The USS Bennington Monument is a 60-foot (18 m) granite obelisk in the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego, California, USA. It serves as a memorial to the crew of the USS Bennington (PG-4), a gunboat of the United States Navy, whose boiler exploded on the morning of 21 July, 1905, in San Diego Bay.[1] The explosion showered the vessel with live steam and scalding water, killing at least 60 men and burning an additional 46. It was the worst peacetime disaster for the U.S. Navy up to that time.[2]
The dead were buried at Fort Rosecrans; some were later disinterred and shipped home for burial by their families.[2] The monument at the site of the graves was dedicated 3 years later, on 7 January 1908.