The USS Iowa was being used as a floating laboratory for high-explosive experiments, and crewmen were using improper gun powder when the No. 2 turret exploded and killed 47 men, a news service reported.
Transcripts from the Navy investigation into the April 19 battleship explosion showed also that the commander, Capt. Fred B. Moosally, had not authorized the firing with experimental loads when the explosion occurred, Media General News Services reported Sunday.The investigation also showed that the Navy command that requested the experiments was the same command that performed the tests that led the Navy to conclude that the explosion was likely an act of sabotage by a sailor.
The Pentagon released a report in early September that said circumstantial evidence indicated gunner's mate Clayton Hartwig of Cleveland intentionally sparked the explosion. However, the report said it would be impossible to prove because all those nearby died in the explosion, including Hartwig.
The Navy, when contacted by The Associated Press on Saturday, stood by its conclusion. "Everything was very carefully considered," said Cmdr. Mark Baker, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.
According to the 7,007-page report, which was available to the public, the Navy found that gunners were firing an experimental load from the Iowa's No. 2 turret with powder not approved for the weight of the projectile.
The powder was clearly marked that it not be used with the heavyweight projectiles being fired, the report said.
The experiments were at the request of researchers at the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va.
According to the transcripts, the tests were designed to improve the accuracy and range of the ship's antiquated 16-inch guns.
Cmdr. Eugene J. Kocmich, who was the Iowa's weapons officer between 1986 and 1988, told Navy investigators that the experiments alarmed a number of officers on the ship, who didn't think a fully manned battleship was meant to be a research and development vessel. They argued that tests should be conducted under safer conditions.
To fulfill the experiments, Iowa gunners tried reducing the powder load by using five bags instead of the normal six. Master Chief S.P. Skelly, who was in charge of the experiments, had discovered that using just five bags improved the accuracy of the guns.
"I knew they didn't have any authorization," said Lt. Cmdr. Kenneth M. Costigan, the Iowa's gunnery officer. "I think there were big signs down in the magazines, `You cannot use D-846 with heavyweight projectiles.' It was pretty clear what the rules were." But Costigan said he never did anything about it.
Moosally said that on the day of the explosion, he did not know a five-bag charge was going to be used in Turret 2 or that Turret 3 - which never fired because of the explosion - was loaded with an even more innovative four-bag charge.
Moosally told investigators he approved the use of a "reduced charge," but said he thought that meant six 55-pound bags of powder.
The combination of experimentation on the Iowa, and the high turnover, inexperience and poor management on board, initially attracted the attention of investigators looking into the explosion.