1953 — Oct 16, Carrier USS Leyte explosion/fire, Charleston Naval Yard, Boston, MA– 37

— 39 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Key Dates in Fire History. “Oct 16.” 1996.
— 37 Lowell Sun, MA. “Leyte Probe Resumes Monday,” Oct 23, 1953, p. 3.
— 37 NFPA. “Other Transportation Fires.” Quarterly of the NFPA, V47, N3, Jan 1954, p. 317.
— 37 National Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
— 37 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “Oct. 16, Boston, Mss. U.S. Government, Dept. of Navy, $600,000, 37 killed.

“27,500-ton aircraft carrier Leyte. Ignition of flammable hydraulic fluid, accidentally released under pressure of approximately 2,700 psi, was the cause of a flash fire that killed 37 navy and civilian personnel and injured 39, according to unofficial reports. The fire originated and was, for the most part, confined to the port catapult machinery room under the hangar deck, forward.

“According to reports released to newspapers the court of inquiry found ‘no intent, fault, negligence or inefficiency of any person in naval service or connected therewith.’ Sabotage was also ruled out. The report concluded that someone injected air under high pressure into small tube that contained oil, generating sufficient heat to ignite the oil.” (National Fire Protection Association. “Other Transportation Fires.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 47, No. 3, January 1954.)

USN: “Accidental ignition of hydraulic fluid in catapult system starts a fire in Leyte (CV-32) at the Charlestown Naval Shipyard, Boston. 32 sailors and five civilians killed, 40 injured. 15 Oct. 1953.” (US Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

Newspapers

Oct 17, AP: “Boston (AP)—Navy investigators swarmed over the wounded carrier Leyte today seeking an explanation of a violent explosion and fire that spread death and destruction in her compartments yesterday. The known dead numbered 36 and at least 40 more were injured. Many of the latter were critically burned.

“Asked about published reports that Navy Intelligence men and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation were studying the possibility of sabotage, the FBI answered, “No comment.”

“The Navy announced today the following board of inquiry will convene Monday at 8 am. EST. Rear Adm. Delbert S. Cornwell, senior officer, and Capts. Frank N Turner and Leonard O. Fox. All are members of the Bureau of the Aeronautics, Washington.

“Meanwhile, two Massachusetts members of Congress urged an immediate investigation. Edith Nourse Rogers (R) and Thomas J. Lane (D) both sent messages to Washington. Mrs. Rogers requested that special attention be paid to sabotage. In a wire to Defense Secretary Wilson, Lane said:
“I am at a loss to understand how such a tragedy could occur in our own Boston Naval Shipyard…when your department has at its disposal every precautionary measure to guard against such unfortunate occurrences, especially while the carrier is in port.”

“The blast occurred forward on the port side of the big, 27,500-ton carrier that cost 90 million dollars when she was launched at Newport News, Va., in 1945. Unofficial reports said 1,400 officers and men were on board when tragedy struck.

“It was the worst Navy explosion In peacetime since 48 men died aboard the battleship Mississippi off the California coast June 12,1924.

“The 856-foot-long Leyte, docked for overhaul after combat action off Korea in October-December, 1950, came here last December and was almost ready to go to sea again. She had been out for a trial run only Wednesday.

“The cause of the blast was not known. The Leyte’s skipper, Capt. Thomas A. Ahroon, 46, of Norfolk, Va, in command of the ship less than three weeks, said the fire may have started on the deck immediately below the hanger deck. But he could not be sure, it happened so fast. In his cabin when the blast shook the ship—”a dull rumble like a subway tram going through”—Ahroon found the second deck cut off by smoke and climbed through an escape hatch to the hanger deck. Damage control and firefighting parties already were in action, he said. Capt. Ahroon timed the explosion at 3:15 p m., EST, and the first fire alarm was sounded a minute later. At 3:48 a second alarm was sent in. More than 50 Boston fire trucks and rescue companies rated to the shipyard.

“Virtually every available ambulance In Boston—about 75-converged on the area as officials discovered the extent of the disaster. Civilian doctors and nurses joined Navy hospital corpsmen from other vessels. Hospitals rushed whole blood and plasma.

“The injured, many so charred and battered as to make identification difficult, were taken to City
Hospital, to Carney Hospital in South Boston and to the naval hospital in Chelsea….

“The fire was described by Dr. James W. Manary, superintendent of Boston City Hospital, as the
city’s worst disaster since the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire that snuffed out 492 lives Nov 28, 1942. Lawrence T. White, 27, a Boston fireman who was burned on arms and hands., said when he went below decks he found “a raging Inferno. ” White said he went down two decks and “anybody below there was a goner.”

“Navy fireman Elwood Rawlings, who went aboard the carrier with respirators from the carrier Salerno Bay tied alongside, said “Nobody was alive when we arrived Fumes were heavy and smoke thick.

“Sailors and civilian firemen were staggering out on all sides with lifeless bodies. ‘As we groped
through the smoke we came across two unrecognizable bodies—charred black. We knew our respirator apparatus would be of no help to them.’

“The fire raged for more than three hours. It was under control at 6:30 but it was not until 7:59
that Boston Fire Chief John V. Stapleton sent the all-out signal.

“Word of the disaster spread fast throughout New England, but it took hours to piece the full story together.” (Portsmouth Herald (NH). “Death Toll at 36 in Leyte Blast,” Oct 17, 1953, 1.)

Oct 19, AP: “Boston, Oct. 19 (AP)—Capt. Thomas A. Ahroon, USN, of the aircraft carrier Leyte said today the atomizing of hydraulic fluid may have caused an explosion and fire which killed 36 men on his ship Friday. Thirty other injured are under hospital care.

“A voluntary witness before a Navy court of inquiry, Capt. Ahroon told the board he had ‘a very strong opinion’ on the cause. ‘Everything leads to the port catapult,’ he said. ‘The question in my mind is only where the vapor came from. There are plenty of sources for a spark to ignite.

“By ‘vapor’ the carrier’s commanding officer explained he guessed some of the hydraulic fluid, which has a high flash point and normally is not considered combustible, may have been ‘atomized’ by escape through a pin hole while under heavy pressure and that a spark may have touched it off.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “Leyte Captain Indicates Cause of Blast Known,” 10-19-1953, p. 33.)

Oct 23, Lowell Sun: “Today, the death toll stands at 37….The name of C. J. Murphy, 52, of Boston, was added to the previous death tall yesterday. He succumbed at Chelsea Naval hospital where most of the injured had been taken.” (Lowell Sun, MA. “Leyte Probe Resumes Monday,” Oct 23, 1953, 3.)

Sources

Lowell Sun, MA. “Leyte Captain Indicates Cause of Blast Known,” Oct 19, 1953, p. 33. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=55465737

Lowell Sun, MA. “Leyte Probe Resumes Monday,” Oct 23, 1953, p. 3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=55465866

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association. “Other Transportation Fires.” Quarterly of the NFPA, Vol. 47, No. 3, January 1954.

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.)

Portsmouth Herald, NH. “Death Toll at 36 in Leyte Blast,” 10-17-1953, 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=19129444

United States Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center. See “Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action.” Washington, DC: Washington Navy Yard. Accessed at: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/accidents.htm