A SINGLE TORPEDO STRIKE CAUSED THE DEADLIEST ESCORT CARRIER DISASTER IN NAVAL HISTORY

Описание: A single torpedo hit detonated this carrier, sinking it in twenty-three minutes. On November 24, 1943, off Makin Island, a lone torpedo fired by Japanese submarine I-175 slammed into the escort carrier USS Liscome Bay. The warhead detonated directly inside the ship's unarmored bomb magazine, triggering an enormous secondary explosion. A blinding fireball vaporized the stern section, sending burning debris raining onto neighboring ships miles away. The mass-produced Casablanca-class carrier sank in just 23 minutes, killing 644 crewmen in the deadliest escort carrier disaster in Navy history. Among those lost was Pearl Harbor hero Doris Miller, proving the terrifying vulnerability of lightly armored jeep carriers carrying tons of high explosives.