Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Peak 70s...




On the evening of Sept. 8, 1923: Seven U.S. destroyers crash into rocks and are wrecked off Santa Barbara County in California. Twenty-three sailors are killed in the Honda Point Disaster, the greatest peacetime loss of ships in US Navy history.

Destroyer Squadron 11 is headed from San Francisco to San Diego for a training exercise when weather conditions combine to throw it off course. The night is thick with fog, and the currents are exceptionally strong as a result of the earthquake that rocked Japan Sept. 1, 1923.



Captain Edward H. Watson, an 1895 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, commanded the squadron. Assigned as commodore of DesRon 11 in July 1922, it was his first time as a unit commander. Watson flew his flag on the USS Delphy (DD-261), and is followed by the other ships in a close-formation column. The navigator thinks he is headed for the Santa Barbara Channel but is several miles off, and he ignores a radio signal showing his true bearing, certain it’s erroneous. The Delphy strikes rocks at 20 knots in a collision that kills 3 crew. Watson sounds an alarm but it’s too late for the next ships, the S.P. Lee, which crashes into a bluff, and the Young, whose hull is torn open by rocks. The Young capsizes quickly, with 20 dead.

Four more destroyers, the Woodbury, Nicholas, Fuller and Chauncey, run aground with less damage, but still bad enough that they are all declared unsalvageable. Watson will be court-martialed and reduced in rank for his errors; 3 other officers are acquitted.

Eleven officers involved were brought before general courts-martial on the charges of negligence and culpable inefficiency to perform one's duty. Capt. Watson was court-martialed and reduced in rank for his errors; 3 other officers are acquitted. This was the largest single group of officers ever court-martialed in the U.S. Navy's history. All were Clemson-class destroyers, less than five years old. Sometimes "follow the leader" is a really bad idea. No other US Navy ships have been named Delphy.

The lost ships were:

• USS Delphy (DD-261), the flagship in the column. 3 sailors died.
  
• USS S. P. Lee (DD-310)
  
• USS Young (DD-312) made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks. 20 sailors died.
  
• USS Woodbury (DD-309) turned to starboard, but struck an offshore rock.
  
• USS Nicholas (DD-311) turned to port and also hit a rock.
  
• USS Fuller (DD-297) stuck next to Woodbury.
  
• USS Chauncey (DD-296) ran aground while attempting to rescue sailors from the capsized Young.
  

Earlier that day...



Calvin Jr. died of blood poisoning less than a year later. He was only 16.



FDR Fireside chat


Presidential Proclamation 4311 of September 8, 1974, by President Gerald R. Ford granting a pardon to Richard M. Nixon.



"It is believed that a trial of Richard Nixon, if it became necessary, could not fairly begin until a year or more has elapsed. In the meantime, the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States."
Ford pardons Nixon


Not from this year, but 33 years ago...





OMNI issue includes...





OMNI, Dec 1990