“Don’t shoot! We’re Republicans!”...

[Truckman]

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

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.

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......Ben