Honda Point Disaster

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Aerial view of the southern part of the disaster area, showing five of the seven destroyers. Photographed from a plane assigned to USS Aroostook. The ships visible are Delphy, capsized in the small cove at left; Young, capsized in left center; Chauncey, upright ahead of Young; 'Woodbury on the rocks in the right center; and Fuller on the rocks at right.

The Honda Point Disaster was the largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships. On the evening of September 8, 1923, seven destroyers, while travelling at 20 knots (37 km/h), ran aground at Honda Point, a few miles from the northern side of the Santa Barbara Channel off the California coast. Two other ships grounded, but were able to maneuver free of the rocks. Twenty-three sailors died in the mishap.

The ships comprised Destroyer Squadron 11 (DesRon 11). The squadron, led by Captain Edward H. Watson, was heading from San Francisco to San Diego. Watson was on the flagship leading the squadron of fourteen destroyers. All were Clemson-class destroyers, less than five years old. The ships turned east, supposedly into the Santa Barbara Channel, at 21:00.

The ships were navigating by dead reckoning, estimating their position by their heading and speed, as measured by propeller turns. At the time radio navigational aids were new and not completely trusted. Delphy was equipped with a radio navigational receiver, but ignored the bearings, believing them to be erroneous. No effort was made to take soundings or depth measurements. These operations were not performed due the need to slow the ships to take readings. The ships were performing an exercise that simulated wartime conditions, hence the decision not to slow down. In this case, the dead reckoning was wrong and the mistake fatal.

The area of Honda/Pedernales Point is extremely treacherous for Central California mariners in that it features a series of rocky outcroppings (one of which is today named "Destroyer Rock") sticking out about one-quarter mile, called the "Devil's Jaw", that has been a navigational hazard since the Spanish Explorers first came in the 1500s. Also, this is near the entrance to the sometimes treacherous Santa Barbara Channel, a popular shipping shortcut for vessels going to and from the ports of Southern California, that is 12-25 miles wide between the coast and the Channel Islands. The problem with the entrance to the channel is it is one of the windiest places for mariners to go through on the West Coast. Many times winds and waves are so vicious that vessels will ride the storm out at San Miguel Island's small harbor, or waves ranging from 20-30 feet high will force the harbors at Santa Barbara, Ventura, Port Hueneme, and Oxnard to close. The entrance to the Channel acts like a vortex, sucking in the winds of Pacific storm systems into the passage. The most dangerous area is from Point Pedernales east, along the stretch of forlorn south-facing coast (much of which is now part of the Vandenberg AFB Western Launch and Test Range), to Gaviota Creek, where U.S. 101 meets the coast from the Santa Ynez Valley. Vessels can be blown ashore, or with the dense fog that is common on the California Central Coast in the summer, ships can simply run aground when they lose track of their location, This was the case with Destroyer Squadron 11 as they made their way south from San Francisco Bay to San Diego Bay in the late summer of 1923.

Earlier the same day, the mail steamship Cuba ran aground nearby. Some attributed these incidents in the Santa Barbara Channel to unusual currents caused by the Tokyo earthquake of the previous week.

Ultimately, a Navy court ruled it was the fault of the Captain and navigators. They also assigned blame to the Captain of each ship, following the tradition that a Captain's first responsibility is to his own ship, even when part of a formation.

In order, the ships were (bold marks lost ships):

USS Delphy (DD-261) was the flagship in the column. She ran aground on the shore at 20 knots. After running aground, she sounded her siren. The siren alerted some of the later ships in the column, helping them avoid the tragedy. Three men died. She was eventually scrapped.
USS S. P. Lee (DD-310) was following a few hundred yards behind. She saw Delphy suddenly stop, and turned to port (left) in response. She ran into the coast. She was scrapped.
USS Young (DD-312) made no move to turn. She tore her hull open on submerged rocks. The water rushed in, and capsized her onto her starboard (right) side within minutes. Twenty men died.
USS Woodbury (DD-309) turned to starboard, but ran into an offshore rock. She was scrapped.
USS Nicholas (DD-311) turned to port and also hit a rocky outcropping. She was scrapped.
USS Farragut (DD-300) ran aground, but was able to extricate herself. She was not lost.
USS Fuller (DD-297) piled up next to Woodbury. She was scrapped.
USS Percival (DD-298) evaded without damage.
USS Somers (DD-301) was lightly damaged.
USS Chauncey (DD-296) made an attempt to rescue sailors atop the capsized Young. She ran aground nearby. She was scrapped.

The remaining four avoided the rocks:

There was one civilian aboard Delphy. Eugene Dooman was aboard as a guest of Captain Watson; they had first met in Japan. Dooman was a Japan expert with the State Department.

Honda Point, also called Point Pedernales, is located outside of Lompoc, California. It now is part of Vandenberg Air Force Base. There is a plaque and a memorial at the site.