EXPLOSION IN TURRET TWO
Investigation Continued

c.      The main body of the projectile remained in the bore, with nose fittings blown away, the ogive blown out radially to bore diameter, the base blown off in the vicinity of the rotating band score, and the band blown forward and wedged around the projectile body.  The latter’s location was 33” forward of the seated position, with about the rearward 8” of its remaining length being visible through the liner rupture.

d.   The forward extension of the slide was broken off and blown 6-8 feet up the elevated tube and liner, before falling back.

e.    Internal chamber pressure set the closed and locked breech back sufficiently for the cartridge case to rupture at the breech face, venting into the gun chamber.

f.    The slide ruptured, and may have spread the trunnions: this may have also done some distortion of the girder structure which supports the deck lugs.

g.   The entire breech mechanism, recoil and counter recoil system, and loading mechanism of the center gun appears to have been extensively damaged.

h.   The explosion venting into the turret ignited a total of nine additional cartridges of the 21 in the powder hoists of all three guns, all of which were filled.  The upper five charges in the left hoist burned, blowing wide open the hoist casings between deck and overhead in both the upper and lower shell decks; the two lowest charges did not burn.  The upper two charges for the center gun burned, blowing open the hoist casing abreast them; the five cartridges below these two did not burn.  The top charge for the right gun did not burn, though it was badly crushed and wedged in the loading cradle; the next two charges burned, with effects on the hoist similar to those previously described; and the four lowest in that hoist did not burn.  Of the total of 1680 pounds of powder in the three hoist, 720 pounds were thus burned.  We were able to recognize no specific mechanism by which any particular charge was ignited, or by which those which did not do so were spared.

i.   There was considerable additional general damage in the turret and the two shell decks immediately below it.  Much of the basic turret structure, including the roller path, training rack and pinion, main gun girder, right and left guns, and rotating structure in general, appeared likely to be either undamaged or to require only relatively minor repair.  An initial, very preliminary, estimate of repair costs is $4 million.

25.       The recovered tube fragments, liner, and projectile carcass were returned to Dahlgren for sectioning and analysis in comparison with

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