American Notes INVESTIGATIONS

After three months, the Navy is reviewing its study of the U.S.S. Iowa gun- turret explosion that killed 47 men. According to one report, investigators % believe that the most plausible explanation for the explosion is suicide. They conclude but cannot prove that Clayton Hartwig, 25, who died in the blast, set off the inferno with an electronic detonator. The evidence: Iowa sailor David Smith claimed that Hartwig had talked about sinking the ship and had shown him a timer.

Early in the investigation, Kendall Truitt, 21, a friend of Hartwig's and beneficiary of Hartwig's $100,000 life-insurance policy, was under suspicion as an accessory in a bizarre murder-suicide plot stemming from a homosexual relationship. Truitt denied the allegations, and the Navy quietly apologized to him.

Still, the suicide theory raises questions. Iowa Gunner's Mate Second Class John Mullahy informed officials that moments before the explosion he was on the phone to the turret when he heard a voice say, "We have a problem in here. We're not ready yet." Whether that problem was Hartwig or something else altogether remains unknown.