Don’t Shoot! We’re Republicans!

Hello all, after my last scream into the internet, you might think this is another political posting. Actually, this is more of an historical and humorous piece that involved what could be best described as, the unluckiest ship in the Navy.

I found this story while reading “KratSkeller” on Baen’s Bar this morning. (Free membership required) The story is about the USS William D Porter (DD-579), a Fletcher class destroyer ((The Fletcher Class)) launched in September 1942, and lost in battle with no casualties by kamikaze attack July 11, 1945.

This isn’t the story of course, the story that is amusing was how the Porter almost torpedoed the USS Iowa ((USS Iowa (BB-61))) with President Franklin D Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on board.

The whole story of the Porter is posted on the usshancockcv19.com web site. The story starts out with the legend:

“From November 1943, until her demise in June 1945, the American destroyer USS WILLIAM D PORTER was often hailed…..whenever she entered port or joined other Naval ships…..with the greeting…..”Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!”

“For half a century, the U.S. Navy kept a lid on the details of the incident that prompted this salutation. A Miami News reporter made the first public disclosure in 1958 after he stumbled upon the truth while covering a reunion of the destroyer’s crew. The Pentagon reluctantly and tersely confirmed his story, but only a smattering of newspapers took notice. Fifty years ago, the “Willie D,” as the PORTER was nicknamed, accidentally fired a live torpedo at the battleship USS IOWA during a practice exercise. As if this weren’t bad enough, the IOWA was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time, along with Secretary of State Cordell Hull and all of the country’s WWII military brass. They were headed for the Big Three Conference in Tehran, where Roosevelt was to meet Stalin and Churchill. Had the Porter’s torpedo struck the IOWA at the aiming point, the last 50-years of world history might have been quite different.

Now THAT is a major league “Whoopsie!!” if there ever was one. The Porter was a ship built under an unlucky star. For instance:

The PORTER and her crew learned their trade, experiencing the normal problems that always beset a new ship and a novice crew. The mishaps grew more serious when she became an escort for the pride of the fleet, the big new battleship IOWA. The night before they left Norfolk, bound for North Africa, the PORTER accidentally damaged a nearby sister ship when she backed down along the other ship’s side and her anchor tore down her railings, life rafts, ship’s boat and various other formerly-valuable pieces of equipment. The Willie D merely had a scraped anchor, but her career of mayhem and mishaps had begun. Just twenty four hours later, the four ship convoy consisting of IOWA and her secret passengers and two other destroyers was under strict instructions to maintain complete radio silence, as they were going through a known U-boat feeding ground, speed and silence were the best defense.

Not the auspicious start the captain and crew had planned on, but not to worry. It got worse.

“Suddenly a tremendous explosion rocked the convoy. All of the ships commenced anti-submarine maneuvers. This continued until the PORTER sheepishly admitted that one of her depth charges had fallen off her stern and exploded. The “safety” had not been set as instructed. Captain Walker was watching his fast track career become side-tracked. Shortly thereafter, a freak wave inundated the ship, stripping away everything that wasn’t lashed down, and a man was washed overboard and never found. Next, the fireroom lost power in one of it’s boilers. The Captain, by this point, was making reports almost hourly to the IOWA on the Willie D’s difficulties. It would have been merciful if the Force Commander had detached the hard luck ship and sent her back to Norfolk. But no, she sailed on.

My guess is the task group commander couldn’t spare the escort. That or they were quietly laughing at the plight of the Porter. As the fleet progressed across the Atlantic, FDR and his guests wanted to see a live fire exercise. The Iowa launched a number of weather balloons to be used as targets for the antiaircraft guns.

It was exciting to see more than 100 guns shooting at the balloons, and the President was proud of his Navy. Just as proud was Admiral Ernest J. King, USN, the Chief of Naval Operations; large in size and by demeanor, a true monarch of the sea. Disagreeing with him meant the end of a naval career.

“Up to this time, no one knew what firing a torpedo at him would mean. Over on the Willie D, Captain Walker watched the fireworks display with admiration and envey. Thinking about career redemption and breaking the hard luck spell, the Captain sent his impatient crew to battle stations. They began to shoot down the balloons the IOWA had missed as they drifted into the Porter’s vicinity.

You know this wasn’t going to end well, don’t you? It didn’t.

“Down on the torpedo mounts, the crew watched, waiting to take some practice shots of their own at the big battleship, which even though 6,000 yards away, seemed to blot out the horizon. Lawton Dawson and Tony Fazio were among those responsible for the torpedoes. Part of their job involved ensuring that the primers were installed during actual combat and removed during practice. Once a primer was installed, on a command to fire, it would explode shooting the torpedo out of its tube.

“Dawson, on this particular morning, unfortunately had forgotten to remove the primer from torpedo tube #3. Up on the bridge, a new torpedo officer, unaware of the danger, ordered a simulated firing. Fire 1, Fire 2 and finally Fire 3. There was no fire 4 as the sequence was interrupted by an unmistakable “whoooooooshhhhing” sound made by a successfully launched and armed torpedo.

The torpedoes used by the US Navy were the Mark 14. ((Mark 14 torpedo)) The warhead was about 650lbs of Torpex ((Torpex Explosive)) and was designed to blow large holes in the sides of capitol ships. If one of these had hit the Iowa in the right place, the ship could have been sunk. At best, it would have been heavily damaged and out of commission for months.

“Lt H. Steward Lewis, who witnessed the entire event, later described the next few minutes as what hell would look like if it ever broke loose. Just after he saw the torpedo hit the water, on its way to the IOWA and some of the most prominent figures in world history, Lewis innocently asked the Captain., “did you give permission to fire a torpedo?” Captain Walker’s reply will not ring down through naval history…..although words to the effect of Farragut’s immortal “Damn the torpedos'” figured centrally within.

Captain Walker knew that it didn’t matter of the torpedo hit the Iowa or not, that torpedo had just scored a direct hit on and blew his naval career out of the water. Of course, the first thing that had to be done was warning the Iowa that a torpedo was in the water and heading right at them.

“Initially there was some reluctance to admit what had happened or even to warn the IOWA. As the awful reality sunk in, people began racing around, shouting conflicting instructions and attempting to warn the flagship of imminent danger. First there was a flashing light warning about the torpedo which unfortunately indicated it was headed in another direction.

“Next, the PORTER signaled that it was going reverse at full speed! finally, they decided to break the strictly enforced radio silence. The radio operator on the destroyer transmitted “Lion (code for the IOWA), Lion, come right.” The IOWA operator, more concerned about radio procedure, requested that the offending station identify itself first.

“Finally, the message was received and the IOWA began turning to avoid the speeding torpedo. Meanwhile, on IOWAs bridge, word of the torpedo firing had reached FDR, who asked that his wheelchair be moved to the railing so he could see better what was coming his way. His loyal Secret Service guard immediately drew his pistol as if he was going to shoot the torpedo.

The Iowa started evading the torpedo, much to the relief of the captain and crew of the Porter. However, I don’t think they were to thrilled with what they saw next.

“As the IOWA began evasive maneuvers, all of her guns were trained on the WILLIAM D PORTER. There was now some thought that the PORTER was part of an assassination plot. Within moments of the warning, there was a tremendous explosion just behind the battleship. The torpedo had been detonated by the wash kicked up by the battleship’s increased speed. The crisis was over and so was Captain Walker’s career. His final utterance to the IOWA, in response to a question about the origin of the torpedo, was a weak, “We did it.”

I don’t doubt that having 9 16” guns loaded and aimed directly at you can be a bit disconcerting. What came next for this unlucky ship and crew, was worse.

“Shortly thereafter, the brand new destroyer, her Captain and the entire crew were placed under arrest and sent to Bermuda for trial. It was the first time that a complete ship’s company had been arrested in the history of the U.S. Navy. The ship was surrounded by Marines when it docked in Bermuda, and held there several days as the closed session inquiry attempted to determine what had happened. Torpedoman Dawson eventually confessed to having inadvertently left the primer in the torpedo tube, which caused the launching. Dawson had thrown the used primer over the side to conceal his mistake.

And that was a really stupid thing to do. I guess he just wasn’t thinking straight when he tossed the primer over the side. The Naval establishment was not amused with what happened.

“The whole incident was chalked up to an unfortunate set of circumstances and placed under a cloak of secrecy. Someone had to be punished. Captain Walker and several other PORTER officers and Sailors eventually found themselves in obscure shore assignments. Dawson was sentenced to 14-years hard labor. President Roosevelt intervened; however, asking that no punishment be meted out for what was clearly an accident.

At least Roosevelt understood that this was an accident. These happen, and luckily, no one was hurt. So, what happened to the USS Porter after this fiasco?

“The destroyer was banished to the upper Aleutians. It was probably thought this was as safe a place as any for the ship and anyone who came near her. She remained in the frozen north for almost a year, until late 1944, when she was re-assigned to the Western Pacific.

Ahh yes, the traditional “Sent to the Aleutians” punishment. Whenever some command had a someone who was a complete screw up, it was “Off to the Aleutians” with them. Fortunately, the Porter didn’t spend the entire war there. Even a hard luck ship was needed and couldn’t be spared garbage guarding duty in Alaska. Of course, the Porter’s luck continued when she sailed to her new assignment.

“Before leaving the Aleutians, she accidentally left her calling card in the form of a 5-inch shell fired into the front yard of the American Base Commander, thus re-arranging his flower garden.

Some people, (or in this case, ships), just can’t win.

“In April 1945, the destroyer was assigned to support the invasion of Okinawa. By this time, the greeting, “Don’t Shoot, We’re Republicans” was commonplace and the crew of the “Willie D” had become used to the ribbing.

I don’t think they had much choice in the matter. However, the change of station didn’t bring along a change of luck.

“But the crew of her sister ship, the USS LUCE, was not so polite in its salutations after the PORTER accidentally riddled her side and superstructure with gunfire.”

Yeah I can see how the crew of the Luce might be a bit annoyed after getting shot full of holes by someone supposedly on their side. The Porter did not survive the war. She was sunk by a kamikaze. Of course, she was hit in a typically unique way.

“On 10 June 1945, PORTER’s luck finally ran out. She was sunk by a plane which had (unintentionally) attacked underwater. A Japanese bomber almost made entirely of wood and canvas slipped through the Navy’s defense. Having little in the way of metal surfaces, the plane didn’t register on radar. A fully loaded Kamikaze, it was headed for a ship near the PORTER, but just at the last moment veered away and crashed alongside the unlucky destroyer. There was a sigh of relief as the plane sunk out of sight, but then it blew up underneath the PORTER, opening her hull in the worst possible location.”

The USS Porter went down 3 hours later. In the end, it appears God, or Fate took pity on the ship and her crew. No lives were lost when she went down.

It appears that the US Navy decided not tot take the chance of having the bad luck being passed on to a new USS William D Porter. No other ship has been given that name.

For an even more hilarious take on the trials and tribulations of the unluckiest ship in the Navy, pop on over to Cracked.com and read The 5 Craziest War Stories (All Happened on the Same Ship)

That is all.

~The Angry Webmaster~