https://youtu.be/VhODP6r8Ihw?si=rXPHnE9Lz4ciAw3m
In October 1990 there was a major steam leak on USS Iwo Jima LPH-2 off the coast of Bahrain. 10 sailors were killed in the steam leak. The steam was over 600 psi and over 800 degrees and filled the fire room (aka boiler room)almost instantly with superheated steam.
I wasn’t there when it happened. I arrived a few weeks later. The fire room was still in shambles. I was to work in the engine room but the level of damage required extra help in the fire room to recover from the accident. After a long 12 hour flight from Philly to Saudi Arabia in which we were not allowed to leave the plane at any stop, I arrived on the ship just before midnight. My first night trying to sleep on a ship was the first time I heard someone scream in terror from the nightmares of the accident. The men who recovered the bodies of the dead were friends and coworkers of those who were killed. They went in because the fire room is a maze of machinery and only those who knew their way around could hope to maneuver while wearing fill firefighting ensembles and OBA (oxygen breathing apparatus), all of which limits mobility and visibility. Two of the engineers had to be removed because of a psychological breakdown. One tried to kill a fellow sailor when the fellow sailor kicked the other’s imaginary dog. The other hat taken his rack light apart to put the two wires to his temples to try to get rid of the images in his mind.
NIS did a full investigation of the accident. The BT (boiler tech) who was suppose to be the quality control inspector was one of the dead. The chief engineer is the ultimate officer in charge of quality control so he was relieved of duty and replaced. The MPA (main propulsion assistant) was the officer killed in the accident and so he too was replaced. The captain remained in command throughout Desert Storm, the return to USA, and the following ship yard period. After the yard period he was replaced. We knew it t wasn’t a normal change of command. On a bright sunny day in Norfolk VA we were ordered to muster in the hanger bay instead of the flight deck. All the aircraft elevator doors were fully closed. There was no decorations, no visiting officials, no band, and no prerecorded music. The exiting captain angrily announced he was being sent to a shore command with no chance to continue on with his career. There were some very ugly rumors about his actions on the day of the accident as well as during the investigation that I won’t share here. If even a third of those were correct then I fully understand his removal. The brief time I served under him didn’t raise my opinion of him in any way for other reasons.
Some of those engineers who were there at the time of the accident were discharged after Desert Storm because their time in service was extended for the coming war. The new captain was a former enlisted and the change in the ship was felt to the lowest levels. When the ship was decommissioned in 1993 the ship was in such good shape that some thought we were commissioning a new ship.
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Year before was USS Iowa
