May 26, 1954: The USS Bennington Fire

May 26, 1954: A fire breaks out on the aircraft carrier USS Bennington in Narragansett Bay, off the coast of Massachusetts. There are 103 sailors killed.
 
At 6:00 AM, Bennington began launching aircraft for flight tests. Ten minutes later, white "smoke" emanating from Hangar Bay 1 caused Captain William F. Raborn to issue two general fire alarms. Within seconds, a series of explosions rocked the ship when the port side catapult accumulator burst and released vaporized lubricating oil, which was detonated by some unknown heat source.

Though severely damaged internally, the warship managed to launch the entire air group and send it into nearby Quonset Point, Rhode Island. She also maintained way on, and headed back to Quonset Point while damage control, fire, and rescue parties worked feverishly to control fires, to rescue the injured, and to recover the dead.

The most severely injured men were carried to Quonset Point in a helicopter lift, and Bennington dropped the remainder off there before heading to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York for extensive repairs. The explosion cost her 103 officers and men dead, and over 200 others injured, most of them severely burned. This is the 2nd-highest casualty count in the post-war peacetime U.S. Navy.

Launched in 1944, and named for a battle in Vermont in the War of the American Revolution, the Bennington remained in service until 1970, and was scrapped in 1994.

A memorial to the sailors who died in the explosion was erected in 2004, at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.

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May 26, 1954 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Lionel Conacher died. I have a separate entry for that event.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Washington Senators, 2-1 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Bob Porterfield, a prospect the Yankees had given up on and had won an American League-leading 22 games the year before, outpitched Eddie Lopat. Jim Lemon singled Pete Runnels home with the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning. Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra both went 1-for-4.

* The New York Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Rubén Gómez outpitched Vernon Law. Willie Mays went 2-for-3.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-6 at Ebbets Field. Robin Roberts outpitched Johnny Podres. Del Ennis and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones hit home runs for the Phillies. Duke Snider and Gil Hodges did so for the Dodgers. Jackie Robinson went 1-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Bill Renna singled Jim Finigan home to win it in the bottom of the 10th inning. Ted Williams went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-6 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Rookie Hank Aaron went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 5-4 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Indians tied the game in the top of the 9th, but in the bottom of the 9th, Cass Michaels singled Nellie Fox home to win it.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-5 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Rookie Ernie Banks went went 2-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs. Hank Sauer, Dee Fondy and Joe Garagiola also homered for the Cubs. Stan Musial went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.