USS William D. Porter survived the accidental torpedo launch of 14 November 1943 and remained an active destroyer. It served for months in the Aleutians, later went on radar-picket duty off Okinawa, and finally sank on 10 June 1945 after a Japanese aircraft’s bomb exploded underwater beneath the ship. The cited account says the crew fought for three hours and that everyone aboard survived.
The short answer
The torpedo incident did not end the career of USS William D. Porter (DD-579). The destroyer continued operating after the accident, including eight months in the Aleutians that ended in September 1944. Its loss came much later, during the Okinawa campaign, when a Japanese Val dive bomber was shot down close to the ship but detonated its bomb load underwater beneath the hull. Porter sank after a three-hour damage-control effort.
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That sequence matters because popular retellings often treat the torpedo launch as the ship’s final episode. It was not. The accidental firing became a notorious wartime story, but the destroyer returned to duty and was ultimately lost in a separate attack in 1945.
What happened during the 14 November 1943 incident?
Porter was escorting Iowa and President Roosevelt
On 14 November 1943, William D. Porter was escorting the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). Iowa was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the first leg of his journey to the Tehran Conference. The ships were conducting drills, and the destroyer’s torpedo battery was exercising as part of that training.
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A live torpedo was accidentally fired from Porter’s number-two torpedo mount. The launch was not a simulated event: the weapon entered the water and headed toward Iowa. The later Naval History account attributes the accident to a primer that had not been removed from a torpedo tube.
Iowa maneuvered and the torpedo exploded in its wake
Iowa immediately made an emergency turn to port at full speed. The torpedo did not hit the battleship. It detonated in Iowa’s wake, with reports placing the explosion somewhere between 100 and 1,000 yards from the battleship. The range is reported as a span rather than a single measured distance, so it should not be read as a precise figure.
Porter’s crew tried to warn Iowa while radio silence was in effect. The first signal-lamp message gave the wrong side of the ship. A later message incorrectly stated that Porter was in full reverse. Eventually the destroyer broke radio silence and broadcast a warning in the clear. After the explosion, Porter acknowledged that the launch had been inadvertent and explained the missing primer.
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The deck log records the basic sequence
The ship’s deck log, reproduced in the 2021 Naval History article, gives a terse contemporaneous record:
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“1436 Torpedo accidentally fired from #2 mount while torpedo battery was exercising at drills. Investigation being held. . . . 1503 Iowa resumed firing AA practice.”
The entry identifies the launch as an accident during drills and notes that Iowa resumed antiaircraft practice later that afternoon. It does not describe the more dramatic details added by later storytelling.
Was anyone punished, and did the incident end the captain’s career?
The Bermuda inquiry and Dawson’s punishment
An inquiry was held at Bermuda. Chief Torpedoman’s Mate Lawton C. Dawson was transferred for a general court-martial and reduced by one grade to torpedoman first class. A frequently repeated claim says that Dawson received 14 years of hard labor. The 2021 account says readily available evidence does not substantiate that sentence.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe same account reports that President Roosevelt requested no punishment because he regarded the launch as an accident. That presidential intervention is part of the documented retelling, but it should not be confused with the separate disciplinary action against Dawson.
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What the records do not establish
Popular versions of the story say the entire ship was arrested, that the captain’s career ended immediately, or that the destroyer caused other accidents involving an anchor or a released depth charge. The Naval History article says the official Navy history did not cite the arrest claims. It also reports that the relevant ships’ deck logs do not record the alleged anchor and depth-charge incidents.
Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter remained in command through 30 May 1944. That documented command date contradicts the idea that the torpedo episode instantly ended his service as captain. An earlier account by the Naval Historical Society of Australia repeats some of the dramatic anecdotes, including a story about damage to a sister ship and a depth charge. Those stories are best treated as anecdotes, not established events, because the later discussion of the deck logs does not support them.
What did William D. Porter do after the torpedo launch?
Eight months in the Aleutians
Porter continued in Navy service after the Iowa incident. The Naval History account says the destroyer spent eight months in the Aleutians, with that period ending in September 1944. This is the clearest documented answer to the question of what happened immediately afterward: the ship was not withdrawn as a curiosity, scrapped, or permanently sidelined. It went back to operational duties.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11The sources cited for this explainer do not provide a complete day-by-day account of every assignment between the Aleutian service and the Okinawa operation. It is therefore more accurate to identify the documented endpoints than to fill the gap with an invented itinerary.
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Later radar-picket duty off Okinawa
After the Aleutians, Porter was assigned to radar-picket duty off Okinawa. Radar-picket ships operated in exposed positions where they could detect approaching aircraft and pass warnings to the larger force. That assignment placed the destroyer close to the air threat during the final battles of the Pacific war.
How did USS William D. Porter sink?
The attack on 10 June 1945
At 0815 on 10 June 1945, a lone Japanese Val dive bomber attacked Porter off Okinawa. The Val was an obsolete aircraft by that stage of the war, but the attack was still lethal because of where the aircraft fell and where its bomb exploded.
Porter’s gunners shot the aircraft down close aboard. The aircraft did not simply disappear at the surface. It continued underwater until it was beneath the destroyer, where its bomb load exploded. The underwater blast lifted the ship out of the water; when it came down, Porter was in flames.
The crew fought for three hours
The crew attempted to save the destroyer for three hours. Damage control after an underwater explosion can involve flooding, fires, loss of propulsion or electrical systems, and the need to keep compartments from being overwhelmed. The cited account does not provide a compartment-by-compartment damage report, so the confirmed point is the duration of the effort rather than a detailed engineering reconstruction.
Those efforts could not prevent the ship from sinking. The Naval History account reports that every person aboard survived. Porter’s physical loss, therefore, was not accompanied by the deaths of its crew in the cited record.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Documented events versus popular additions
The William D. Porter story illustrates how a genuine near-disaster can accumulate embellishments. The following distinction keeps the record clear:
| Claim or event | What the cited evidence supports |
|---|---|
| Live torpedo fired during drills on 14 November 1943 | Supported by the ship’s deck log and the 2021 Naval History account. |
| Iowa carried President Roosevelt | Supported; the battleship was on the first leg of Roosevelt’s trip to the Tehran Conference. |
| The torpedo struck Iowa | Not supported; Iowa turned away and the torpedo exploded in its wake. |
| Porter and its crew were formally arrested | Not cited in the official Navy history discussed by Naval History. |
| An anchor damaged USS Cogswell or a depth charge was accidentally released | Deck-log evidence discussed in the later account does not support these stories. |
| Dawson received 14 years of hard labor | Readily available proof for that claim was not identified; the documented punishment was reduction by one grade after transfer for general court-martial. |
| The torpedo incident ended Porter’s service | False; the destroyer served eight months in the Aleutians and later operated off Okinawa. |
| Porter sank after a Japanese aircraft attack | Supported; the aircraft was shot down close aboard, and its bomb exploded underwater beneath the ship on 10 June 1945. |
| Everyone aboard survived the sinking | Reported by the cited Naval History account. |
Why the 1943 incident is remembered
The accident combined several ingredients that make a naval story unusually memorable: a live weapon fired during a drill, a battleship carrying the president, confusing emergency signals, and a detonation close enough to force an evasive maneuver. Those facts are dramatic without needing the later additions.
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The confusion in the warning messages also explains why accounts can diverge. Porter first used a signal lamp because of radio silence, sent an incorrect side indication, and then issued a mistaken statement about reversing. Only afterward did it transmit a clear radio warning. In an emergency, each correction can become a separate anecdote, especially when later storytellers compress the sequence.
Deck logs provide a useful check on such stories. The reproduced entry gives a time, identifies the number-two mount, states that drills were in progress, and records that an investigation was underway. The later Naval History article compares those records with popular claims and finds no log support for the anchor and depth-charge episodes. That does not prove that every sailor’s recollection was fabricated; it does mean those additions should not be presented as established facts.
A concise chronology
- 14 November 1943: During torpedo drills while escorting Iowa, Porter accidentally fires a live torpedo from its number-two mount.
- Minutes later: Iowa turns hard to port at full speed; the torpedo detonates in the battleship’s wake.
- After the explosion: Porter corrects its warning attempts, breaks radio silence, and reports the inadvertent launch.
- Bermuda inquiry: Dawson is transferred for a general court-martial and reduced one grade; claims of a 14-year hard-labor sentence are not substantiated by the cited account.
- Through September 1944: Porter completes eight months of service in the Aleutians.
- 10 June 1945, 0815: A Japanese Val attacks the destroyer off Okinawa. Gunfire brings the aircraft down close aboard, but its bomb explodes underwater beneath Porter.
- Three hours later: The crew’s damage-control effort fails to save the ship, which sinks; the cited account says all aboard survive.
What happened to the “Willie D” after firing at Iowa?
“Willie D” was not immediately condemned or removed from the war. After the near miss with Iowa, William D. Porter underwent an inquiry, returned to operational service, spent months in the Aleutians, and later took up radar-picket duty at Okinawa. Its wartime career ended because of the June 1945 underwater explosion, not because of the 1943 torpedo accident.
The most defensible conclusion is therefore two-part: the torpedo launch was a serious accidental weapons failure that prompted an investigation and limited disciplinary action, while the destroyer itself continued fighting for roughly another year and a half. Its final loss was a separate combat event, and the surviving record reports that the crew escaped alive.
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