The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII • Hacker News Board

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#21

Post by hutzlibu » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 4:39 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #18

This ship's story isn't unusual. Every ship during WWII was a safety nightmare. Fratricide was common. So too were dangerous navigation errors. Every weapon system was one checklist item away from a deadly mistake (ie torpedo primers being the only safety mechanism during a drill). We wax nostalgic for all the heroes of WWII, but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dan…

"but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dangerous equipment. "

In nazi germany in the end, it was literal kids.

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#22

Post by kennystone » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 4:57 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #18

This ship's story isn't unusual. Every ship during WWII was a safety nightmare. Fratricide was common. So too were dangerous navigation errors. Every weapon system was one checklist item away from a deadly mistake (ie torpedo primers being the only safety mechanism during a drill). We wax nostalgic for all the heroes of WWII, but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dan…

They shot a live torpedo at FDR. Not the usual.

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#23

Post by dbcurtis » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

metabagel wrote: post #19

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be more accurate in this particular case, but please don’t assume Wikipedia is always correct.

I think we can now safely say that Wikipedia is highly likely to be more accurate than almost any other internet source. We shouldn’t feel uncomfortable citing it, nor should it be necessary to include a disclaimer every time we do.

“More accurate than the internet.”

I want that on a tee shirt.

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#24

Post by mastax » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:29 PM UTC

kennystone wrote: post #22

sandworm101 wrote: post #18

This ship's story isn't unusual. Every ship during WWII was a safety nightmare. Fratricide was common. So too were dangerous navigation errors. Every weapon system was one checklist item away from a deadly mistake (ie torpedo primers being the only safety mechanism during a drill). We wax nostalgic for all the heroes of WWII, but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dan…

They shot a live torpedo at FDR. Not the usual.

Given it happened in November 1943, it may have been one of the first truely live mk14 torpedoes ;)

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#25

Post by missedthecue » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:30 PM UTC

hutzlibu wrote: post #21

sandworm101 wrote: post #18

This ship's story isn't unusual. Every ship during WWII was a safety nightmare. Fratricide was common. So too were dangerous navigation errors. Every weapon system was one checklist item away from a deadly mistake (ie torpedo primers being the only safety mechanism during a drill). We wax nostalgic for all the heroes of WWII, but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dan…

"but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dangerous equipment. " In nazi germany in the end, it was literal kids.

Calvin Graham was a US navy servicemember in world war two who was awarded the bronze star and purple heart at age 12.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Graham

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#26

Post by sandworm101 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

kennystone wrote: post #22

sandworm101 wrote: post #18

This ship's story isn't unusual. Every ship during WWII was a safety nightmare. Fratricide was common. So too were dangerous navigation errors. Every weapon system was one checklist item away from a deadly mistake (ie torpedo primers being the only safety mechanism during a drill). We wax nostalgic for all the heroes of WWII, but by today's standards a WWII crew was a bunch of under-trained kids manning extremely dan…

They shot a live torpedo at FDR. Not the usual.

Once upon a time every military asset operated with live rounds. There were no "training" rounds in wartime. What happened in the OP was someone missed a step in an otherwise very normal drill. Want to really scare yourself? Google around for "broken arrows", live nuclear weapons that went missing. Most all of them were live rounds being carried during training. Something went wrong and that live nuke ended up in a field or at the bottom of a lake.

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#27

Post by Symmetry » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 5:49 PM UTC

jstx1 wrote: post #6

The same story with a comedy take from The Dollop podcast - https://allthingscomedy.com/podcasts/23---the-willie-dee

It was also on The Memory Palace a few years ago.

https://thememorypalace.us/safe-passage/

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#28

Post by lostlogin » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:18 PM UTC

kayodelycaon wrote: post #5

Awesome. Anyone finding this entertaining, may I recommend Drachinifel’s The Russian 2nd Pacific squadron - voyage of the Damned. “The Kamchatka announced it was sinking, which lead to much rejoicing amongst the fleet.” https://youtu.be/9Mdi_Fh9_Ag

I enjoyed Spike Milligan’s biography of his time in the army. To put it mildly, it’s rather funny.

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#29

Post by srvmshr » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 6:28 PM UTC

snedfree wrote: post #14

the wikipedia article on this boat is throws a fair amount of cold water on the narrative presented here

Further corroborative article to Wikipedia that gives a truer picture of history surrounding USS William D. Porter. Unlike the anecdata in this post, this counters with actual ship logs, recorded conversations, and ship schematics:

https://uncommonsenseok.blogspot.com/2020/02/uss-william-d-p...

OP's article is a spiced up, gossip laden naval lore - the types you expect from navymen banter in pubs & watering holes.

Re: The USS William D. Porter: The Unluckiest Ship in WWII

#30

Post by ethbr0 » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 7:35 PM UTC

metabagel wrote: post #19

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be more accurate in this particular case, but please don’t assume Wikipedia is always correct.

I think we can now safely say that Wikipedia is highly likely to be more accurate than almost any other internet source. We shouldn’t feel uncomfortable citing it, nor should it be necessary to include a disclaimer every time we do.

* for articles on popular and well-documented topics

On the other hand, once you get off into the weeds (dead-tree citations, thinly visited articles), Wikipedia's reliability alters significantly.

Unfortunately, it's not always clear which sort of article you're reading.