A01=Charles A. Lockwood
A01=Hans Christian Adamson
Author_Charles A. Lockwood
Author_Hans Christian Adamson
Category=JWCK
Category=NHTM
Destroyer Squadron 11 accident
Devil's Jaw naval tragedy
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
greatest peacetime naval tragedy
Honda Point 1923 Navy destroyers
naval disasters in California
Nimitz introduction Honda Point book
nine destroyers wrecked Point Honda
Pearl Harbor comparison naval history
Point Honda disaster book
U.S. Navy peacetime disaster
Product details
- ISBN 9781591144670
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 31 May 2012
- Publisher: Naval Institute Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Known to seafarers as the Devil’s Jaw, Point Honda has lured ships to its dangerous rocks on the coast of California for centuries, but its worst disaster occurred on 8 September 1923. That night nine U.S. Navy destroyers ran into Honda’s fog-wrapped reefs. Part of Destroyer Squadron 11, the ships were making a fast run from San Francisco to their homeport of San Diego at a steady 20 knots as fog closed around them.
The captain of the flagship Delphy ordered a change of course, but due to navigational errors and unusual currents caused by an earthquake in Japan the previous week, she ran aground and eight destroyers followed her. The authors recreate in dramatic hour-by-hour detail what happened, including the heroic efforts to rescue men and ships. In addition to presenting a full picture of the tragedy, they cover the subsequent investigations, which became a media sensation. In conclusion, the authors suggest that the cause of the tragedy lay in the interpretation of the differences that exist between the classic concepts of naval regulations and the stark realism of the unwritten code of destroyer doctrine to follow the leader. Admiral Nimitz’s introduction sets the scene for this action-filled account of America’s greatest peacetime naval tragedy in history. Only Pearl Harbor in 1941 would do more damage.
The late Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, author of several books on the Navy, served thirty-three years in the submarine service. Air Force Colonel Hans Christian Adamson was also an author and served as the Chief of the USAF Personnel Narrative Office.
Charles A. Lockwood, who served thirty-three years in the submarine service, retired as an admiral. Hans Christian Adamson retired as a colonel in the Air Force. They spent years researching material for this book.
