The Honda Point Disaster

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  • Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
  • On the 9th of September 1923, seven U.S. Navy Destroyers from DesRon 11 ran aground on the California coast on the infamous Honda Point. This would be the greatest lose of Navy vessels in a peace time incident in US History. But what caused the massive pile up. What caused such seasoned navigators to take such a horribly wrong turn? Stay tuned and find out.
    #History #Disaster
    Thanks for watching my video on Maritime Horrors. I hope to have a new video out each week. Each one will be packed with useful and historical information about famous and lesser known maritime tragedies and disasters.
    Works Cited:
    Tragedy at Honda By Charles A. Lockwood
    www.usni.org/m...
    www.navalhisto...
    en.wikipedia.o...
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 458

  • @MaritimeHorrors
    @MaritimeHorrors  2 роки тому +103

    Attention all hands!
    I now have merch! My channel artist has made up some merch on her teepublic. All funds go to paying her for the wonderful work she does. So if you want to show your support for the channel and the great art she does, pick something up!
    www.teepublic.com/user/dragonrise_studio/albums/146205-maritime-horrors

    • @mitchwood6609
      @mitchwood6609 2 роки тому +3

      I bet his boss was PISSED.

    • @MrSGL21
      @MrSGL21 2 роки тому +2

      don't lie, because you're caught. You're a fan of Taylor Anderson's The Destroyermen.
      Only a destroyermen fan would catch what you did. @ 57 seconds in thats NOT a clemson class destroyer, its a wickies class, specifically DD-163....Uss Walker the ship in The Destroyermen series!

    • @Eric_Hutton.1980
      @Eric_Hutton.1980 2 роки тому +1

      @Maritime Horrors I'd like to just say one thing. The Akagi was converted into a carrier due to the terms of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty.

    • @davidrichardson6474
      @davidrichardson6474 2 роки тому +1

      Battle of May Island would be a terrific topic.

  • @DaHitch
    @DaHitch 2 роки тому +643

    Blinded by glass in his eyes from his own glasses breaking while trying to save someone else.
    Tied to a post to prevent him hurting himself or others as he was thrashing about in excruciating pain.
    Then dragged to the bottom of the sea as he was tied to the ship.
    Thanks for the nightmares.

    • @Momo_Kawashima
      @Momo_Kawashima 2 роки тому +90

      Me, wearing glasses: *removes glasses, yeets glasses, proceeds to walk away and slam into every wall/post on my path*

    • @Ramzi1944
      @Ramzi1944 2 роки тому +18

      @@Momo_Kawashima nooo momo-chan don't yeet your glasses 😭😭😭

    • @arkboy3
      @arkboy3 2 роки тому +39

      Makings of a decent Tales From the Crypt episode for sure as he comes back "for the crew that he felt wronged him!"

    • @novaiscool1
      @novaiscool1 2 роки тому +27

      Man deserves a medal, or some sort of recognition.

    • @airplanemaniacgaming7877
      @airplanemaniacgaming7877 2 роки тому +4

      @@Momo_Kawashima *Joins in the yeeting of glasses*

  • @RaceChapman
    @RaceChapman 2 роки тому +317

    man the fate of that guy who jumped in and broke his glasses was brutal. left blinded, panicked and alone, tied to the mast of a sinking ship, unable to try to swim or get away. i would have been hard pressed not to put him out of his misery before all that

    • @greenwave819
      @greenwave819 2 роки тому +28

      or maybe help him survive?

    • @thecamocampaindude5167
      @thecamocampaindude5167 2 роки тому +17

      @@greenwave819 or that

    • @thecamocampaindude5167
      @thecamocampaindude5167 2 роки тому +9

      Imagining someones death really makes you feel hopeless

    • @Roscoe.P.Coldchain
      @Roscoe.P.Coldchain Рік тому +7

      It probably never happened, aye did I tell you about that 300lb fish I caught with a spear back in 76..?

    • @Andrew-df1dr
      @Andrew-df1dr Рік тому +18

      @@Roscoe.P.Coldchain No you didn't. Please tell us all about that epic catch. But please use the metric system, as only three countries use the other system.

  • @JKSSubstandard
    @JKSSubstandard 2 роки тому +612

    Now, it's worth noting that most of the ships themselves were not total losses and could have been saved. However, the navy had such a massive surplus in destroyers of this class in the interwar period that it was cheaper to pull a few hulls out of mothball than to refloat the ships stranded on the point.

    • @andyhastings5950
      @andyhastings5950 2 роки тому +6

      I'm not so sure that SupSal had the knowledge or equipment to salvage anything more than small equipment.

    • @casualsatanist
      @casualsatanist 2 роки тому +24

      I’m not sure if this is just a joke related to the Clemson class or actual fact, however I’ve heard before that the bookkeeper in charge of their order accidentally ordered 200 instead of 20. Regardless of its veracity or not, still a funny story to explain why bringing a couple ships out of mothballs was cheaper than fixing several grounded ships

    • @JKSSubstandard
      @JKSSubstandard 2 роки тому +31

      @@casualsatanist it's a joke. In reality, the Navy saw the huge role early U boats had in ww1 and the navy realized it needed a far larger and more modern escort fleet for its battleships and supply convoys. During the war, destroyers were needed by the hundreds and the Navy wanted to be ready. Problem is, the war they were built for ended the same year construction started. They needed 300 destroyers in 1918, so they ordered them. They didn't need any in 1919, so they mothballed them. It was here that the navy actually learned how to preserve ships, and the failures in the Clemson mothball fleet (many of them rusted to near uselessness... We sold those to GB as lend lease at the start of ww2) actually taught the navy the lessons learned and teqniques to preserve ships it uses to this day.

    • @andyhastings5950
      @andyhastings5950 2 роки тому +5

      The US NAVY allows recreational.diving on certain dates. A friend of mine dived on them. He said it was a bit scary as the wrecks are very close to large rocks.

    • @mdsx01
      @mdsx01 Рік тому +2

      @@andyhastings5950 The currents out there are also pretty nasty.

  • @charlescolvard2001
    @charlescolvard2001 2 роки тому +175

    I was just forwarded this link two days ago by a friend who's a naval historian of sorts. He sent it to me because my grandfather, Walter Ekenberg, was aboard the Delphy and was awarded a life-saving medal for jumping off his ship and helping rescue numerous sailors from other ships by towing rope and getting them to safety. I'm not acutely aware of the details, but I have his medal, and I am very proud of what he did. If anyone has any detailed information about the tragedy, I am very interested in hearing it.

    • @shadowlakew2005
      @shadowlakew2005 2 роки тому +3

      Have you seen the book Tragedy at Honda?

  • @NadaSurfinAB
    @NadaSurfinAB 2 роки тому +384

    I read some archival articles on this beaching. What struck me was that one of the officers in the back of the column, was able to save his ships after hearing the distress signals. He took evasive action. His ships were unscathed.
    But, crazy outcome - Navy brass pulled rank and he was court-martialled for disobeying orders, even though he saved his vessels and crews. He should have been awarded medals for stellar leadership and seamanship, but was unjustly reprimanded instead. It seems some in the Navy preferred greater losses over common sense and competency. There would have been even more ships on the beach that night if he hadn’t taken swift action.
    Pride, power, and politics, make people find outlandish faults to come to immoral conclusions to deflect consequences away from those who deserve it.
    I’d never heard the fact that there had been a huge earthquake in Japan in the previous days that affected navigation. Great point.

    • @CharlesFreck
      @CharlesFreck 2 роки тому +38

      Do you know if he actually suffered consequences for that court martial? It strikes me that if you disobey an order, they might court marshal you simply as a matter of process, and if the reasons why you disobeyed the order are clear and make sense, then you wouldn't get in trouble. AFAIK, a court marshal does not indicate that there was consequences for it, just that he had to do state his reasons why he made the decisions he did. It's like how you'll probably still have to go to court if you kill someone in self defence. Yeah, it might be obvious self defence, but they might feel it necessary to bring you before the court and make sure they get the full facts of the case out in an official setting.

    • @NadaSurfinAB
      @NadaSurfinAB 2 роки тому +21

      Interesting thought. I can’t say, that I know if the court martial was naval due process. It’s been so long since I read the articles. I also recall his crew were able to help in the rescue.
      I wish I knew this officer’s name so we could re-examine the proceedings. I was left with impression that the court martial affected his career and advancement. If that’s the case, then it’s nothing but wrong.

    • @RobertSzasz
      @RobertSzasz 2 роки тому +6

      Pretty sure he wasn't sanctioned at all.

    • @Michael_Ray
      @Michael_Ray 2 роки тому +26

      You might be thinking of Roper on board the Kennedy. I don't think he was charged with anything, although he did testify before the Board of Inquiry. Quoting from my own book on this: Captain Watson accepted responsibility for the incident, but the Court of Inquiry recommended a trial by general court martial for eleven officers: Watson, Lt. Cmdr. Donald T. Hunter, and Lt. (jg) Lawrence F. Blodgett of the Delphy; Capt. Robert Morris, commander of Division 33; Cmdr. William S. Pye of Division 31; Cmdr. Louis P. Davis, captain of the Woodbury; Cmdr. William L. Calhoun of the Young; Cmdr. William S. Toaz of the S.P. Lee; Lt. Cmdr. Walter D. Seed of the Fuller; Lt. Cmdr. Herbert O. Roesch of the Nicholas; and Lt. Cmdr. Richard H. Booth of the Chauncey. Watson and Hunter were eventually found guilty of culpable inefficiency and negligence. Blodgett was acquitted when it was determined he had not been the Delphy’s navigator, as investigators had previously assumed. Roesch was found guilty of negligence, but all other defendants were acquitted. Watson received a loss of 150 numbers on the list of captains, while Hunter lost 100 numbers on the list of lieutenant commanders. This meant that neither man would ever be eligible for promotion beyond their current rank. Watson would go on to serve as assistant commandant of the Fourteenth Naval District at Pearl Harbor before retiring six years later in 1929. He died in 1942. Hunter served as navigator on the battleship Nevada, first lieutenant of the Oklahoma, and instructor at the Naval War College. He also retired in 1929. He died in 1948. Blodgett was promoted to full lieutenant in 1926 and lieutenant commander in 1941. He continued on active duty until 1947, commanding naval ammunitions depots in Hawaii during and after World War II. He died in 1958. William Calhoun retired in 1946 as a four-star admiral after forty-four years of service. During World War II he ran logistic support of the Pacific fleet and naval shore-based establishments in the entire Pacific area. He died in 1963.

    • @NadaSurfinAB
      @NadaSurfinAB 2 роки тому +17

      Michael Ray, well done! Thank you for taking my vague recollection and giving us actual substance with an account of the final outcome.

  • @EzraBradford
    @EzraBradford 2 роки тому +121

    It's a big surprise to me that a twentieth-century navy could take such heavy losses, in friendly, well-charted waters, in routine weather, in peacetime with no adversary.

    • @0x97B55C23D18
      @0x97B55C23D18 2 роки тому +11

      Search for Battle of May Island for an event that's even wilder.

    • @jukebox_heroperson3994
      @jukebox_heroperson3994 2 роки тому +9

      Well, it wasn't really routine. The earthquake in Japan caused things to be not routine, in fact.

    • @shadetreader
      @shadetreader Рік тому +5

      The megalomania of the US Empire knows no bounds.

    • @jasonbrewer6714
      @jasonbrewer6714 Рік тому +3

      Happens for many countries. Maybe to different degrees, but it still does.

    • @markchapman2585
      @markchapman2585 Рік тому +1

      I love history but I never heard of this happening before either. Learn something new every day.

  • @alexcurrie4514
    @alexcurrie4514 3 роки тому +44

    Jesus Christ listening to that pileup description felt like watching a train wreck. It might've been funny if it hadn't cost sailors their lives.

  • @MrAwsomenoob
    @MrAwsomenoob 2 роки тому +160

    "We lost seven Clemson class destroyers!!"
    Us Navy: " *Sigh* Alright get the spares..."

    • @wyattbedard2194
      @wyattbedard2194 2 роки тому +4

      *sigh* Ok built 14 more....

    • @lucasfragoso7634
      @lucasfragoso7634 2 роки тому +11

      Pretty much every USA player in HOI4

    • @vinnynj78
      @vinnynj78 2 роки тому +1

      @@lucasfragoso7634 Sounds about right

    • @greenwave819
      @greenwave819 2 роки тому +1

      Prolly shouldn't be names things after Clemson

    • @Jean-vr7vj
      @Jean-vr7vj 5 місяців тому

      Its okay, taxpayers wont mind. Free healthcare is overrated anyway.

  • @markbeyea4063
    @markbeyea4063 2 роки тому +196

    This guy actually read a book before putting his video together. Would nice if the 80% of UA-cam noobs who create crap videos would do the same. Keep up the good work.

    • @Canadianvoice
      @Canadianvoice 2 роки тому +5

      I mean theres a lot of idiots watching their videos too...finding gems is on us

  • @christiancowell125
    @christiancowell125 2 роки тому +44

    I stood near the Honda point memorial this evening with no prior knowledge of this tragedy. Sadly, even as a Navy veteran I was unaware of this event. My heart lurched in pain as I read the names of the ships and the number of sailors who were lost. As soon as I left the base and regained service I searched for information and was promptly humbled by this video. Thank you for the historical account of the incident and my condolences to the family, friends, and shipmates of the fallen sailors.

  • @billbutler335
    @billbutler335 2 роки тому +105

    From what I have read on the topic the last division in line had a CO who did trust the radio direction finder readings and tried to warn Watson. As he was the junior division commander he was ignored. He did slow his ships a bit and moved a bit west so missed the shore and was available for search and rescue. This is also the division that requested permission to go to the SS Cuba's assistance but was denied.

  • @ouchcubic
    @ouchcubic 3 роки тому +131

    i live in Lompoc and have studied this incident in depth with access to some stunning local records and photographs. also having visited the site. and spoken to witnesses of the rescue/ recovery efforts. it was an exceptional event in US naval history. it would make an incredible big budget film

    • @morro93401
      @morro93401 3 роки тому +11

      It would make a great movie. We wrote a novel based on the disaster (Dead Reckoning by Michael Corbin Ray & Therese Vannier). Screenwriter Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean) had this to say about it: "Enjoy this book before it hits the silver screen. With a story so compelling and cinematic, populated with irresistible characters, it's destined to become a major motion picture."

    • @okankyoto
      @okankyoto 2 роки тому +7

      Producers would probably love the way that its a location within a relatively short drive to LA

    • @DoctorRobair
      @DoctorRobair 2 роки тому +4

      I live in Santa Maria and have never heard of this before shockingly.

    • @Tylerius87
      @Tylerius87 2 роки тому

      are you just so used to everyone mispronouncing the name of the town that you dont even bother correcting it? lol (im from there and i dont think ive ever head anyone that hasnt been there ever call it the right name, vin diesel mispronounces it in the original fast and furious movie talking about the prison lol

    • @MaddawgLongboards5
      @MaddawgLongboards5 2 роки тому

      @@DoctorRobair Probably a good thing. Only real bit of recognition it has is a mural in the alley behind Jaspers...

  • @dustyimage981
    @dustyimage981 3 роки тому +65

    The fog there can be as thick as pudding! Thanks for putting this together, good info.

    • @Momo_Kawashima
      @Momo_Kawashima 2 роки тому +1

      Uuh, pudding

    • @mbryson2899
      @mbryson2899 2 роки тому +2

      @@Momo_KawashimaI've been there. Just as filling but with a nasty taste.

  • @boowiebear
    @boowiebear 2 роки тому +64

    This whole disaster was absurd and frustrating! Great video!

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  2 роки тому +36

      Absurd and Frustrating is a pretty good definition of most people's service in the US Navy lol. But I appreciate it.

  • @Engine33Truck
    @Engine33Truck 2 роки тому +10

    A completely avoidable loss of life. Side note though, I love the looks of the old “four piper” destroyers. A shame there’s none still around.

  • @Eloraurora
    @Eloraurora Рік тому +7

    As a glasses-wearer, I was really hoping for a hopeful postscript for the poor guy. Like, "Navy optometrists developed special shatterproof glasses in his memory, which are now issued to all Navy personnel."

    • @Einwetok
      @Einwetok Рік тому +2

      That didn't happen till 1955, plastics were still in the toddler stage then.

  • @Special_Tactics_Force_Unit
    @Special_Tactics_Force_Unit 2 роки тому +13

    Court martial and a promotion?! "You're so fired you're rehired" 😂

  • @VersusARCH
    @VersusARCH 2 роки тому +17

    11:30 Kaga was not a sister ship of the battlecrueser Amagi but a Tosa-class battleship. Amagi had only one sister - the Akagi, which was not damaged by the earthquake but converted to an aircraft carrier successfully and went on to be the flagship of the Japanese "Mobile Force" (the first rate carrier fleet) until sunk at Midway in 1942. Kaga ended up being the slowest carrier in the Mobile force due to her battleship hull.

  • @jackrabbit6515
    @jackrabbit6515 2 роки тому +22

    What an insane story! Fog is very terrifying. We lived in a little town in IL on Lake Michigan and had a 20 ft boat that we used to take up the coastline to Kenosha, WI to have dinner. Fog set in one night while we were eating. That trip back home was one of the scariest of my life. I literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I certainly wouldn't want to be following 250 ft behind anything! In retrospect, we should never have taken that boat out on that lake in those conditions. Ahh, the joys of youthful ignorance!

  • @randomcloverr
    @randomcloverr Рік тому +12

    Can you imagine just taking a casual stroll when you look out to the beach and then watch as seven massive ships all run aground in a matter of moments

  • @Yora21
    @Yora21 2 роки тому +9

    Dead reconing through reefs at poor visibility at night at high speed in close formation.
    What could go wrong?

  • @cherokeekid9491
    @cherokeekid9491 3 роки тому +57

    The wounded were taken to lompoc as it's the closest town. Plus there's a mural there that commentates the wreck. P.S. it's lom-poke, not lom-poc

    • @morro93401
      @morro93401 3 роки тому +6

      News reports at the time said the wounded were taken by train to Santa Barbara. That makes sense as they were transporting a lot of men, and it would have been more difficult to shuttle them all individually to Lompoc. That mural at the veterans building has a great back story. It was painted by an inmate serving a life sentence at the Lompoc correctional facility who taught himself to paint while in prison. He later received a presidential pardon.

    • @lrajek3389
      @lrajek3389 2 роки тому +4

      P.S.S. Color me curious. Does the mural offer spoken commentary? If not, it "commemorates," not "commentates."

  • @jaredthehawk3870
    @jaredthehawk3870 2 роки тому +72

    Drachinfel also did a very nice video on this disaster. His channel cannot come recommended enough for naval history fans.

  • @davidweston6653
    @davidweston6653 2 роки тому +18

    My father was transferred off one of those destroyers days before this happened. Some of his gear was still on board

  • @zew1414
    @zew1414 2 роки тому +19

    My god this is like the massive car wreck from the Blues Brothers!

  • @connormclernon26
    @connormclernon26 3 роки тому +18

    Yeah, this was a bad day for the US Navy

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +7

      No matter what way you slice it. Though on the bright side, it could always have been worse.

    • @connormclernon26
      @connormclernon26 3 роки тому +4

      @@MaritimeHorrors yeah, the whole squadron could have run aground instead of half of it

    • @spikespa5208
      @spikespa5208 2 роки тому +4

      It seems the second group believed the radio nav system.

  • @slypen7450
    @slypen7450 Рік тому +3

    RDF was accurate. Reefs are well marked on nautical charts. Always turn away from shore turning to port was fatal. Nor many vessels get a rock named after them. Even less get their hulls sliced by upsidedown props. Taking soundings would have saved them.

  • @marvindebot3264
    @marvindebot3264 2 роки тому +19

    What a clusterfu*k! Damn.
    This class was used as fast despatch craft in the pacific during WW2. Turbines serviced and stripped of all guns over 20mm bar an added quad 40mm for anti-aircraft defense, torpedo tubes removed and a heap of other weight stripped out of them they could pull well over 40 knots with at least one recording 47 knots at flank speed. That's shifting for any ship that size let alone one almost 20 years old.

    • @SudrianTales
      @SudrianTales 2 роки тому +2

      The French trying to make superfast destroyers: What the fuck

    • @JamesF0790
      @JamesF0790 2 роки тому +1

      @@SudrianTales What le fuck you mean :)

    • @mattwilliams3456
      @mattwilliams3456 2 роки тому

      When some of the Clemsons were converted to APD High Speed Transports they were quick for a troop carrier but I don’t think any of them topped 35 knots, and certainly not 40-47. Good ships, but not magic.

  • @NG-gy6iv
    @NG-gy6iv 2 роки тому +11

    Lemmings would be a more apt analogy here than ducklings

  • @ruthrussell1329
    @ruthrussell1329 Рік тому +4

    I grew up in that area. I can remember looking out off the cliffs, and my Dad pointing out the remains of the wreckage. By that time, there wasn't much to see ( 1960s). I've heard there is nothing left to see from the land now. The Jaw one has finally finished chewing them up.

  • @HarryWHill-GA
    @HarryWHill-GA 2 роки тому +5

    This is why every ship is ultimately responsible for its own navigation. No excuses.

  • @Ronin4614
    @Ronin4614 2 роки тому +22

    Terrific video! I too was stationed @ VAFB from ‘81-‘84. The waters in that area were very dangerous. Despite the great beach on base, Seal Beach IIRC, was off limits for swimming. “Tsunami Warning” signs were posted and despite that, folks were lost to rogue waves every year. Whenever at the shore, you never turned you back to the sea. This is in part why sailors in this video lost their lives to the sea. While there, one morning a young girl was spotted alone on the beach. She told a story of the boat she and her grand parents were in began taking water just off shore. Granddad swam with her to shore then returned to the boat to bring his wife safely to shore, he was never seen again. There were fiberglass sections of hull that washed ashore later, but no other evidence was ever found. Knowing this, it is not at all surprising that sailors were lost to the sea after this disaster, those waters were not at all forgiving. Thanks for this very well done video.

    • @rkelsey3341
      @rkelsey3341 2 роки тому +4

      I was assigned to VAFB in the early 90s, and remember a young Lt who was there for some annual computer war gaming. The signs were up on the beach, but he went in anyway and wound up with two broken forearms when a wave smashed him against some rocks. His unit went back to Minot without him.

    • @erichaynes7502
      @erichaynes7502 2 роки тому +3

      @@rkelsey3341 That's an old Air Force trick to extend the TDY AWAY from Minot.

  • @erichaynes7502
    @erichaynes7502 2 роки тому +3

    "One man jumped overboard, shattering his eyeglasses in which the shards of glass blinded him. After floating in the oil slick water, he was pulled aboard, thrashing about wildly. Slick with oil and in agonizing pain he couldn't climb the rocks to shore. So, his fellow sailors tied him to the mast for his own safety until he could be rescued in the morning. However, during the night his ship split apart and sunk into the icy waters."
    Me: Okay I just won't ever sleep comfortably ever again.

  • @johnhoerl7326
    @johnhoerl7326 2 роки тому +25

    As a point of interest, Charles Lockwood isn’t simply a random history author. He commanded the US submarine fleet in the Pacific during WWII, which was a major factor in the defeat of Japan. One of the great US Navy leaders of the war (easily the equivalent of Halsey and Spruance, in my opinion), now largely forgotten

    • @jimmyhaley727
      @jimmyhaley727 Рік тому

      ole Charlie knew our super torpedos were JUNK

    • @darladoxstater8528
      @darladoxstater8528 Рік тому +2

      I'm currently reading Thunder Below, the story of the Barb, and he appears in that.

    • @johnhoerl7326
      @johnhoerl7326 Рік тому +1

      @@darladoxstater8528 Great book. Gene Fluckey was one of the best, absolutely fearless

  • @yolorodriguez4794
    @yolorodriguez4794 Рік тому +4

    I've watched enough of these shipwreck disaster videos to know. The moment he said, "a fog settled in on all sides" I thought, "yep, they're f*ked"
    It's always the fog. Just stay off the water if there's fog.

  • @watchmanmichael2023
    @watchmanmichael2023 2 роки тому +14

    At the time I was there I did not know the History. Thank You Maritime for bringing clarity to a childhood memory. You are awesome!

  • @keatomic
    @keatomic 2 роки тому +4

    What I learned today: Earthquakes can cause fire tornados.

  • @GrumblingGrognard
    @GrumblingGrognard 2 роки тому +15

    I have heard the 'name' for decades when reading autobiographical accounts from WW2 veterans. They would relate something about "The Honda Point" incident/disaster... Lots of great info here in a very small time-package. Well done!

  • @LB1973
    @LB1973 2 роки тому +13

    Had never heard of this one. Very like the battle of May Island ( or the Camperdown/Victoria) both of which would be suitable for this channel which appears to be well researched - If you haven't already done them of course

  • @thomaszinser8714
    @thomaszinser8714 2 роки тому +18

    So, one fun fact, and one minor correction. You said that the wrecking of the Amagi made her 'sister ship Kaga, a battlecruiser', be converted into a carrier. Kaga wasn't a battlecruiser or a sister ship to the Amagi, she was a Tosa-class battleship, selected because the 3rd and 4th ships of the Amagi-class had already been scrapped completely. The fun fact, meanwhile, is that the Clemson-class wasn't *just* used by Allied navies in WW2, one was captured and used by the Japanese.

  • @rkelsey3341
    @rkelsey3341 2 роки тому +6

    Watson was an Annapolis grad, had 27 years of service, and was only a Commander? Something there sends up red flags. Perhaps promotions were handled differently back then.

    • @morro93401
      @morro93401 2 роки тому +5

      He was a captain and acting as commodore of the destroyer squadron when this happened. His father was an admiral and he had high hopes and expectations of following that path. There had been another accident not long before this one, though, that put a mark on his career. I forget the details, but something about a ship he was in charge of colliding with another ship that just happened to be carrying the President of the United State. Not a good look.

  • @diviningrod2671
    @diviningrod2671 2 роки тому +2

    Great lobster fishing just south of there.
    The super tide can be incredibly high, even without an earthquake. Got to witness a great white in some shallow water, even standing in a 34 foot boat it was still unsettling.

  • @0mn0mable
    @0mn0mable 2 роки тому +7

    Another great vid. That tsunami/earthquake and its ensuing tidal effects rendering our gaggle of destroyers blind and lost to their true location? Crazy oddball stuff, quite the story. Well told too, keep it up!

  • @r0cketplumber
    @r0cketplumber 2 роки тому +5

    20 knots, in the dark and fog, while not knowing where your fleet is, and distrusting the only navigational aid you have. Yeah, that's one smaaaart cookie in command.

  • @milieu675
    @milieu675 2 роки тому +8

    Shoulda gone to the aid of the grounded cargo vessel....

  • @vikramgupta2326
    @vikramgupta2326 2 роки тому +12

    Amazing. I had never heard of this incident before. Leaders today don't own up to their mistakes.

  • @The_ZeroLine
    @The_ZeroLine 6 місяців тому +3

    The three men who wished them luck and then floated away never to be seen again after being so close to shore is absolutely horrifying and sad. Not sure which is worse that or the man who went under tied to a mast.

  • @gemfyre855
    @gemfyre855 2 роки тому +4

    It's like a multi-car pileup, but with ships.

  • @landtuna3469
    @landtuna3469 Рік тому +3

    I read this book while on a WESTPAC cruise in 64-66. I was serving my third year aboard USS Orleck (a Gearing class destroyer) at the time. The author did a very good job summarizing the critical events in this tragedy but reading the book will give everyone a much more complete understanding of why this terrible incident took place. The heroics of the sailors and the civilians ashore are to be commended.

  • @anthonycalbillo9376
    @anthonycalbillo9376 2 роки тому +7

    I used to live near there, a propeller and shaft can be found outside of the Veterans Memorial Building in Lompoc, California.

  • @greggorga1652
    @greggorga1652 2 роки тому +5

    This is a very good re-telling of the Honda Tragedy. Destroyers on the Rocks is another good book about the incident, it delves more into Edward Watson. The Santa Barbara maritime Museum has an excellent exhibit on this tragedy.

  • @catapultking8861
    @catapultking8861 2 роки тому +8

    That many ships in such a short period, is terrifying.

    • @jimmyhaley727
      @jimmyhaley727 Рік тому +1

      look up WW II, Savo island (battle of)

  • @ferndalebill
    @ferndalebill 2 роки тому +5

    Thank you for an interesting and informative documentary. I do have to take issue with one statement in the video, that the resulting court-martial was the largest in US Naval History. In the aftermath of the 1944 Port Chicago disaster there were 50 black sailors that were all tried for mutiny in a single Court Martial hearing. I don't know if that was the largest but it is one that I'm familiar with because my grandfather, a civilian contract carpenter, was working on one of the ships that exploded up until about an hour before the disaster.

  • @jimlawson121
    @jimlawson121 2 роки тому +5

    That’s Karma for you! Refuses to give aid usually needs aid soon.

  • @Ian-np6zt
    @Ian-np6zt 3 роки тому +12

    Hey this was good! So good that I can't think of anything that needed any improvement on! Awesome job! I just got done watching Fascinating Horror. This seems very similar. Now I get to have two fascinating channels to watch! Subscribed!

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +8

      Much appreciated, I actually love that channel and was inspired by him.

    • @Ian-np6zt
      @Ian-np6zt 3 роки тому +5

      *gasp* and you reply in less than a minute?! Is there anything you can't do?

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +6

      Calculus?

    • @Ian-np6zt
      @Ian-np6zt 3 роки тому +3

      @@MaritimeHorrors Dunno if you'll get this or not, but recently I've been thinking about starting my own youtube channel. Got any advice?

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +3

      You're asking me? I'm honestly flattered, but I don't even know how I've even gotten this far lol. I suppose consistency, have a good subject matter, and be engaging. Other than that, I have no clue lol

  • @indygamertag829
    @indygamertag829 22 дні тому +2

    13:05 - History is laden with tragic events caused by people who thought they knew better. History is supposed to teach us lessons and yet, people constantly make those same mistakes.

  • @anthonycalbillo9376
    @anthonycalbillo9376 2 роки тому +4

    I know that your video was great, but my old home city is pronounced Lom-poke.

  • @watchmanmichael2023
    @watchmanmichael2023 2 роки тому +5

    I Myself Have Visited The Honda Point And Collected Pieces Of One Of The Ships As A Child.

  • @The_ZeroLine
    @The_ZeroLine 6 місяців тому +2

    I live in Santa Barbara and for about 6 months of the year, there’s insane fog almost every night and early morning over the Channel Islands and SB coast. It gets hung up on the mountains which almost hang over the water.

  • @Angrynood
    @Angrynood 2 роки тому +4

    Those three brave guys saved their buddies by letting their raft drift off into the fog. May they, and the twenty others, rest in peace.
    In all honesty, I wonder what happened to them. I wonder if we could still find them after all this time

  • @h.p.oliver8666
    @h.p.oliver8666 2 роки тому +5

    "Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
    Farewell to college joys, we sail at break of day-ay-ay-ay.'"
    GO NAVY!

  • @taylorbeckett9686
    @taylorbeckett9686 2 роки тому +2

    What a fucky situation. The tragedy itself, then the 3 men in the lifeboat, and especially the guy who was killed while tied to the mast

  • @s.castellino4306
    @s.castellino4306 Рік тому +1

    I can attest to the horrendous fog of this area. There are mountains and hills near the coast that keep dense fog from dispersing inland. The waters are super rough and reach freezing temperatures. The rocks are also very sharp. I can't imagine for the sailors to have to wait on thr rocks until the next day. In a time of peace they probably never would've imagined to have to endure such horrors.

  • @austinblack7991
    @austinblack7991 Рік тому +2

    Actually the amagi was a battle cruiser and her sister was the akagi and the kaga was a tosa class battleship

  • @johndicus123
    @johndicus123 Рік тому +1

    I was raised up near there and my Dad was in the Air Force there in the 60's. He'd take us kids to visit the wrecks now and then. In the 60's there ere still a lot of pieces to walk around. I remember a doorway with the big wheel to lock it shut. It was rusted open and I could walk through it. But almost all the walls were gone, just some ragged bits of metal here and there, and we were walking on metal that might have broken through.
    I found a rusted pocket knife in among the metal once and was convinced it was from a sailor 45 years before.

  • @robertbuchanan3993
    @robertbuchanan3993 Рік тому +1

    Dude great video I grew up in Santa Barbara and this story was a prominent feature in a term paper I wrote in high school about shipwrecks in the Santa Barbara Channel including the SS Cuba

  • @christamius2834
    @christamius2834 2 роки тому +3

    I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB for years (which now controls this area of coastline) and was an active scuba diver just south of Honda point. We would stop quite often when the tide was low, to look at the bow(?) of one of the ships as it protruded from the ocean. Very haunting….

  • @Johnnywhamo
    @Johnnywhamo 2 роки тому +2

    Wow, this was kind of like a black ice pile-up on a highway.

  • @joshuaschmidt4161
    @joshuaschmidt4161 2 роки тому +3

    Do a video on the USS Liberty, a tragic story of friendly fire.

  • @rustyrazor1853
    @rustyrazor1853 2 роки тому +1

    How STUPID could Captain Watson be? We're getting conflicting reports between my hunch and high technology. My hunch is right! Lets turn straight left go as fast as possible! Right behind each other! In peacetime! For NO f*ing reason! Maybe stop/slow down and wait? NO!!!!! I'M A CAPTAIN!!!!!!! Too bad his name wasn't Darwin... drrrrrrrr

  • @darladoxstater8528
    @darladoxstater8528 Рік тому +1

    Lahm (rhymes with bomb) poke. There's an exhibit at the Lompoc museum, which is housed in the former Carnegie Library. There is also an artifact in town. The Amtrak stop at Surf (closest to Lompoc) is not far from Honda Point. I'd also recommend Course 090 to Disaster, which is the book I've read about it.

  • @JohnJohn-ec6kx
    @JohnJohn-ec6kx 6 місяців тому +1

    The term is L.O.P. 'line of position'. At least that is what I was taught and used as a United States Air Force navigator. At the intersection of two different lines of position, that is your location. Taking a bearing off of a radio navaid and getting an LOP then plotting another bearing off of another radio navaid gives another LOP, where the two intersect, that is your position. This is also the same principle for celestial fixes. Ultimately striving for at least two and preferably three lines of position to give one a pinpoint fix. Of course, always keeping a good DR while enroute and updating your DR with known position or fixes.
    Staying on top of your data points and monitoring and recording speed(knots), heading, magnetic variation, drift(L/R) and time enroute are all the factors in keeping a good DR(deduced reckoning estimate of position along the intended course.

  • @Tylerius87
    @Tylerius87 2 роки тому +1

    As soon as i saw Lompoc on the map i knew he would mispronounce it at some point. 15:21 im like: aahh there it is lol. almost everyone mispronounces it, famously vin diesel in fast and furious ("i did 4 years at Lom-Paahck prison") Its pronounced lom-poke lom as in Llama, poke as in youll poke your eye out with that thing. lom-poke. just a PSA from a person born in that town. also, Spokane washington is pronounced spoke-ann not spo-cane (i live in washington state now and fancy myself a grammar nazi of pronunciations of city names lol its not much but its honest work )

  • @Roscoe.P.Coldchain
    @Roscoe.P.Coldchain Рік тому +1

    I’ve always wondered how the USA expanded and built city’s so fast, it’s like they started building and have never stopped for 300 years lol 🤔

  • @dougreid2351
    @dougreid2351 2 роки тому +2

    Bravo Zulu, Shipmate.
    Subscribed tonight.
    DOUGout

  • @philvanderlaan5942
    @philvanderlaan5942 2 роки тому +5

    I served in the navy and am an amateur historian, yet I first heard of this from a sci fi book , one of the books in ‘ the destroyermen ‘ series

    • @cnkclark
      @cnkclark 2 роки тому

      Here's to USS Walker and the American Navy Clan!

  • @daleeasternbrat816
    @daleeasternbrat816 Рік тому +1

    These ships punched way out of their weight in the Second World War. The Wickes and Clemson classed did a lot of hard, dangerous work and we're involved in many historic events.

  • @AnonOmis1000
    @AnonOmis1000 2 роки тому +9

    I can just imagine how expensive a lot time consuming it'd be, but I'd love to have had some sort of animations to show how the ships traveled. It's so much easier to understand something through seeing than hearing.

  • @richardkeilig8743
    @richardkeilig8743 Рік тому +1

    Well done. Despite the disaster courage was displayed. The USN learned from this horrible event.

  • @privatepilot4064
    @privatepilot4064 Рік тому +1

    Let’s go full speed with low visibility and not really sure where we’re at!! What a cluster! Poor seamanship indeed!

  • @erichaynes7502
    @erichaynes7502 2 роки тому +1

    13:20 - "By the time many sailors climbed over the volcanic rock to short, John Gurvas had called for help using his landline telephone"
    Me: A what?

  • @scottl9660
    @scottl9660 2 роки тому +1

    There’s a book for more information, course 095 to destiny.
    I’m doing this from memory so the course may be off a bit.

  • @StressDespot
    @StressDespot Рік тому +1

    11:30 "and in japan, the ship 'kaga' was turned into an aircraft carrier" *has vietnam war flashbacks to playing azur lane grinding that one level over and over again trying to get akagi but only getting kaga*

  • @nickgnesa4895
    @nickgnesa4895 Рік тому +1

    I grew up near Honda Point and never knew this. In return for the knowledge, Lompoc is Lom-poke.

  • @Ro6entX
    @Ro6entX 2 роки тому +2

    I am currently reading about this incident. I was visiting Morro Bay at noticed there is a bell from the Young but I didn’t know much about it. Finally when the Mairtime place was open, I asked about the bell and the worker, real nice lady, told me about it.

  • @soakupthesunman
    @soakupthesunman 2 роки тому +3

    FUSTERCLUCK !

  • @brothergrimaldus3836
    @brothergrimaldus3836 2 роки тому +1

    Kaga was laid down as a Tosa class battleship... not a battlecruiser.
    AKAGI was the one laid down as Amagi's sister ship before being converted to an aircraft carrier due to the Washington Naval Treaty.
    Even though Kaga and Akagi served together as the 1st Carrier division, they were not sister ships.

  • @generalblackbird5558
    @generalblackbird5558 2 роки тому +3

    I remember reading and hearing stories about this. I’m a Santa Barbara local, and this was a huge part of our history.

  • @kentslocum
    @kentslocum Рік тому +1

    Ah, yes...when dead reckoning was actually "dead" reckoning.

  • @Bazerkly
    @Bazerkly 2 роки тому +2

    The USS Thompson wreck is in the San Fracisco Bay off the city of Fremont, CA

    • @Michael_Ray
      @Michael_Ray 2 роки тому

      There's also the USS Corry abandoned in the Napa River. It's another Clemson class destroyer and was part of Destroy Squadron 12, which performed maneuvers with DesRon 11 on the morning of the disaster.

  • @mitchwood6609
    @mitchwood6609 2 роки тому +2

    I bet his boss was PISSED.

  • @TheN4y0
    @TheN4y0 2 роки тому +1

    Wait IJN Akagi and Amagi where earmarked to be converted into CV's before the earthquake due to the Washington Naval Treaty
    Other than that excellent video.

  • @jadethornton7975
    @jadethornton7975 2 роки тому +1

    omg you said fair winds and following seas. im playing world of warships as you said it and its the start of the game when everyone says it. hehehe

  • @kscorp5176
    @kscorp5176 3 роки тому +2

    Oh that poor man who was tied to the mast!

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +3

      A very nasty bit of business, but it's hard to say what could have been done for him.

  • @pamooconnor8154
    @pamooconnor8154 2 роки тому +1

    There are no mistakes in the navy just negligence, too every action there’s a reaction. Who and why said we need to send all those ships at once, too get the bugs out find out where the problems were. I guess they figured it out and the cost was way too high. Thank goodness for those people on shore, they couldn’t take the pain and embarrassment away but they could keep them warm and alive. Some politician didn’t want to waste money and manpower just for those ships to go racing around, then someone convinced them it was necessary and there you go. I wouldn’t have waited for a court martial, they should have resigned because they didn’t know how to protect the fleet and men on them, and someone wants to give him a commendation, what? They could easily have sent one ship at a time and logged everything, then send another to challenge their skills, and so on.

  • @lv83bloodknight
    @lv83bloodknight 3 роки тому +7

    Nice video, small nitpick tho, Amagi's sistership is Akagi, not Kaga (she was a Tosa class Battleship)

    • @MaritimeHorrors
      @MaritimeHorrors  3 роки тому +6

      The Kaga was converted to a carrier to replace the Amagi which was damaged during the Earthquake.

    • @OtterTreySSArmy
      @OtterTreySSArmy 2 роки тому +2

      @@MaritimeHorrors dude, you seriously know your naval history! I love your content! You actually do an in depth analysis of events and don't do all the speculation and surface level content other channels do. Keep up the amazing work!

    • @SYNtemp
      @SYNtemp 2 роки тому +3

      @@MaritimeHorrors Both Akagi and Amagi were being built as big battlecruisers, and ofcourse they were sister ships (same class). Due to Washington treaty, the two ships were selected for conversion into Aircraft carriers (and two more scraped outright). After the big earthquakeb struck, Amagi was too damaged, so Kaga was converted to carrier instead. Thus, Akagi and Kaga were the first two big carriers for Japan, but they were not sister ships (as not in same class)...

    • @prinzalbatross9526
      @prinzalbatross9526 2 роки тому +1

      @@SYNtemp Exactly, I was about to have the same nitpick. Akagi and Kaga are often considered sisters since they had similar appearances after conversion, but in reality they were not really at all related, other than being large hulls turned into carriers.

    • @jamesshaw194
      @jamesshaw194 2 роки тому

      Did I hear the info comment correctly? There was no Golden Gate Bridge in 1923. Just the opening from San Francisco Bay called the Golden Gate…

  • @ShaDOWDoG667
    @ShaDOWDoG667 2 роки тому +1

    This is almost as much of a massive shit show as Operation Eagle Claw.

  • @rosiehawtrey
    @rosiehawtrey 2 роки тому +3

    American version of May Island

  • @Clabahoy
    @Clabahoy 6 місяців тому +1

    This would be comedic if it wasn’t so tragic.