July 19, 1918, Long Beach, New York Harbor, northeastern United States, tourists. Although World War I was still going on, however, native Americans still enjoyed the peace brought by the natural barrier of the Atlantic Ocean. The war in Europe seems distant. As a coastal scenic area, Long Beach is attracting many tourists come to enjoy the warmth of the sea. At the moment, a large warship entered the field of vision, which is the cruiser of the USS Navy "San Diego" battleships coming from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
San Diego was later called. When it was launched in 1904, it was called "California." The ship officially served in 1907, a total length of 100 meters, a width of 23 meters, staffing system for 829. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, it officially changed its name to "San Diego" and became the flagship of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, cruising on the vast Pacific Ocean. In 1915, due to the explosion in the boiler, the "San Diego" had to go back to the U.S. coastal naval port for repairs. After the United States entered the war, it joined the battle against Germany in July 1917 through the Panama Canal into the Atlantic Ocean, responsible for escorting the US Navy warships.
"San Diego" is a proud American navy, displacement of up to 15,000 tons. It has the battleship body and cruiser combat capabilities. Its greatest strength lies in its powerful fire-fighting system, which is equipped with 32 guns, including 14 150-mm guns and 18 70-mm guns. Once war, it can be a fierce bombardment of enemy ships in many directions, described as a powerful platform for maritime operations.
The San Diego, now in the crowd's eyes, is escorting a US Navy fleet back to Long Beach, New York naval port in preparation for the rally. The 183 crew members can not help but excite. However, at about 10 o'clock, the sailor in charge of the sea observation suddenly found something on the sea moving rapidly up and down. The warship officers and soldiers think this is likely to be the periscope of the German submarine. All officers and men urgently entered the state of operations. Captain Krisdie ordered artillery attacks. Suddenly, a piece of artillery flying past, the waves set off waves. Soon, the unknown object disappeared. The soldiers suddenly feel relaxed. At this point, the danger did not go away.
Explosive sound, 28 minutes into the sea
San Diego continues to Long Beach. The disaster is coming soon. At about 1105 hours a huge explosion suddenly came under the cruiser. All the sailors were swayed by tremendous vibrations, and some even fell to the ground. Although the explosion occurred underwater, however, the sound was too loud and the nearby Islanders and officers of the Navy Reserve Station heard it.
The explosion occurred on the port side of the cruiser's engine compartment. After the huge hole appeared, the sea surged in and the engine compartment was quickly filled with water. The warship's head began to sink. A marine recalled later that a huge external explosion had burst the hull beneath the cruiser's waterline and blew up the bulkhead between the portside engine room and the No. 8 boiler room. Sea water suddenly poured in, from the boiler room into the engine compartment. At the moment of the explosion, three soldiers died instantly.
Other U.S. warships nearby, including destroyers and frigates, saw the cruiser accident and hurried to rescue. However, the cruiser's hole was too large for the rest of the warships to save its sinking. Only 28 minutes, "San Diego" will sink into the sea. Fortunately, other warships carried out timely rescue work. The cruiser finally killed six sailors, 1177 officers and soldiers were rescued. In addition, the cruiser's 28 sailors fell to the coast after they fell into the water. This is a marathon. 14 km distance, the sailors took a long time to swim to the shore. Cruiser captain has been sticking to the battleship. We did not leave until the last one when it was withdrawn.
Difficult mystery, "seabed graves" make terror
Afterwards, the U.S. Navy set up a investigation team to investigate the incident. Everyone believes that the captain is not wrong, he promptly put the warships into alert and took effective measures. However, in the end the cruiser how to sink, the investigation team did not get any evidence. The investigation concluded that the cruiser is likely to encounter a German submarine code-named U-156, there may be met mine, because the German submarine later sunk. Ultimately, the U.S. Navy still can not confirm whether the "San Diego" was sunk by a submarine torpedo or by a submarine-laying water mines. Decades passed, "San Diego" has been lying on the seabed. Its original bizarre sink is still a mystery. Many are trying to figure out the secret of its sinking, but so far at least six divers have died while underwater in cruisers. In this way, the cruiser has resulted in 12 people were killed. For a time, the "San Diego" cruiser became the horrifying "seabed grave." Perhaps, as the US Navy will have the time and energy to salvage the "San Diego" cruiser in the future, the truth will be revealed.
