Iowa Gun Turret Damaged in Blast Called Repairable

WASHINGTON — Navy engineers have determined that the 16-inch gun turret involved in a powerful explosion on the battleship Iowa April 19 can be repaired, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

But the Pentagon still has not decided whether to fix it or how much it would cost. Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said that Navy workers Sunday succeeded in moving the turret’s middle gun to its “center line,” or normal position, indicating that the foot-thick steel walls of the structure have not been bent beyond repair.

Meanwhile, as investigators sifted through debris from the blast in an effort to pinpoint its cause, Navy officials confirmed that at least one of the 58 men in the turret apparently recognized that something had gone wrong moments before three successive explosions ripped through the six-story structure, killing 47 sailors.

The officials said that just before the explosions, which occurred during a routine gunnery exercise, a crew member inside the turret said through a voice-activated telephone system, “Uh-oh, we’ve got a problem here.”

550 Pounds of Explosives

A moment later, some 550 pounds of explosive propellent ignited, instantly filling the chamber with hot gas that burned and asphyxiated its victims.

Navy sources said that it still is not known whether there were defects in the bags of nitrocellulose mix used to propel 1,900-pound projectiles from the Iowa’s guns or whether they were mishandled in the intricate and dangerous process of loading and preparing the gun for firing.

In an earlier firing of the 16-inch guns aboard the Iowa on April 19, a gun in another turret suffered a “hung round,” or misfire, Gunner’s Mate Kendall L. Truitt told the Virginian-Pilot recently. But Navy officials said that any malfunction of explosive powder in that chamber--Turret One--is likely to be unrelated to the blast that occurred in Turret Two, since the bags of powder came from different lots.