The Honda Point Disaster

On the 9th of September 1923, seven U.S. Navy Destroyers from DesRon 11 ran aground on the California coast on the infamous Honda Point. This would be the greatest lose of Navy vessels in a peace time incident in US History. But what caused the massive pile up. What caused such seasoned navigators to take such a horribly wrong turn? Stay tuned and find out.
#History #Disaster

Thanks for watching my video on Maritime Horrors. I hope to have a new video out each week. Each one will be packed with useful and historical information about famous and lesser known maritime tragedies and disasters.

Works Cited:
Tragedy at Honda By Charles A. Lockwood

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[RaceChapman]

man the fate of that guy who jumped in and broke his glasses was brutal. left blinded, panicked and alone, tied to the mast of a sinking ship, unable to try to swim or get away. i would have been hard pressed not to put him out of his misery before all that

[NadaSurfinAB]

I read some archival articles on this beaching. What struck me was that one of the officers in the back of the column, was able to save his ships after hearing the distress signals. He took evasive action. His ships were unscathed.

But, crazy outcome - Navy brass pulled rank and he was court-martialled for disobeying orders, even though he saved his vessels and crews. He should have been awarded medals for stellar leadership and seamanship, but was unjustly reprimanded instead. It seems some in the Navy preferred greater losses over common sense and competency. There would have been even more ships on the beach that night if he hadn’t taken swift action.

Pride, power, and politics, make people find outlandish faults to come to immoral conclusions to deflect consequences away from those who deserve it.

I’d never heard the fact that there had been a huge earthquake in Japan in the previous days that affected navigation. Great point.

[charlescolvard]

I was just forwarded this link two days ago by a friend who's a naval historian of sorts. He sent it to me because my grandfather, Walter Ekenberg, was aboard the Delphy and was awarded a life-saving medal for jumping off his ship and helping rescue numerous sailors from other ships by towing rope and getting them to safety. I'm not acutely aware of the details, but I have his medal, and I am very proud of what he did. If anyone has any detailed information about the tragedy, I am very interested in hearing it.

[christiancowell]

I stood near the Honda point memorial this evening with no prior knowledge of this tragedy. Sadly, even as a Navy veteran I was unaware of this event. My heart lurched in pain as I read the names of the ships and the number of sailors who were lost. As soon as I left the base and regained service I searched for information and was promptly humbled by this video. Thank you for the historical account of the incident and my condolences to the family, friends, and shipmates of the fallen sailors.

[DaHitch]

Blinded by glass in his eyes from his own glasses breaking while trying to save someone else.
Tied to a post to prevent him hurting himself or others as he was thrashing about in excruciating pain.
Then dragged to the bottom of the sea as he was tied to the ship.
Thanks for the nightmares.

[JKSSubstandard]

Now, it's worth noting that most of the ships themselves were not total losses and could have been saved. However, the navy had such a massive surplus in destroyers of this class in the interwar period that it was cheaper to pull a few hulls out of mothball than to refloat the ships stranded on the point.

[EzraBradford]

It's a big surprise to me that a twentieth-century navy could take such heavy losses, in friendly, well-charted waters, in routine weather, in peacetime with no adversary.

[dustyimage]

The fog there can be as thick as pudding! Thanks for putting this together, good info.

[boowiebear]

This whole disaster was absurd and frustrating! Great video!

[ouchcubic]

i live in Lompoc and have studied this incident in depth with access to some stunning local records and photographs. also having visited the site. and spoken to witnesses of the rescue/ recovery efforts. it was an exceptional event in US naval history. it would make an incredible big budget film

[MrAwsomenoob]

"We lost seven Clemson class destroyers!!"

Us Navy: " *Sigh* Alright get the spares..."

[billbutler]

From what I have read on the topic the last division in line had a CO who did trust the radio direction finder readings and tried to warn Watson. As he was the junior division commander he was ignored. He did slow his ships a bit and moved a bit west so missed the shore and was available for search and rescue. This is also the division that requested permission to go to the SS Cuba's assistance but was denied.

[jackrabbit]

What an insane story! Fog is very terrifying. We lived in a little town in IL on Lake Michigan and had a 20 ft boat that we used to take up the coastline to Kenosha, WI to have dinner. Fog set in one night while we were eating. That trip back home was one of the scariest of my life. I literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I certainly wouldn't want to be following 250 ft behind anything! In retrospect, we should never have taken that boat out on that lake in those conditions. Ahh, the joys of youthful ignorance!

[randomcloverr]

Can you imagine just taking a casual stroll when you look out to the beach and then watch as seven massive ships all run aground in a matter of moments

[alexcurrie]

Jesus Christ listening to that pileup description felt like watching a train wreck. It might've been funny if it hadn't cost sailors their lives.

[Ronin]

Terrific video! I too was stationed @ VAFB from ‘81-‘84. The waters in that area were very dangerous. Despite the great beach on base, Seal Beach IIRC, was off limits for swimming. “Tsunami Warning” signs were posted and despite that, folks were lost to rogue waves every year. Whenever at the shore, you never turned you back to the sea. This is in part why sailors in this video lost their lives to the sea. While there, one morning a young girl was spotted alone on the beach. She told a story of the boat she and her grand parents were in began taking water just off shore. Granddad swam with her to shore then returned to the boat to bring his wife safely to shore, he was never seen again. There were fiberglass sections of hull that washed ashore later, but no other evidence was ever found. Knowing this, it is not at all surprising that sailors were lost to the sea after this disaster, those waters were not at all forgiving. Thanks for this very well done video.

[davidweston]

My father was transferred off one of those destroyers days before this happened. Some of his gear was still on board

[watchmanmichael]

At the time I was there I did not know the History. Thank You Maritime for bringing clarity to a childhood memory. You are awesome!

[VersusARCH]

11:30 Kaga was not a sister ship of the battlecrueser Amagi but a Tosa-class battleship. Amagi had only one sister - the Akagi, which was not damaged by the earthquake but converted to an aircraft carrier successfully and went on to be the flagship of the Japanese "Mobile Force" (the first rate carrier fleet) until sunk at Midway in 1942. Kaga ended up being the slowest carrier in the Mobile force due to her battleship hull.