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USS William D. Porter survived the accidental torpedo launch of 14 November 1943 and remained in service for another 19 months. The destroyer spent eight months in the Aleutians, later served on radar picket duty off Okinawa, and finally sank on 10 June 1945 after a Japanese Val dive bomber was shot down so close aboard that its bomb exploded underwater beneath the ship. The crew fought for three hours to save the destroyer, and the cited account reports that everyone aboard survived.
The famous “Willie D” story therefore has two separate endings: the torpedo incident did not destroy the ship or end its career; the ship was lost later, in a combat attack off Okinawa.
The November 1943 torpedo incident
On 14 November 1943, William D. Porter was escorting the battleship USS Iowa, which was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the first leg of his journey to the Tehran Conference. During a torpedo exercise, a live torpedo accidentally fired from Porter’s number-two mount.
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Iowa immediately made an emergency turn to port at full speed. Accounts place the torpedo’s eventual explosion between 100 and 1,000 yards from the battleship, in Iowa’s wake rather than in the battleship itself. Iowa was not hit.
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The destroyer initially tried to warn Iowa with a signal lamp because the ships were operating under radio-silence rules. The first warning identified the wrong side of the ship. A later message incorrectly stated that Porter was in full reverse. Porter eventually broke radio silence and transmitted a clear warning. After the explosion, the destroyer acknowledged that the launch had been accidental and explained that a primer had not been removed from a torpedo tube.
What the deck log records
The surviving deck-log entry gives a terse contemporaneous account: “1436 Torpedo accidentally fired from #2 mount while torpedo battery was exercising at drills. Investigation being held. . . . 1503 Iowa resumed firing AA practice.” The entry records the accidental firing and the investigation without the dramatic embellishments that later became attached to the episode.
The sequence matters because popular retellings sometimes describe the torpedo as a deliberate attack or suggest that Iowa was struck. The documented account is narrower: a live weapon fired during drills, Iowa maneuvered, and the torpedo detonated behind the battleship.
What happened to the crew and command afterward?
A formal inquiry took place at Bermuda. Chief Torpedoman’s Mate Lawton C. Dawson was transferred for a general court-martial and reduced by one grade, to torpedoman first class. The 2021 Naval History account says that the often-repeated claim that Dawson received 14 years of hard labor lacks readily available proof.
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That account also reports that President Roosevelt requested that no punishment be imposed because he regarded the launch as an accident. The documented disciplinary result was therefore limited to Dawson’s reduction in grade, not the extreme sentence found in some popular versions.
Did the incident end the captain’s career?
No established record in the cited account supports that conclusion. Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter remained in command through 30 May 1944. That fact directly conflicts with versions of the story that portray the captain as immediately removed or finished professionally.
Popular stories that the records do not establish
The “Willie D” nickname and the ship’s reputation have encouraged a number of colorful anecdotes. They should not all be treated as historical fact. The later Naval History examination distinguishes between the torpedo launch, which is documented, and several additional stories for which the available records do not provide confirmation.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute| Claim | What the documented account says | How to describe it |
|---|---|---|
| The ship and crew were arrested | The official Navy history cited in the 2021 account does not mention such an arrest. | Popular claim, not established by the cited official record. |
| The captain’s career ended immediately | Lieutenant Commander Wilfred A. Walter remained in command through 30 May 1944. | Contradicted by the command record summarized in Naval History. |
| An anchor damaged USS Cogswell | The relevant deck logs did not record the alleged incident. | Unsupported by the cited logs. |
| A depth charge was accidentally released | The relevant deck logs did not record the alleged depth-charge incident. | Unsupported by the cited logs; some earlier accounts repeat it as an anecdote. |
| Dawson received 14 years of hard labor | The 2021 account says readily available proof for that sentence has not been found. | Unverified; the documented punishment was a reduction in grade. |
An earlier account, “The Story of the Willie D,” published by the Naval Historical Society of Australia in 2010, repeats some of the early anecdotes, including stories about damage to another destroyer and a depth charge. The later discussion of the deck logs is the reason to present those details as anecdotes rather than as settled events. This is not a claim that every early storyteller was deliberately deceptive; it is a distinction between repeated memory and contemporaneous documentation.
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Where William D. Porter served after the torpedo launch
The torpedo incident did not end Porter’s operational career. The destroyer spent eight months in the Aleutians, with that period ending in September 1944. It was later assigned to radar picket duty off Okinawa.
The cited account does not supply a complete, date-by-date operational history for the interval between the Aleutians and Okinawa. That limitation is important: it is possible to state the confirmed assignments without inventing a continuous itinerary or attributing missions that are not documented in the material available here.
Confirmed service timeline
| Date or period | Event | What is established |
|---|---|---|
| 14 November 1943 | Accidental torpedo launch while escorting Iowa | The torpedo fired during drills; Iowa evaded it and the weapon exploded in the battleship’s wake. |
| After November 1943 | Bermuda inquiry and disciplinary action | Dawson was court-martialed and reduced one grade; Roosevelt reportedly sought no punishment because the launch was accidental. |
| Eight months, ending September 1944 | Aleutian service | Porter continued active service in the Aleutians. |
| After the Aleutians | Radar picket duty off Okinawa | The destroyer was later assigned to this duty; the supplied account does not list every intervening operation. |
| 10 June 1945 | Sunk off Okinawa | A downed Val bomber’s bomb exploded underwater beneath the ship; Porter sank after a three-hour damage-control effort. |
How USS William D. Porter sank off Okinawa
At 0815 on 10 June 1945, while on radar picket duty off Okinawa, Porter was attacked by a lone Japanese Val dive bomber. The aircraft was obsolete, but the circumstances of the attack made it deadly.
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The three-hour fight to save the ship
The crew fought for three hours to keep Porter afloat. Damage control continued while the ship burned and took on the consequences of the underwater explosion. The effort ultimately failed: the destroyer sank.
The cited account reports that every person aboard survived. That makes the sinking a total loss of the ship, but not a mass-casualty event for its crew. The distinction is easy to lose when the torpedo episode and the later sinking are compressed into one dramatic legend.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the two incidents are often confused
Both events involve an explosive weapon, a famous battleship connection, and an apparently improbable chain of mistakes. In November 1943, however, Porter was the source of an accidental torpedo launch and Iowa escaped. In June 1945, Porter itself was the target of an air attack and was destroyed by an underwater blast after the attacking aircraft had been shot down.
The dates, locations, and outcomes separate the stories:
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- 14 November 1943: a torpedo fired accidentally during drills while Porter escorted Iowa; Iowa survived and continued its exercise.
- Eight months ending September 1944: Porter served in the Aleutians.
- 10 June 1945: a Val bomber attacked Porter off Okinawa; the ship sank after three hours of damage-control efforts, with all aboard reported to have survived.
Remembering that sequence prevents two common errors: saying the torpedo sank Porter, or saying that the destroyer disappeared immediately after embarrassing the Iowa escort.
How to judge a “Willie D” retelling
A reliable account should identify which parts come from a deck log or an official history and which parts are later anecdotes. The deck-log wording fixes the time of the accidental launch and the fact that an investigation was underway. The Bermuda inquiry and the reported reduction in Dawson’s grade establish a documented consequence. The Aleutian and Okinawa service establish that the ship remained operational long afterward.
By contrast, claims about an arrest, an anchor striking USS Cogswell, an accidental depth-charge release, or a 14-year hard-labor sentence need qualification. The later documentary review says the relevant deck logs do not record the anchor and depth-charge stories, and it does not find readily available proof for the extreme sentence. A careful writer can mention that these stories circulate while making clear that circulation is not corroboration.
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After the November 1943 torpedo incident, USS William D. Porter was investigated, remained in service, operated in the Aleutians for eight months, and later went to radar picket duty off Okinawa. It was not sunk by its own torpedo and did not vanish from the fleet after escorting Iowa. On 10 June 1945, a Japanese Val bomber was shot down close beside it; the aircraft’s bomb exploded underwater, the crew fought for three hours, and the destroyer sank. The cited account says everyone aboard survived.
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