“Don’t shoot! We’re Republicans!”...

Thanks to a series of incompetencies, the war nearly ended early for President FD Roosevelt and everyone else onboard the USS Iowa...

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Captain Wilfred decided to follow up with a torpedo drill, in which the Porter practiced mock attacks on the Iowa—with the torpedoes’ primer charges removed.

Two mock torpedo launches went smoothly. But upon the third firing command at 2:36 PM, a 24-foot-long Mark 15 torpedo lept from the Porter and surged towards the Iowa.

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Even my own Dad was in harm's way as a drunken gunner fired a 5" into his neighborhood in the Aleutians...But the US Navy could finally declare itself safe as the Porter sank beneath the waves after dispatching a Japanese Val bomber in a kamikaze dive...The ship is seen below in its final moments...:usa:...Ben

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Good story, Ben. I have to wonder why they would use charged torpedoes, even without detonators, for practice. Especially against a ship carrying POTUS. That's an explosion just waiting to happen.:shrug:

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Originally Posted by Mike

Good story, Ben. I have to wonder why they would use charged torpedoes, even without detonators, for practice. Especially against a ship carrying POTUS. That's an explosion just waiting to happen.:shrug:

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Bear in mind that very few of those who served in WWII were careerists...Most were draftees and reservists...Still that ship was a floating cluster****...:stuck:...Ben