A U.S. destroyer lay at anchor off Sandy Hook, a few miles from New York's Coney Island. Less than an hour before her scheduled 7 a.m. departure for duty, she was rocked by a resounding blast which pitched men and guns high in the air, set ammunition exploding in a long series of concussions.
The mast toppled. The bridge buckled and collapsed. Fire swept through the engine room. The barrel of a 5-in. gun whirled into the sea. Fifty minutes after the first blast, five minutes after the ship had been abandoned, another...
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