NAVAL GUN EXPLODES

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 365, 20 February 1937, Page 5

NAVAL GUN EXPLODES

AMERICAN NAVY. 'SIX MEN KILLED. Tragic End to Secret Naval Exercises. Press Association—Copyright. San Pedro (Cal.), Feb. IS. The explosion, of a five-inch gun on the U.S. navy training ship Wyoming to-day killed six men and injured ten, according to a radio message sent from Admiral Hepburn to the Associated Press.

The Wyoming, which Was constructed in 1912, is now used only for training purposes. She was off San Clements Island at the time of th.e explosion and was engaged in manoeuvres' in which most ships of the flset were also participating. The manoeuvres were' the last of four days’ secret exercises in which 12 ships and many aeroplanes, 3700 marines' and 750 soldiers Were engaged, with 100 vessels shielding the shooting grounds from the public.

A shell exploded while being loaded into the breech of a gun which was firing to cover the operations of landtag parties from small boats that were attempting to carry to the shore field pieces, stations and other equipment in the face of gunfire from au imaginary enemy. Officers and witnesses said the bursting of a powder charge in an improperly closed breech caused a blast which sent fragments of razor-sharp splinters of metal through the bodies of the gun crew against the bulkheads.