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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchUSS William D. Porter (DD-579) was a Fletcher-class U.S. Navy destroyer commissioned in 1943. Its “unluckiest ship” reputation began when it accidentally launched a live torpedo toward USS Iowa while President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard, then hardened after Porter sank off Okinawa in 1945. The ship’s documented record is dramatic, but many stories later attached to it are unsupported or exaggerated.
What was USS William D. Porter?
William D. Porter was a Fletcher-class destroyer, hull number DD-579. The U.S. Navy commissioned her on 6 July 1943 and named her for William D. Porter, a Union naval officer in the American Civil War. She served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II and earned four battle stars.
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Fletcher-class destroyers were fast, heavily armed escort and fleet ships. Their normal jobs included screening larger warships, conducting anti-aircraft and anti-submarine work, attacking enemy ships with torpedoes, and providing shore bombardment. Porter therefore was not a ceremonial or experimental vessel; she was a frontline destroyer assigned demanding wartime duties.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →The nickname “unluckiest ship” was never an official Navy ranking or the result of a measured survey. It is a later shorthand for two documented episodes: the near-disastrous torpedo launch during an escort mission in November 1943 and the ship’s loss to a kamikaze-related explosion off Okinawa in June 1945. Colorful anecdotes made the label more famous, although the available logs do not support many of them.
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Why was Porter escorting USS Iowa?
On 14 November 1943, Porter was one of three destroyers—along with USS Cogswell and USS Young—escorting the battleship USS Iowa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard Iowa at the beginning of his journey to the Tehran Conference.
Iowa was conducting anti-aircraft practice while the destroyers rehearsed torpedo attacks against the battleship as a notional target. The exercise used strict procedures because a torpedo running toward a friendly ship could be fatal even during training. In Porter’s case, one failure in the torpedo-firing system turned a drill into a real emergency.
What happened when the “Willie D” fired a torpedo at Iowa?
The accidental launch
At 1436, Porter’s deck log recorded that a torpedo had been accidentally fired from number-two mount while the torpedo battery was exercising. The weapon was live, not a dummy used solely for classroom practice.
The destroyer initially tried to warn Iowa by signal lamp because radio silence was in effect. The first lamp messages contained errors, costing precious time. Porter eventually broke radio silence and sent a warning. Iowa’s log recorded receiving that warning at 1438.
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How Iowa escaped
After receiving the warning, Iowa turned to port at full speed. The torpedo passed behind the battleship and detonated in its wake. Accounts place the explosion somewhere between about 100 and 1,000 yards from Iowa; the distance varies in retellings, but the critical fact is consistent: no ship was hit and no one was killed.
The surviving deck-log entry captures the sequence: “1436 Torpedo accidentally fired from #2 mount while torpedo battery was exercising at drills. Investigation being held. . . . 1503 Iowa resumed firing AA practice.” The return to anti-aircraft practice shows that the battleship was not disabled and that the exercise eventually continued.
Was the entire crew of William D. Porter really arrested?
No. The often-repeated story that the whole ship’s company was placed under arrest is not supported by the logs and official records examined by the U.S. Naval Institute. Nor do those records show Iowa training every gun on Porter as the destroyer supposedly waited to be destroyed.
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An inquiry was held at Bermuda. Captain Wilfred A. Walter remained in command through May 1944, which is inconsistent with the idea that the Navy treated the entire crew as prisoners or immediately dismissed its commanding officer.
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The investigation did identify an individual failure. Lawton C. Dawson, the chief torpedoman connected with the primer malfunction, was transferred for court-martial and reduced one grade. Later versions claim that Dawson received 14 years of hard labor and that Roosevelt personally intervened. The readily available documentary record does not establish those details, so they should be treated as unverified rather than as part of the ship’s confirmed history.
Which other “bad-luck” stories are documented—and which are folklore?
The torpedo launch and the eventual sinking are documented. Several additional stories are not. Deck logs from Porter, Cogswell and Young, plus the records of the ships involved in later incidents, do not corroborate the most dramatic versions.
| Story | What the records support |
|---|---|
| Porter’s anchor tore equipment from Cogswell before departure. | The destroyers’ deck logs do not record this incident. |
| A depth charge accidentally dropped and triggered a major anti-submarine response. | The logs of the four ships involved do not support the tale. |
| A shell landed in a base commandant’s yard. | Documentary evidence for this story has not been found. |
| The ship was banished to the Aleutian Islands for a full year. | Porter did serve there, but the documented period was about eight months, ending in September 1944. |
| Everyone aboard was arrested after the Iowa incident. | Official records do not support a ship-wide arrest; the captain stayed in command and one torpedoman faced disciplinary action. |
These corrections do not make the torpedo incident less serious. They separate a real navigational and weapons mishap from entertaining additions that appeared in later retellings.
How did Porter end up in the Aleutians?
After the Iowa episode and its investigation, Porter served in the Aleutians. The assignment is sometimes described as a one-year punishment posting, but the historical account places her there for roughly eight months, ending in September 1944. Calling the deployment a full year exaggerates the documented timeline and implies a formal banishment that the records do not establish.
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The Aleutian service also illustrates why the “jinxed” image can be misleading. A destroyer operating in that theater performed routine escort, patrol and readiness work under difficult weather and strategic conditions. The assignment itself is not evidence that the Navy considered the crew incompetent or that the ship was being deliberately hidden.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened to William D. Porter off Okinawa?
The radar-picket mission
On 10 June 1945, Porter was on radar-picket duty off Okinawa, part of the dangerous screen that warned larger forces of approaching Japanese aircraft. Radar-picket destroyers operated close to the threat so they could provide early warning, making them especially exposed to kamikaze attacks.
The aircraft and underwater explosion
A Japanese Val dive bomber attacked. Porter’s guns shot the aircraft down close aboard, but the damaged plane continued underwater. Its bomb exploded beneath the destroyer, producing severe underwater damage rather than a straightforward impact on the hull.
The blast lifted the ship and brought her down in flames. Damage-control teams fought for approximately three hours, but flooding and structural damage proved fatal. William D. Porter sank on 10 June 1945.
Did anyone die?
Every member of Porter’s crew survived the sinking. The Navy casualty listing independently records the destroyer’s loss to a kamikaze off Okinawa on that date, and a Naval History and Heritage Command catalog entry identifies a photograph of the ship sinking after the near-miss and underwater explosion.
The survival of the entire crew is an important part of the story. “Unlucky” describes the ship’s extraordinary sequence of close calls and final loss; it does not mean that the crew suffered mass casualties or failed at its duties.
What was Porter’s actual wartime record?
The ship’s reputation can obscure her service. Porter operated in two oceans, performed escort and screening missions, survived the 1943 torpedo emergency without striking Iowa, returned to operational duty, and later served on a radar-picket station in one of the most dangerous phases of the Pacific war.
The Navy awarded her four World War II battle stars. That record is incompatible with the idea that she was simply a useless or inept ship. A battle star recognizes participation in designated combat operations; it does not erase the torpedo mishap, but it places the mishap in the context of substantial wartime service.
USS William D. Porter: a documented timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 6 July 1943 | Commissioned as USS William D. Porter (DD-579), a Fletcher-class destroyer. |
| 14 November 1943, 1436 | A live torpedo is accidentally fired from number-two mount during exercises with USS Iowa. |
| 14 November 1943, 1438 | Iowa records Porter’s warning and turns to port at full speed. |
| 14 November 1943, later | The torpedo detonates in Iowa’s wake; no ship is hit. |
| Through May 1944 | Porter’s captain remains in command while the incident is investigated. |
| Until September 1944 | The destroyer serves in the Aleutians for about eight months. |
| 10 June 1945 | On radar-picket duty off Okinawa, Porter is fatally damaged by a bomb from a Val aircraft shot down close aboard and sinks after roughly three hours. |
So, was it really the unluckiest ship in World War II?
It was one of the most memorable hard-luck stories in the U.S. Navy, but “unluckiest” is a nickname, not a historical measurement. The near-launch of a live torpedo at a battleship carrying the president was extraordinary. The later loss to a kamikaze-related underwater explosion supplied a tragic ending that made the nickname stick.
At the same time, the evidence argues against treating every anecdote as fact. The complete-crew arrest, guns-trained-on-Porter, accidental depth-charge, shell-in-the-yard and one-year-Aleutians stories are not supported by the cited logs and official histories. The most accurate account keeps both parts together: William D. Porter suffered a genuine weapons mishap and an unusual combat loss, yet she also completed real wartime missions, earned four battle stars and lost no crew members when she sank.
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