1960 — July 19, USN Destroyers Ammen and Collett collide in fog off Newport Beach CA-11

–11  Henley. “Reader Report: Remembering a naval disaster.” Los Angeles Times, 4-29-2016.

–11  Oakland Tribune, CA. “Probe Opens in Collision of Navy Ships.” 7-20-1960, p. E3.

–11  U.S. Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”

–11  United States Navy. This Day in Naval History – July 19.^[1]

 

Narrative Information

 

USN: “This Day in Naval History – July 19….USS Ammen (DD 527) and USS Collett (DD 730) collide in the fog off California, killing 11 men[2] and injuring 20 other shipmates.” (United States Navy. This Day in Naval History – July 19.)

 

USN: “Destroyers Ammen (DD-527) and Collett (DD-730) collide in a dense fog off Newport Beach, CA. 11 killed, 20 injured. 10 Jul. 1960.” (US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

 

Henley: “It was mid-morning on Tuesday, July 19, 1960, and two 376-foot U.S. Navy destroyers, foghorns blaring, were groping their way through a dense fog bank five miles off the coast of Newport Beach.

 

“Both ships, the USS Ammen (DD-527), which was heading to San Diego from the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station, where it had unloaded it ammunition, and the USS Collett (DD-730), sailing from San Diego to Long Beach, had been in the thick of combat in the Pacific during World War II….

 

“…on that fateful day off Newport Beach nearly 57 years ago, as the fog thickened and the sea became increasingly choppy, Cmdr. Zaven Mukhalian, 41, skipper of the Ammen and his 235-man crew were presented with a sight that would strike terror in the heart of any mariner. Out of the fog loomed the Collett, carrying a crew of 239, traveling at an estimated speed of 17 knots (19.5 mph) directly toward the slower-moving Ammen’s port, or left side.

 

“Mukhalian and Cmdr. Albert T. Ford, 39, captain of the Collett, frantically ordered evasive action and instructed their helmsmen to reverse course. But it was too late.

 

“At 9:42 a.m., the bow of the Collett sliced into the port side of the Ammen…The force of the impact gouged a huge hole below the Ammen’s waterline, sending water rushing in and damaging its engine, electronics repair shops and fire rooms so badly they were left looking like a “junkyard,” the Los Angeles Times noted in a Page One story the following day….

 

“Several crewmen on the Collett, which was able to back free from the Ammen, suffered minor lacerations, cuts and bruises. But on the Ammen, it was a different story….

 

“The death toll on the Ammen reached 11. All those killed were enlisted men. At least 20 more crewmen received injuries. The force of the collision was so great that two Ammen crewmen, one of whom died later that day, and the other who suffered critical injuries, were catapulted from the deck of the Ammen to the deck of the Collett. Most of the dead and injured had been in the Ammen’s fire and engine rooms when the ships collided….

 

“A week after the disaster, a Navy court martial heard testimony from the captains of the Ammen and Collett that their ships’ radars were working properly before the crash and they could not explain why the two warships had come together with such destructive force.

 

“Four months later, on Nov. 11, 1960, the L.A. Times reported that Ford had pled guilty of negligently handling his ship, but that he had pled innocent of maintaining adequate [inadequate?] watches on his ship’s bow and in the radar room. The court subsequently reprimanded him and sentenced him to the loss of 100 numbers on the Navy promotion list. This effectively banned him from promotion to the rank of captain and terminated his Navy career….” (Henley, David. “Reader Report: Remembering a naval disaster.” Los Angeles Times, 4-29-2016.

 

Newspapers

 

July 19: “Newport Beach, July 19 (AP) – One Navy destroyer knifed into the side of another in thick fog off the Southern California coast today, killing eight and injuring 10 or more. The USS Collett ripped into the after port side of the USS Ammen, setting her afire. Seven were killed and seven injured on the Ammen. A fire room and engine room were flooded and she listed heavily. At first she was feared lost but pumps checked the inflooding sea and she was taken in tow for nearby Long Beach. One died and two were injured on the Collett. Its bow was extensively damaged but it was able to head for port under its own power.

 

“What caused it? The Navy couldn’t say. Sources in Washington reported that the Ammen was en route to San Diego, south of here, to be deactivated. She had just unloaded equipment at the Navy’s nearby Seal Beach net depot. The Collett was on sea trials after overhaul. Each ship carried a crew of about 250.

 

“Identification of casualties was held up pending notification of next of kin.

 

“The collision happened at 9:44 a.m. seven miles off this harbor town, 30 miles south of Los Angeles. Visibility was about a quarter of a mile. The swirling, cottony fog, blown by winds that kicked up chop on the sea’s surface, made rescue efforts chancy until the fog lifted a bit. Rescue ships and helicopters from all nearby armed forces facilities, plus a host of small craft from Newport Beach, swarmed in. Visibility was so poor at first that neither ships nor copters could contact the stricken destroyers.

 

“A life guard boat made it first, taking a load of eight ashore. Then a helicopter got a load of stretchers. Soon there was a stream of boats heading shoreward….” (Oakland Tribune. “Two Navy Ships Collide; 8 Killed.” 7-19-1960, p. 1.)

 

July 20: “Newport Beach, July 20 – (UPI) – The Navy tried to find out today why two destroyers equipped with radar collided off the fog-shrouded Southern California coast. A board of inquiry was set up to look into the cause of the collision which took the lives of 11 men aboard the USS Ammen and injured seven others aboard the Ammen and the USS Collett. Both ships were able to make harbor at Long Beach. The Ammen ironically was heading to San Diego for retirement into the mothball fleet. Both ships had distinguished records in the Pacific during World War II.

 

“The bow of the Collett sliced midships into the port side of the USS Ammen yesterday at 9:44 a.m. about five miles from the coast and 30 miles southwest of Los Angeles. A gaping hole was opened about one-third the way back on the Ammen and the bow of the Collett was crumpled back 20 to 30 feet….

 

“Despite quick action by commanders of both ships, the heavy fog had cut visibility to about one-eighth mile and prevented the ships from sighting each other before it was too late to avoid the collision. Comdr. A. T. Ford, 39, of the Collett, said his first order when he saw the broadside of the Ammen loom before his craft was to reverse engines and change course.

 

“But it was too late to avoid the crash. The Collett (which also carried 235 men) was estimated unofficially to have been traveling at 17 knots at the time of the collision. Ford said he did not know if the radar aboard the Collett had picked up the presence of the Ammen. “We should have, but I don’t know if we did, he said. Comdr. Zaven Mukhalian, 41, of the Ammen said radar on his craft was working “very well.” He said the Ammen’s radar picked up the presence of the Collett about a half hour before the collision. At that time, he said, the Collett was on the starboard side of the Ammen, although when the collision occurred the Collett came in on the Ammen’s port side. “It takes time for the radar man to interpret plots,” said Mukhalian.

 

“The bow of the Collett gashed out a huge hole in the Ammen’s side, exposing her rear engine and fire rooms and leaving them looking like “a junkyard,” as one reporter described it.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “Probe Opens in Collision of Navy Ships.” 7-20-1960, p. E3.)

 

July 22: “Long Beach, July 22 – (UPI) – The only officer in the radar-plotting room of the destroyer USS Collett when it rammed into a sister ship was an ensign who had been in the Navy less than a month, a Navy board of inquiry was told today. The Collett knifed into the USS Ammen — a war-proud warship en route to San Diego where it would have been deactivated — in deep fog Tuesday off Newport Beach, killing 11 crewmen aboard the Ammen.

 

“Ens. Francis Joseph Mootz Jr., 21, told the board he was the only officer in the radar room at the time. He reported aboard the Collett newly refitted for anti-submarine warfare, June 25 after his graduation from Notre Dame, he said. “I was not a qualified CIC (combat information center) watch officer,” he said. I assumed certain responsibilities. I was the only ship’s officer in CIC.” Mootz said that at the time of the collision he was standing next to the radar man who was on the scope. “I was watching him, but had no knowledge if what he was doing was correct or not,” Mootz said.

 

“Radarman 3/c Robert A. Rose, who was in the CIC operating the dead-reckoning tracer for the period preceding the collision said he had been in the Navy for three years and considered himself fully qualified as a radar plotter.” (Oakland Tribune, CA. “New Ensign in Key Post as Ships Hit.” 7-22-1960, p. E29.)

 

Sources

 

Capital Times, Madison, WI. “Blinded by Dense Fog. 11 Die as Ships Collide.” 7-20-1960, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=100788534&sterm

 

Henley, David. “Reader Report: Remembering a naval disaster.” Los Angeles Times, 4-29-2016. Accessed 2-12-2020 at: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/tn-dpt-me-0430-reader-report-20160429-story.html

 

Oakland Tribune, CA. “New Ensign in Key Post as Ships Hit.” 7-22-1960, p. E29. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=31543885&sterm=collett+ammen

 

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Probe Opens in Collision of Navy Ships.” 7-20-1960, p. E3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=31553024&sterm=collett+ammen

 

Oakland Tribune, CA. “Two Navy Ships Collide; 8 Killed.” 7-19-1960, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=31296220&sterm=collett+ammen

 

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

 

United States Navy. This Day in Naval History – July 19. Accessed 11-3-2014 at: http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=2540

 

 

 

 

[1] “1960 – USS Ammen (DD 527) and USS Collett (DD 730) collide in the fog off California, killing 11 men and injuring 20 other shipmates.”

[2] All from the Ammen. (Henley. “Reader Report: Remembering a naval disaster.” Los Angeles Times, 4-29-2016.)