 20 to 30 percent below full complement.
The full story here:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2010-02/naval-tragedys-chain-errors
