Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010
Sinking the Navy
Following an explosion that killed 47 crew members on the U.S.S. Iowa in April 1989, Congress held hearings investigating the Navy's conclusion that sailor Clay Hartwig was likely to blame. The Navy, assisted by the FBI, alleged that Hartwig, a 24-year-old who died in the blast, was a suicidal homosexual, upset about a soured relationship. But the evidence was questionable, and after a series of congressional hearings and a new laboratory analysis that showed the explosion could have been an accident, the Navy reopened the case. The Navy publicly apologized to the Hartwig family in October 1991.