1944 — Nov 10, explosion, USS Mount Hood, Seeadler Harbor, Manus Isl., Papua New Guinea–372-378

— 378  Moran. Explosive Accident Summary: [WW] II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, 1992, 118

— 373  National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

— 372  Naval Historical Center. “USS Mount Hood (AE-11), 1944-1944,” 9-30-1999.[1]

USS Mount Hood (AE-11)

–295  Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents relating to the loss of USS Mount Hood.”[2]

–295  Commander Naval Base, Manus, Admiralty Islands. Memo, CINC, US Fleet, 12-14-1944

USS Mindanao (ARG-3)

—  23  NHC, US Dept. Navy. “USS Mount Hood (AE-11 – Explosion, 11 November 1944.”

—  3  Alhena (AKA-9).   Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  4  Argonne (AG-31). Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  5  Cebu (ARG-6).      Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  Kyne (DD-744).     Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  2  Oberrender (De-344).  Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  Piedmont (AD-17). Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  Young (DD-580).    Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  4  LCM attached to USS Sierra.  Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…Hood.”

–19  LCM’s (7, Boat Pool 15). Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…Mount Hood.”

—  3  LSM attached to USS Briareus.  Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…Hood.”

—  1  YMS-49.            Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  2  YMS-238.          Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  2  YMS-293.          Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  YMS-340.          Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  YO-77.               Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…USS Mount Hood.”

—  1  Section Base, Navy 3205.  Chart of losses by craft, “Selected documents…Hood.”

Narrative Information

Moran. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board: “…the USS Mount Hood…AE detonated in Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island in the Admiralties, just north of New Guinea on 10 November 1944 while crews were off-loading and on-loading ammunition from several barges at once.[3]  This detonation killed 378 servicemen and injured 400.  Twenty one smaller crafts within 500 feet of the blast, vanished [as did the Mount Hood].  Ten ships where severely damaged within one half mile, and 26 other ships experienced fragment damage up to 6,600 feet.  People ashore were knocked down at 2.5 miles.[4]”  (Moran, Edward P. Jr. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, Aug 1992, p. 118.)

Naval Historical Center: “USS Mount Hood, a 13910-ton ammunition ship, was built at Wilmington, North Carolina, and converted for Naval service at Norfolk, Virginia. Commissioned in July 1944, she transited the Panama Canal in August and was assigned to the South Pacific area to provide ammunition to the fighting forces. On the morning of 10 November 1944, while she was moored at the Manus Naval Base, Admiralty Islands, Mount Hood‘s cargo of explosives detonated in a massive blast. The ship was utterly destroyed by the accident, which killed all those on board her. Damage and casualties were also inflicted on ships anchored as far as 2000 yards away. Personnel casualties on Mount Hood and on other vessels totaled 45 known dead, 327 missing and 371 injured.”  (Naval Historical Center.  “USS Mount Hood (AE-11), 1944-1944.” Washington, DC:  United States Department of the Navy, 9-30-1999.)

Naval Historical Center: “…USS Mindanao had 180 crewmen killed and injured by this explosion.”  (Naval Historical Center.  “USS Mount Hood (AE-11 – Explosion, 11 November 1944.” Washington, DC:  United States Department of the Navy, 9-30-1999.)

Wallace, Lt. Lester A. “Officer Tells of Loss of USS Mount Hood.” : “On a bright and sunshiny morning early in November, 1944, a young Naval Reserve Lieutenant and 13 enlisted men climbed over the side of the USS Mount Hood, an ammunition ship anchored in the harbor of an island base in the Pacific, and boarded a boat to go ashore. They had been ashore only a few minutes when a sailor shouted, “Look!” and pointed to the Mount Hood. They turned and saw an enormous flash of flame where the ship had been. Two explosions followed and the Lieutenant, Lester A. Wallace, 29, 1314 North Troy Street, Arlington, Virginia, and his group of enlisted men were knocked to the ground.

“They were stunned by the concussion, though 4,500 yards from the ship, but struggled to their feet and boarded their boat again to return to the Mount Hood. All they found was debris scattered over a wide area. They, and four other enlisted men on a similar errand, were the only survivors of the crew of 296 men and 22 officers.

“Lieutenant Wallace, a Naval Reserve officer and a native of Atlanta, Georgia, recently was ordered back to this country. The only surviving officer of the Mount Hood, he told a few details of the explosion.

“”I was the communications officer aboard the Mount Hood,” he recalled. “I had to pick up some communications manuals and other publications at the base. Some enlisted men had dental appointments on the base, mail clerks had to pick up mail, so we all went in one boat.

“”We went ashore about 0830 (8:30 A.M.) and were walking up the beach when a sailor, with a startled look in his eye, screamed: ‘LOOK!’, and pointed to seaward. There was a flash, followed by two quick explosions. We were knocked down, but scrambled to our feet and got back in the boat.

“”We headed toward the Mount Hood. There was nothing but debris all around, so we returned and reported to the Commanding Officer of the base what we had seen, and helped him as much as we could in trying to find out what happened. I guess no one ever will know what really happened. She just blew. We had never had an explosion of any kind on the Mount Hood before that.”” (Wallace, Lt. Lester A. “Officer Tells of Loss of USS Mount Hood.” Press and Radio Release, 2-13-1945. Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation.)

Sources

Commander Naval Base, Manus, Admiralty Islands. Memo to Commander in Chief, United States Fleet. Subject: “War Diary, Correction of.” 12-14-1944. In “Selected documents relating to the loss of USS Mount Hood.” Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. Accessed 4-22-2013 at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AE/ae11-Loss.html

Clancy, Patrick. “Selected documents relating to the loss of USS Mount Hood.” Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. Accessed 4-22-2013 at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AE/ae11-Loss.html

Moran, Edward P. Jr. Explosive Accident Summary: World War II. DoD Explosives Safety Board, Aug 1992. Accessed 4-19-2013: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA507027

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

Naval Historical Center. “USS Mount Hood (AE-11), 1944-1944.” Washington, DC: United States Department of the Navy, 9-30-1999. Accessed 4-22-2013 at: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/ae11.htm

Wallace, Lt. “Officer Tells of Loss of USS Mount Hood.” Press and Radio Release, 2-13-1945. Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. Accessed 4-22-2013 at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/AE/ae11-Loss.html

[1] Forty-five known dead and 327 missing. [The know dead must have been on other ships in that no human remains existed for the Mount Hood or for several of the nearby small craft.

[2] Commander, Naval Base Manus, Admiralty Islands. Memo to Commander in Chief United States Fleet dated 12-14-1944. Chart of losses by craft in, “Selected documents relating to the loss of USS Mount Hood.” Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation. Accessed 4-22-2013.

[3] Cites:  Nelson, Howard R. Jr. Explosive Accidents Involving Naval Munitions.  NWS Yorktown, VA, 23691-5000, July 1984.

[4] Cites:  Herman, Robert C. The Explosion of the USS Mount Hood, Seeadler Harbor, Manus Island, 10 November 1944 (AD 812958). Washington, DC: Armed Services Explosives Safety Board, 6-6-1951.