The former USS Howorth, which was used as a guinea pig in the 1946 nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, was sunk by two of the newest type torpedoes fired from Volador and Salmon.
The Navy said the test was one of a series probing a World War II phenomenon of expected torpedo hits turning out to be duds.
The secret weapons test was termed “very successful” by Capt. D. H. McClintock, commander of Submarine Flotilla 1, which conducted the exercise.
The Navy said the first torpedo exploded with such force on hitting the obsolete vessel that it blew large holes in both sides of the hull.
After being struck by a second torpedo, the destroyer “stood on her bow, bubbles and debris gushing from gaping holes in her hull, and twisted crazily in a dive toward the bottom,” an unidentified observer said.
A landing craft attached to the destroyer’s stern to provide power for the test snapped a mooring line and remained afloat over the ordnance disposal area.
Source: San Jose Mercury, 10 March 1962
