1969 — Dec 26, USN Charter SS Badger State explos./liferaft hit by falling bomb, N. Pacific  —     26

— 26  American Merchant Marine at War. “SS Badger State Rocked by Blasts.” 6-5-2000.

— 26  NTSB. Explosion Aboard…Eventual Sinking of SS Badger State… December 26, 1969.[1]

— 26  USCG. Marine Casualty Report.  SS Badger State Explosion…North Pacific…  1971.[2]

 

Narrative Information

 

NTSB: “Synopsis. During a storm in the North Pacific Ocean in the early hours of December 26, 1969, the cargo of military explosives aboard the SS Badger State broke loose. The ship radioed a distress call and made strenuous efforts to restrain the rolling bombs. An explosion followed which opened a hole in the starboard side, started minor fires, and caused other structural damage. The crew of 40 abandoned ship. The ship’s life-rafts were launched but blew away. While the lifeboat with 35 crewmembers was alongside the ship, a 2,000-pound bomb fell out of the hole in the ship’s side and into the lifeboat, capsizing it. A merchant ship arrived about one-half hour after the explosion, rescuing 14 survivors. The Badger State sank on January 5, 1970.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this casualty was the failure of the bomb stowage and packaging system to restrain the cargo under the ship motions that occurred during the adverse weather encountered on this voyage, was particularly on the morning of December 26, 1969.

 

“The following are considered to be contributing causal factors:

 

    1. The lack of a stowage design criteria that could be correlated with environmental conditions, ship motions, or force loadings, which could then be implemented by engineering design or tests.

 

    1. Utilization of stowage practices which create ‘chain series’ of potential failure points, dependent on custom-made supports that are sensitive to workmanship quality variations. In the method used, a break in the ‘chain’ also caused all the other ‘connections’ in the chain to fail. On the Badger State, the sides of the vessel were used as fixed boundaries between which the cargo was wedged with blocking. With no intermediated boundaries, the loosening or failure of a single block or wedge released the whole row of pallets….

 

  1. The unusual severity of the storm which struck on December 26 and caused the ship to roll to 52°. The occurrence of the storm during darkness also made it difficult to see the direction of the oncoming waves and prevented conning the vessel to meet the waves head-on.

 

  1. The inability of Fleet Weather Central to forecast the storms of Dec 25 and 26.

 

“The following contributed to the loss of life subsequent to abandoning ship:

 

  1. The failure of the ship’s and air-dropped liferafts to remain in the vicinity of the

accident where the crew-members could board them.

 

  1. The failure of the lifeboat painter which deprived the crew of a means to shear the lifeboat away from the ship.

 

  1. The falling of a 2,000-pound bomb into the lifeboat, killing or injuring some crewmembers and overturning the lifeboat.

 

  1. The lack of better techniques to detect a person in storm seas and to retrieve him.

 

  1. The characteristic which allowed the lifejackets to slide upward and to push the head forward, tending to drown exhausted or unconscious survivors.” (pp. 1-3)

 

(NTSB. Explosion Aboard and Eventual Sinking of SS Badger State in the North Pacific Ocean, December 26, 1969. Action by the National Transportation Safety Board.)

 

USCG: “Commandant’s Action on The Marine Board of Investigation…

 

“1. The dry cargo vessel SS Badger State sustained an explosion and fire at about 0830 local time, 26 December 1969, in the North Pacific Ocean, 550 miles north northeast of Midway Island. The vessel was ordered abandoned. Thirty-five of the crew of forty were lowered to the water in the starboard lifeboat. As the boat drifted aft a 2,000 pound bomb fell into the boat from the hole blown in the side of the ship causing the lifeboat to capsize. Fourteen survivors were rescued from the water by the Greek vessel Khian Star. The Badger State finally sank on 5 January 1970.

 

“2. The vessel loaded 5,336 long tons of cargo consisting of 500, 750 and 2,000 pound bombs at the Naval Ammunition Depot, Bangor, Washington…

 

“3. The Badger State sailed on 14 December 1969 for DaNang, Republic of Vietnam…Soon after sailing the vessel encountered high winds and heavy seas until abandoned on 26 December 1969…By Christmas Day the completion of the voyage was in doubt. Cargo was loose in all hatches, the vessel had taken rolls of 50⁰, and the crew worked without interruption in an attempt to secure the cargo.

 

“4. During the early morning of 26 Dec 1969 while hove to, the vessel rolled 50⁰ to starboard and 52⁰ to port upon meeting an unusually large sea. Inspection of number five hold revealed that 2,000 pound bombs were loose from their pallets and striking each other and the ship’s side. Small holes began to appear on the starboard side where the bombs had struck the shell plating. At about 0830 an explosion in number five hold blew off the hatch covers and the Master ordered abandon ship.

 

“5. Thirty-five of the crew boarded the starboard lifeboat. Once water-borne the boat drifted aft, and while alongside of number five hold the men in the lifeboat saw a large irregular hole in the shell plating of the vessel at the ‘tween deck level caused by the explosion. A 2,000 pound bomb rolled out through the hole landing in the boat causing it to capsize; and shortly thereafter the five remaining members of the crew, including the Master, went over the side wearing life preservers and using life rings. The SS Khian Star, enroute to Japan, changed course to come to the assistance of the SS Badger State. Eleven of the thirty-five who abandoned the ship via the lifeboat and three of the five who went over the side jumping in the water were rescued by the SS Khian Star. One body was retrieved from the water and identified. There are twenty-five other members of the crew missing and presumed dead.” (USCG, Marine Board of Investigation. Marine Casualty Report. SS Badger State Explosion Aboard and Eventual Sinking…December 26, 1969.  12-7-1971.)

 

USMM: “Dec. 26, 1969. A Vietnam-bound ammunition ship, carrying 8,900 bombs and rockets equal to 2,000 tons of TNT, was rocked by explosions and abandoned by her crew in rough seas 1,500 miles northeast of Hawaii.

 

“Dec. 27. Fourteen crewmen were picked up by a Greek ship, the Khian Star, and a US Air Force HC130 rescue plane dropped life rafts and dye marker at the site. A Navy spokesman said the Badger State was carrying the rockets and bombs for the Air Force at Danang, South Vietnam under contract to the Military Sea Transportation Service. The bombs included 2,000 pounders which were loaded at the Bangor (Washington) Naval Ammunition Depot. At daybreak rescue planes and ships found no sign of the 26 missing men, some of whom were last seen clinging to life rafts in 20 foot seas. Heavy rains, high winds and thick clouds were impairing the search.” (American Merchant Marine at War. “SS Badger State Rocked by Blasts.” (Compilation from New York Times, Dec. 26, 1969 to Jan. 16, 1970). 6-5-2000.)

 

Sources

 

American Merchant Marine at War. “SS Badger State Rocked by Blasts.” (Compilation from New York Times Dec. 26, 1969 to Jan. 16, 1970), 6-5-2000. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://www.usmm.org/badger_state.html

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Explosion Aboard and Eventual Sinking of SS Badger State in the North Pacific Ocean, December 26, 1969. Action by the National Transportation Safety Board. Washington, DC: NTSB, Dept. of Transportation. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg545/docs/boards/badger.pdf

 

United States Coast Guard. “Chronicle of Disaster.” Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council, Vol. 29, No. 2, Feb 1972, pp. 23-30. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/archive/1972/Vol29_No2_Feb1972.pdf

 

United States Coast Guard, Marine Board of Investigation. Marine Casualty Report. SS Badger State Explosion Aboard and Eventual Sinking in the North Pacific Ocean December 26, 1969.  Washington DC: Commandant, USCG, Dec 7, 1971, 45 pages. Accessed at:  http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/docs/boards/badger.pdf     and at:

http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg5/cg545/docs/boards/badger.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Indirect notation of fatalities — notes at page 1 that the Badger State carried a crew of 40, and at page 9 that there were  “a total of 14 survivors.”

[2] Indirect notation of fatalities – notes at 1st  page of “Commandant’s Action” (24th of 45 pp), that the crew was of forty members, of whom “Fourteen survivors were rescued from the water by the Greek vessel Khian Star.”