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Bizarre War World War 2

The Unluckiest Ship In The World – USS William D. Porter

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The unluckiest ship in the world also happened to be a World War 2 destroyer. Commissioned in 1943, she would be sunk only 2 years later. But that’s not what made her unlucky. In fact, sinking was probably the best thing to do with the “Willie Dee”.

USS William D. Porter. By Unknown author – U.S. Navy photo NH 97804, Public Domain

Atlantic Service

Even before leaving port, the ship was causing trouble. Reportedly, she managed to tear the railings and life boats off a sister ship with her anchor. It was sign of things to come.

She rendezvoused with USS Iowa, a battleship heading for North Africa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aboard. Less than a day after meeting up with the Iowa, a depth charge fell off the deck of the William Porter and exploded, causing the Iowa and escort ships to scatter, believing themselves to be under attack from a German U-boat.

A day later, Iowa conducted an anti-aircraft drill to show the President her ability to defend herself. Balloons were released and shot down by the gunners. The Willie Dee, not wanting to be outshined, simulated a torpedo drill, by going through the motions of firing a torpedo at the Iowa. You guessed it, she fired an actual, live torpedo at the Iowa, the ship carrying the President!

Trying to not break radio silence, Porter used a signal lamp to tell the Iowa what had happened and to take evasive manoeuvres. But what the signal actually said is this, “we are backing up”.

Panicking, they broke radio protocol and sent a coded message to the Iowa, who turned hard, the torpedo exploded 3000 yards behind them.

As a result, Porter would be met by any friendly ships with the message “Don’t shoot, We’re Republicans!”.

During this period they also managed to have a sailor washed off deck never to be seen again. It wasn’t a very good start.

Aleutian Incident

Sent to the Aleutians, where it was reasoned they could do less damage and repair their reputation the Porter had a mostly incident time.

I say mostly because a sailor coming back to the ship drunk and determined to fire one of the ships big guns. Before anyone could stop him, Boom!

The shell landed in the front garden of the Commandants home on the base (of course it did!). Fortunately, even though he was having a party for fellow officers at the time, no-one was injured.

Pacific and The End

1945. The war is reaching its climax and no personnel can be spared. The Porter is sent to the Pacific theatre to fight and escort ships. Which she does admirably. Patrolling near Okinawa, the Porter is attacked by Kamikaze. Each plane is loaded to the brim with explosives.

The gunners fire with precision and down the enemy. Maybe their luck is finally changing. Yeah, no. One of the downed Kamikaze planes ploughs into the water in front of the Porter, goes underneath and explodes.

The resulting explosion lifted the ship completely out of the water before slamming it back down. For three hours the unluckiest ship in the world tried to stay afloat. But it was not to be.

We end on a slightly bright note though, her crew suffered no fatal injuries during this ordeal. And the William D. Porter received four battle stars for her role in World War 2.

Sources:

USS William D. Porter (wikipedia.org)

This WWII Ship Was So Unlucky, It Almost Killed FDR (taskandpupose.com)

USS William D. Porter (historynet.com)

Header Image (pixabay.com)

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