MISSOURI EXPLOSION.
AN APPALLING DISASTER.
(Per R.M.S. Ventura at Auckland.) AUCKLAND, May 3.
The most appalling disaster in the history of the American navy since the blowing up of the warship Maino in 1898 occurred to the battleship Missouri, when 20001b of smokeless powder exploded, killing 29 oflicers and men. The vessel was at target practice, and it is believed that a gun pointer accidentally fired the fourth shot of string from the starboard gun in the after-turret. The fore breech was locked and this was blown open by the explosion, the powder filling, the turret with flaming gases, and hurling blazing powder into the handling room below, where four other charges of powder, weighing nearly 4001b each, were ignited. Relief was being afforded the first injured, when a more terrible explosion occurred in the handling room, and strangled the men to death. The bodies were terribly mutilated and the clothes burned. Only one man was breathing when the turret crew got to the rescue, and he died in a few minutes.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 102, 4 May 1904, Page 3
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172MISSOURI EXPLOSION. Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVI, Issue 102, 4 May 1904, Page 3
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