Book Review - A Glimpse of Hell: The Explosion of the USS Iowa and its Coverup

• Author: Major Cheryl Kellogg
• Pages: 05

2000] BOOK REVIEWS 241

A GLIMPSE OF HELL: THE EXPLOSION ON THE USS IOWA AND ITS COVERUP

REVIEWED BY MAJOR CHERYL KELLOGG1

At 9:53 a.m. on April 19, the center gun in Turret Two, [USS Iowa] blew up. The fireball that surged from the open breach was between 2,500 and 3,000 degrees traveling at a velocity of 2,000 feet per second and at a pressure of 4,0002 pounds. Forty-seven sailors were killed.

A botched investigation began mere hours after the explosion . .

. . Evidence was literally tossed overboard. Material as big as two, 2700-pound projectiles simply vanished. Testimony was doctored. Test results were fabricated or misinterpreted. Supposedly reputable institutions turned out suspect autopsy reports and issued conclusions that were scorned by independent medical examiners. Pop psychology supplanted reality.3

The Navy began its investigation into the explosion on the battleship USS Iowa by appointing Admiral Richard Milligan as the investigating officer (IO). Captain Miceli, his technical advisor, Commander Swanson, his legal advisor, and the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) assisted him. Despite his mandate to determine the cause of the explosion, Admiral Milligan was specifically precluded from opining about the possible misconduct of deceased sailors.4 Admiral Milligan, nevertheless, concluded that Gunner's Mate Clayton Hartwig intentionally caused the explosion. His report, as well as the NIS report, depicted Hartwig as a probable homosexual who placed a homemade bomb in the breech of a loaded sixteen inch gun to commit suicide because he was depressed over the breakup of a relationship with a fellow shipmate.

A Glimpse of Hell by Charles C. Thompson II chronicles the events leading up to the explosion and the investigation that followed and spends 403 pages attempting to prove that the investigation was flawed. The title of Thompson's book explains his purpose: A Glimpse of Hell: The Explosion on the USS Iowa and its Cover-up. Thompson concludes that the Navy embarked on a vast cover-up of the cause of this incident and precipitated a smear campaign of Hartwig and his alleged paramour, Gunner's Mate Third Class Kendall Truitt, through intentional leaks to the media. Thompson began his investigation into this incident at almost the same time as the Navy. He devoted ten years to the project, reviewed over 25,000 documents, and conducted 143 personal interviews of survivors and family members of the deceased.5 Thompson obtained much of the information he used from Freedom of Information Act requests to the Navy, and used the documents he received as the framework for the text. The amount of time and effort Mr. Thompson put into researching this subject and his passionate writing style indicate that he is truly committed to his thesis.

Although there are faults with aspects of A Glimpse of Hell, it is still a book worth reading. This review addresses the three strength's of the book: insights into the role of judge advocates, insights into leadership, and insights into the human dynamic. Following this discussion, this review addresses the two weaknesses in A Glimpse of Hell: lack of organization and lack of objectivity.

Judge advocates can learn a great deal about leadership and their role in avoiding a leadership disaster by reading A Glimpse of Hell. Judge advocate involvement from the inception of an investigation of this magnitude is crucial. Not only must the judge advocate participate; he must render sound advice and be the voice of reason. Commander...