163 Survivors

A U.S. destroyer lay at anchor off Sandy Hook, a few miles from New York's Coney Island. Less than an hour before her scheduled 7 a.m. departure for duty, she was rocked by a resounding blast which pitched men and guns high in the air, set ammunition exploding in a long series of concussions.

The mast toppled. The bridge buckled and collapsed. Fire swept through the engine room. The barrel of a 5-in. gun whirled into the sea. Fifty minutes after the first blast, five minutes after the ship had been abandoned, another explosion came, apparently in the magazine. The destroyer split in two and sank.

The Navy merely announced that there were 163 survivors, of whom 108 were injured. (That class of destroyers carries a crew of 150 to 300.) Possible causes of the disaster (closest to home in World War II): 1) an enemy submarine; 2) a mine friendly or enemy; 3) sabotage; 4) accident. The Navy said nothing.

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