The second
TURNER
(DD‑648)
was
launched
on 28
February
1943 at
Kearny,
New
Jersey, by
the
Federal
Shipbuilding
& Dry Dock
Co. She
was
commissioned
on 15
April 1943
at the New
York Navy
Yard, with
Lieutenant
Commander
Henry S.
Wygant in
command.
On 22
June, she
left New
York on
the first
of several
Atlantic
crossings
screening
a convoys
bound for
Casablanca,
French
Morocco,
and a
convoy to
Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
On the
night of
23 October
1943,
while
serving as
an advance
ASW escort
with
Convoy
GUS‑18,
she picked
up an
unidentified
surface
contact on
her SG
radar. At
1943,
about 11
minutes
after the
initial
radar
contact,
the
TURNER’s
lookouts
spotted a
German
submarine,
at 500
yards,
running on
the
surface,
her decks
awash. The
destroyer
turned
hard left
and opened
fire with
her
5‑inch,
40‑mm, and
20‑mm
guns, all
of which
hit the
U‑boat. As
the TURNER
prepared
to ram
her, the
submarine
dove, and
the
destroyer
went after
her with
depth‑charges.
Three
charges
appeared
to be
right on
target,
and
shortly
after the
three
charges
exploded,
a fourth
explosion
rocked the
ship. The
concussion
caused her
to lose
power to
her SG and
FD radars,
to the
main
battery,
and to her
sound gear
for some
15
minutes.
She
continued
to search
for
evidence
of a
sinking,
and at
about
2017, made
a contact.
Not long
thereafter,
her bridge
watch
sighted
what
appeared
to be a
submarine
lying low
in the
water and
sinking
stern
first, but
she lost
the
contact
before she
could
identify
it when
she had to
move out
of the way
of another
ship in
the
convoy. A
subsequent
search
with the
help of
the
STURTEVANT
(DE‑239)
turned up
nothing.
The next
day, the
two
escorts
rejoined
the
convoy,
and the
crossing
continued
peacefully.
She
arrived in
New York
on 7
November.
Her third
and final
convoy to
the
Mediterranean
began on
23
November,
and she
was
homeward
bound in
late
December.
On 1
January
1944, she
headed
back to
New York,
arriving
at 0330 on
3 January
1944, and
anchored
off
Rockaway
Point,
Long
Island, to
await
orders. At
0618, as
many of
the crew
were at
breakfast,
the
destroyer
was shaken
by an
explosion
that
gouged a
hole in
her port
side and
ripped up
the main
deck.
Observations
made by
the crew
of the USS
SWASEY
(DE-248),
which
reached
the
TURNER
shortly
after the
explosion,
were
recorded
in her war
diary.
“Brilliant
flames,
bright
yellowish
in color,
billowed
out of
this hole
and
through
the main
deck and
were blown
by the
wind
across the
entire
bridge
superstructure
which by
this time
was also
on fire.”
The
initial
explosion
had blown
away the
Number 2,
5-inch gun
turret,
mangled
turret
Number 1,
and had
sent a
“volcano”
of flames
and
rocketing
projectiles
into the
air. “The
bridge
superstructure
was badly
twisted
and torn
and
appeared
to have
been blown
upward and
aft,” the
SWASEY’s
report
continued.
By 0645,
she was
twenty
yards from
the
burning
ship with
her hoses
turned on
the fires.
Her motor
whaleboat
had joined
several
Coast
Guard
vessels
alerted to
the
explosion
by the
look-out
station on
Sandy
Hook.
Ignoring
the danger
of fire
and
explosion,
the
rescuers
fought
freezing
wind,
sleet, and
burning
debris to
pull
survivors
from the
ship and
surrounding
icy
waters.
The SWASEY
moved
around the
TURNER to
her
starboard
side where
she found
another
gaping
hole
“abreast
of number
two
turret,
approximately
ten feet
wide at
the edge
of the
main deck”
and
tapering
in a “V”
to the
waterline.
“The plate
from the
hole had
been
peeled
forward,
outward,
and
downward,”
and a man,
dazed and
bleeding
badly from
a head
wound, was
in the
water
clinging
to the
twisted
metal. "He
was picked
up by one
of the
small
boats."
All the
while, there
were minor
explosions
within the
ship. As the
SWASEY was
returning to
the port
side, at
0650, a
violent
explosion
sent the
TURNER into
a 16-degree
list to
starboard
and
“showered
the SWASEY’s
decks with
flaming
debris.¼
This
explosion
cleared the
entire
forward
housing,
which
toppled over
the
starboard
side.”
Fuel oil was
pouring from
the hole in
the TURNER’s
port side,
and the
SWASEY
ordered the
small boats
to get away
from the
ship. The
war diary
recorded the
following
horrific
events. “The
oil flowing
from the
port side
promptly
ignited and
was carried
aft by the
wind. The
paint along
her entire
side caught
fire,
running
across the
decks and up
her after
deck
housing.
Depth
charges
along the
side in
K-gun racks
began to
burn.”
Onlookers
watched
helplessly
as 5-inch
ammunition
began to
explode
joining the
constant,
smaller
20-mm and
40-mm
explosions.
Finally, the
diary
continues,
“At 0750 a
terrific
explosion
occurred aft
of the
Number 2
smokestack,
and the
TURNER
immediately
capsized to
starboard
and sank,
except for a
small
portion of
her bow
which
remained
floating
about three
feet above
water.” Her
bow remained
above water
until 0827
when she
disappeared
completely
taking with
her 15
officers,
including
her captain,
and 123
crewmen. The
SWASEY
dropped a
marker buoy
where the
TURNER went
down.
The injured
crewmen from
the TURNER
were taken
to the
hospital at
Sandy Hook.
There, the
lives of
many of the
men were
saved by
Lieutenant
Commander F.
A. Erickson,
USCG, who
flew a Coast
Guard
Sikorsky
HNS-1
helicopter,
carrying two
cases of
blood plasma
lashed to
its floats,
from New
York to
Sandy Hook.
The flight
was the
first use of
a helicopter
in a life
saving role.
The TURNER
was struck
from the
navy's list
on 8 April
1944. |
