The following information is from a Publication by Mr. Richard S. Pope, former HM1 aboard the USS BENNINGTON on 26 May 1954. He has granted permission for it to be entered to the website for historical purposes.

Richard S. Pope is currently involved in matters related to biomedical research and nursing education. He holds a doctoral degree in nursing and an advanced degree in physiology.

At the time of the explosion on the USS BENNINGTON, he was the corpsmen in charge of the operating room. As such, he had little knowledge of what had happened except that the operating room had no physician but had scores of casualties, both living and dead, some of who were literally still burning.

It is hoped that this effort will provide an understanding of the totality of the events, which happened within minutes or less, throughout the ship.

It is also hoped that this effort will serve as a small memorial to those shipmates who lost their lives, as well as to the many shipmates who put care for others above their own needs.

Those of you who were present will understand the odors, sounds and jots of memory which bring the searing events back into consciousness and remove us from ongoing events even forty years after. Hopefully this information will help those who survive do so in a bit more peace and will provide a small honor to those who no longer are with us except in our memories.

On May 26, 1954 the USS BENNINGTON suffered an explosion which claimed the lives of over 100 men and officers. This was the second worst ship disaster not involving enemy action at the time.

This incident followed an active period of duty during the end of the Second World War and prior to action during the Korean and Vietnam periods. The greatest loss of life occurred during the explosion.

These memoirs are a tribute to those men who lost their lives and to those who suffered and continue to suffer as a result.

Few medals were issued after the explosion, but there were many unwritten and unrecognized heroes who conducted their duties with honor, saved lives and helped their shipmates in a dangerous environment without considering their own safety. I hope that some of the courageous actions will be evident in the following.

A brief note about how these memories were obtained is in order. I wrote to as many of the crew of the BENNINGTON as I could find names and addresses for. Those who were able responded with their own thoughts and memories. Some were unable to put words to paper but I was able to listen to their verbal memories. This is then only a sampling of the men who served on the BENNINGTON at the time. It is, I believe, a fair sampling of what happened. However, there are definite gaps. No pilot responded and no other officer responded.

This may be because of the source of my names rather than any suggestion that

Officers were disinclined to respond.

It was difficult after forty years to obtain the names and current addresses of more than a sampling of the crew. However, this explosion caused the largest number of casualties aboard a US Naval ship where there was no enemy action and when only a single ship was involved.

The USS BENNINGTON was laid down during World War II as a CV or fast carrier. She was constructed at the Navy Yard in New York in 1944. World War II

Action included support of the landings on Iwo Jima, attacks against the islands of Japan including factories and shipping facilities of Tokyo and Yokosuka. She also provided support for the landings on Okinawa. After the war she was decommissioned in April of 1946 in the Atlantic Fleet.

The BENNINGTON was re-commissioned in November 1952 following extensive modernization. After this modernization she was reclassified as a CVA or attack carrier and began her shakedown training in February 1953. During this activity an explosion occurred on 27 April 1953 in the forward fireroom which cost eleven lives. Following a two-week period for repairs, the BENNINGTON took part in NATO exercises and made a Mediterranean cruise.

During April 1954 the BENNINGTON again began qualification trials during which a second and much more extensive explosion or series of explosions occurred. The second explosion on 26 May 1954 turned out to be a far worse accident and caused over two hundred casualties. Extensive repairs were required at Brooklyn Navy Yard. At the time of these repairs the BENNINGTON was further modernized and she was designated as a CVS or anti-sub carrier and moved to the Pacific Fleet. Various actions involving threats to the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, the Laotian crisis, Gulf of Tonkin and support during the Vietnamese War were provided until she was again decommissioned in January 1970 to be mothballed. During the twenty-six year life of the BENNINGTON, she was directly involved in two periods of enemy action. She had duty in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets and she saw duty as a CV-20, CVA-20 and a CVS-20. Only the two explosions (27 April 1953 and 26 May 1954) marred her service.

The purpose of this memoir is to detail the explosion of May 26, 1954 in order to get a better understanding of what happened. This will also serve to commemorate the men if the USS BENNINGTON.

On the 26^th of May 1954 the aircraft carrier, USS BENNINGTON CVA-20 was steaming off the Atlantic coast for carrier qualifications. This cruise was interrupted by a violent explosion or series of explosions, which claimed over 200 officers and men as casualties. The ship suffered massive damage in the forward third with sheets of flame and a series of explosions. Nearly one hundred men lost their lives within seconds of the explosion and over one hundred others were seriously injured. All survivors were left with a searing memory.

That Wednesday morning had started early. By 0600 hours, preparations to launch aircraft had been completed and aircraft had begun the procedure for launching. Most of the ships crew who were not directly involved in the launch activity were in the process of waking. At 0611 hours with the propulsion system in use on the flight deck there was a violent explosion which involved the forward third of the ship.

Those corpsmen who had the night duty were beginning to start their day by 0600.

The sick bay was located in the stern area below the hanger deck. We thus did not hear any of the explosions. We did hear an announcement for "General Quarters", and we thought that this announcement was stated to be a drill. Within seconds after the corpsmen had begun to dash to their general quarters stations we were aware that this was in fact not a drill.

My first encounter with a hero occurred as the announcement over the speakers was advising that the "General Quarters was no drill". I had no reason to quarrel with that assessment.

A bosonmate remembers that he was half-awake in his bunk below the hanger deck and "felt the ship shuttering and a dull explosion echoed through the passageways". In his shorts he made his way up a ladder to the second deck and by feeling his way in the dark went up another ladder where he found several shipmates. They helped each other up another ladder and to the fresh air when there was another explosion. A shipmate gave him a pair of dungarees. The second explosion twisted the ladder, which they had just used, "like a pretzel". A third explosion occurred while these men began their work in the aftermath, work that included finding injured, transporting them to the hanger deck where the corpsmen had set up the aid station and searching for bodies.

A fireman, also a hero, had just started out of his bunk when the first explosion occurred. The compartment quickly filled with smoke so the men here formed a chain and started for the hanger deck. The second explosion killed the two men just in front of him. The third explosion "brought him to his senses". He made it to his station for damage control, passing through compartments, which were on fire. "Rockets, bombs and bodies were in the passageways". They found the forward mess hall filled with two feet of water and two casualties, one man on a table and the other face down in the water. They carried the first man out and came back for the second. The second man walked on his own after being turned. "I was scared". All of the men in the catapult room had been killed. "Fires were all around".

The general quarters alarm found a cook preparing breakfast. He started for his general quarters station on the telephone for "Repair 5". Before plugging in his phones the first explosion hit. The second explosion caught him on the ladder and threw him to the upper deck. The third explosion found him looking down into the space below which he had just exited and which was now filled with smoke and dust. He got back to his station and plugged the phone in and found the repair parties aft of his station all checked in but only one station forward of his had checked in and this was manned by a single person. He learned that his Repair Party Officer was dead. On the phone he had made contact with a Damage Control Unit which was trapped. All members of this crew died before help could reach them. The cook's wife is, "still waiting for the telegram which was later sent to let her know he was ok".

At about 0530 hours a pantry man noted smoke coming from the galley. This was located on the third deck amidships. The cook's also noted smoke but no fire. The escape route for these men was through a hatch, which was blown, shut as they approached and became red-hot. One survivor recalls that an "extraordinarily brave man" who searched among all the dead to find him still alive helped him. He was evacuated by helicopter to Newport Rhode Island Naval Hospital and finally recovered and returned to active duty.

Not all efforts to rescue shipmates were successful. There was no doubt that in many cases friends were already beyond help. In some cases the efforts to help were not to succeed. One frantic effort to disengage a shipmate from entangled metal and machinery ended in watching the friend slowly drown as water filled the space where he was trapped. His knowing that he was nearing his final moments and his

Encouragement to those trying to help typified the spirit of the men of the BENNINGTON.

The number of explosions heard by various persons varies. Officers on the bridge recalled hearing two explosions. Some individuals in the area of the worst damage recalled three explosions, while one heard no explosion but saw a wall of flame. Certainly some of the differences relate to location. Where one was at the time determined what was heard as well as the chances of injury or death. We heard no explosions in the sick bay, probably because of the location. It appears from the memories that there was a series of explosions, that these were of varying intensities, and that some at least were confined to small areas. With hatches closed there would be a dampening of sound transmission.

Casual inspection of the damage to the ship following our return to dry dock in New York gave startling evidence of the tremendous forces, which were unleashed by the explosions. There was no evidence of harm on the flight deck or on the hanger deck, but in the forward third of the ship one saw structural I-beams twisted. Ladders were torn and twisted. Paint was burned; bulkheads were pushed out in bubbles and all the spaces were covered with greasy soot. Burned rubble was strewn about.

An obvious question was what caused these explosions. As a corpsman I was not in a position to know exactly what happened to cause this accident. I have put my personal observations and other explanations together to try to make sense of the causation. It appeared that there had been a slow leak in one of the catapults. A hydraulic fluid operated the catapults, which was supposed to be safe from fire or explosion. However the timing of the first explosion makes it appear that at some level in the ship the hydraulic fumes were in a vaporized state and had reached a concentration which permitted it to explode and burst into flame when a seaman awoke and lit his first cigarette. The flames spread rapidly throughout the spaces, which had accumulated the leaking hydraulic vapors. These flames must have been extremely hot as suggested by the rapidity of doors reaching a "hot" temperature. The initial flames consisted of the burning of the vaporized hydraulic fluid and lasted only seconds. Other material then began to burn.

The explosion on the BENNINGTON which cost the lives of 104 officers and men and caused serious injury to over 139 others was the second worse disaster aboard a Naval vessel which did not involve enemy action. The worst accident at this time was the collision of the carrier WASP and the destroyer HOBSON in 1952.

Hundreds of men showed exceptional heroism and devotion to their shipmates. The Secretary of the Navy awarded medals to 178 of the crew on 22 April 1955. Probably many more men deserved such recognition. The vignettes of memories, which I have received and have tried to collate in this memorial, pay tribute to the extraordinary concern for fellow shipmates. Over and over there was the plea to "help my buddy". The first injured man to arrive in the sick bay uttered these words as he died in my arms. I will never know who he was since he was not recognizable, but his family should know that he was a remarkable and brave person.

I dedicate this information to the memory of those that died and hope that it will ease the pain of those injured. In addition, I hope that this memoir will help in some small way to ease the continued pain of the last forty years of those of us who survived. While we each believe that we did not do enough, we each did more than thought possible. Finally, perhaps we can smell the roses again free of the odor of that day in May.

Finally, I believe that there was more than one hero that day, just as Captain Raborn stated, "there were countless acts of individual heroism".

At 2111 hours, fifteen hours after the explosion, the first official dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy from the USS BENNINGTON listed persons as having died in the explosion. The following lists were compiled from the official Court of Inquiry and were complete as of the early part of June 1954. Others surely died at later dates but are not listed here. Many other shipmates carry scars as a result of the explosion and the loss of shipmates.

LIST OF THOSE WHO WERE INJURED

(The same listing of casualties provided the following individuals as injured)

Allen, Isaac, PFC
Andreason, Veryl L., SN
Anthony, Roger, TA
Banks, George J., AA
Baxter, Robert C., LTJG
Belmer, Richard G., SN
Berry, Robert Edmond, SN
Blamick, Joseph Emmanuel, IC2
Blossom, Robert S., SA
Bogumil, Valentine Bernard, QM2
Bower, George W., SN
Bowie, Marshall L., FT3
Brown, James Henry, SD3
Bruck, Ronald J., FN
Brukhead, Leslie G., IC3
Burnett, John Paul, LCDR
Carrier, Cecil K., Jr., AN
Caruthers, Adrain F., Jr., AO3
Charpentier, Alfred Paul, QM2
Chase, Nelvin, DC3
Cline, John D., ADAN
Cobb, George E., FP3
Cole, James M., FN
Collura, Nicholas, BT3
Covington, James S., SD1
Dickson, Richard H., H., MM3
Dobias, Andrew, SA
Donegan, Henry J., TN
Dorado, Arthur N., SN
Dougherty, William, AD3
Doughlas, Jack C., AKAN
Duvall, John S., LTJG
Ferguson, Byron W., FT3
Flink, William H., AK
Foley, W., J., LTJG
Fortham, Earnest Almer, IC3
French, Robert D., LTJG
Garfinkle, Morton, SN
Gennarino, Lawrence J., SN
Gerrald, John D., Jr., BM1
Gerules, Ernest, ENS
Glenn, Clifton C., Jr., ET1
Green, Lee E., SD3
Grippe, Robert J., SN
Groff, Ralph, SN
Harris, Cecil I., SD1
Hatfield, Harold E., BT3
Highe, Leroy, Jr., SD1
Hollingsworth, Davis L., AOAN
Huling, Wade U., PFC
Hunter, Charles M., SN
Jenkins, Winston L., TA
Johnson, Charles Edward, TN
Johnson, Wilber H., TN
Jones, Sammie L., SD3
June, Daniel A., SN
Kaigler, Joe H., GM2
Keckler, Donald L., SN
Keeton, Davis R., SN
Lang, Arthur A. SK3
Lazar, George, AO3
Leboeuf, Joseph, SN
Lelle, Frank F., PR1
Lennox, Gernes J., LTJG
Litchfield, Earnest L., AN
Lintz, Thomas L., SN
Lomax, Prestley H., SN
Mader, Frank C., AMAN
Mallon, Richard J., LT
Maronry, Robert M., AN
Martin, Milton T., SN
Mayes, Arthur L., SD3
Mehlin, Donald D., SK3
Miller, Richard F., BM3
Mitchell, James D., SK3
Newby, John F., TN
Obrien, George W., TN
Ogle, Thomas J., AOAN
Olivarri, Alfredo, SA
Palmer, Carl H., FA
Parson, Dean A., SA
Paulson, Gerard, AN
Pennington, Harold J., RD3
Pfefferie, Robert Richard, IC2
Pickrell, Keith W., SN
Pittman, Shelly, LCDR
Popick, S., J., IC2
Prestige, Roy D., FT3
Reed, Donald L., CPL
Renneberg, George S., SN
Ricchiuto, John, SN
Robinson, George A., SD2
Ronegan, Henry J., TN
Severson, James D., FP3
Scarborough, William Henry, EMP3
Shambo, Earl T., FN
Sleeper, Henry E., AD1
Smith, Henry L., AN
Soucy, Rene C., PFC
Souva, Robert A., FN
Steeves, Clark A., SN
Surowic, David, AOAN
Svobda, Ray J., SA
Taylor, Samuel R., Jr., TN
Teague, Joe F., LT
Testagrose, Thomas J., TN
Valdez, Boni A., SN
Wade, Robert E., SK2
Wallace, Ross P., LT
Wallace, Staten G., AN
Warren, Ralph X., SK3
Wells, Frank M., LT
White, Calvin N., TN
Wisher, Frank, SD2
Wole, Elmer, ET1
Wollam, John S., LTJG
Wanne, James, IC2
Yanuskiewicz, John R., DC3

The final number of casualties as notes in the official history of ships state that there was a total of 304 casualties (103 dead and 201 injured). The above list was compiled from the official Court of Inquiry and documents dated through 6 June 1954 indicates a total of 139 injured and a total of 104 dead, or 234 casualties. There were undoubtedly some that died at a later date and are not reflected as such in this accounting.

Awards were made to 178 shipmates for individual heroism. The Secretary of the Navy (Charles S. Thomas) made these presentations on 22 April 1955. Contrary to what is believed by a few, there was no "unit citation" awarded, according to information provided by the Deputy Director of Naval History.