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Picked up a Copy of World at War #24 and saw this article.....

The Unluckiest Ship: The USS Willian D. Porter, DD-597---by Mark Day.

The USS William D. Porter, was a brand Fletcher-class destroyer commissioned on 6 July 1943. Her first commanding officer was LCDR Wilfred A. Walter. After her trails and shakedown cruise she reported to Norfolk VA for her first mission. On 12 November she left Norfolk as escort for the new battleship Iowa, onboard Iowa was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest J. King as well as many other top brass enroute for conferences in Cairo and Teheran.

While departing Norfolk, Porter's anchor fouled on a sister ship and tore off her railings and lifeboat mountings. This in itself was enough to cause the relief of a ship's captain, but the problems, they were only beginning!

The next day, a depth charge fell overboard, exploding and causing the Iowa and other ships to take evasive action, believing a German submarine was attacking. Next, a real tradegy struck when a man was washed overboard by a freak wave and died. Next, one of the ship's boilers lost power.

The next day, President Franklin requested to see the task force conduct an anti-aircraft drill. Target balloons were released and most were quickly destroyed by the Iowa's gunners. Several drifted toward the Porter, which shot them down.

Then the Porter and other escorting destroyers were ordered to perfrom a simulated torpedo attack against the battleship. During that exercise, the Porter accidentally launched a live torpedo towards the Iowa. According to eyewitness reports, the torpedo officer ordered the simulated firing and commanded "Fire One!" "Fire Two!" and finally "Fire Three!" There was no "Fire Four!", but the sequence was continued by the unmistable sound of a fourth (armed) torpedo launch). Panic instantly reigned on the bridge. Lt H. Lewis, who witnessed the entire even, asked the captain "Did you give permission to fire a torpedo?"

Captain Walter's stammered answer was "HELL NO, I, I, I---ahhh, I---WHAT!?"

The Porter them attempted to warn the Iowa, but the task force was operating under radio silence, the warning message was sent by blinker light. The first message told of the torpedo heading towards the battleship, but gave the wrong bearing. The next message confusingly signaled only that Porter had gone into reverse at full speed.

Finally, the destroyer broke radio silence to warn the flagship, only to be ordered by Iowa's radioman to identify themselves.. Finally, the crucial message was received in time and the Iowa was able to turn aside to avoid the torpedo.

When President Roosevelt was told of the approaching torpedo, he ordered his Secret Service bodyguard to move his wheelchair to the railing so that he could watch. His bodygaurds then drew their psitols, ready to shoot the torpedo as it approached. Porter's torpedo finally exploded some 3,000 yards astern, in Iowa's wake.

The Iowa then trained every gun that could be brought to bear on the Porter, as it was feared that the Porter was part of an assassination plot. When the battleship radioed for an explanation for the live torpedo, all CPT Walter replied with was a meek "We did it."

For the first and only time in US Navy history, an entire ship's company was arreasted. Porter was sent to Bermuda, when she docked, she was surrounded by armed Marines. Ship and crew were held there for several days while a closed-session Naval Court of Inquiry examined the case.

LCDR Walter's career was effectively over. He was reassigned to a shore billet, well inland as were most of his officers. For teh Rest of her career, the Porter was greeted with the sardonic message "DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE REPUBLICANS!" whenever she approached other ships.

Torpedoman L. Dawson eventually confessed to having accidently left a promer in the Number Three Torpedo Tube, causing the accidental launch. He threw the primer case overboard to try to conceal his mistake, but finally admitted what happened. He was sentenced to 14 years at hard labor, but President Roosevelt ordered his release.

The Porter was sent to the Aleutian islands off Alaska. Where she accidentally fired a 5-inch shell into the front yard of the base commandant. The unlucky destroyer was next ordered to the dangerous waters off Okinawa, where kamizaes were weaking ahvoc with the US fleet. There she partly redeemed herself by shooting down several attacking planes, but only partly, as she was also accused of shooting down three American planes with friendly fire.

Her bad luck continued when she accidentally fired on a sister ship, USS Luce DD-522, riddling her side and superstructure.

On 10 June 1945, Porter's luck finally ran out. But even her sinking was bizarre. At 0815, a Japanese bomber dove out of the clouds, without warning; and headed straight for the ship. The Porter was able to evade the diving plan, but the bomber crashed into the sea nearby, passing underneath the ship and exploding, breaking her back.

With her steam lines ruptured, power was lost and fires broke out. The crew fought to save their ship for over three hours, but their efforts were in vain. The order was given to abandon ship and twelve minutes later, the Porter rolled to starboard and sank by the crew. Miraculously, none of her crew was lost. Perhaps in that regard, she could at least be said to have finally found some good luck, even while sinking.