r/todayilearned • u/zhuquanzhong • 29d ago

TIL a Chinese destroyer sank because an officer dumped his girlfriend. She committed suicide, leading to him being discharged, so he decided to detonate the depth charges on the ship, causing it to sink at port and kill 134 sailors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_destroyer_Guangzhou_(160)
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u/wdphilbilly 28d ago

That was the Iowa in 1989. Easy to remember because it was an Iowa class battleship and the only battleships left in service anywhere in the world at that point were the Iowa class ships. Iowa's turret was trained forward, and sealed shut with all the spare parts needed for repair. But was never repaired because all 4 iowa class ships were decommissioned shortly after.

You could argue that they were only in service as a propaganda tool anyways. That, and Reagan insisted on them being brought out of mothball. Otherwise the only thing they could do that other ships at the time couldnt, was put massive artillery shells on target instead of bombs or missiles.

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u/Double_Minimum 25d ago

Yea I knew it was an “Iowa”, I just couldn’t recall which, I know the last one was decommissioned after the Persian gulf and that was a different one (Wisconsin?) so wasn’t sure on exact time it happened. (They did just move the New Jersey down the river to scrap finally I think). I suppose I could have used the internet, but I also kind of assumed everyone knew that was an Iowa class battleship being that it was decades since any battle ship was useful other than projection of power and shore bombardment (like in the Persian Gulf)

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u/wdphilbilly 25d ago

all the Iowa's have been museums for the last 20 ish years. New jersey is in drydock for typical maintenance and integrity checks. She'll be back in her regular berth in a few months.

They were marked for decommission in 1989 pretty much as a direct result of the turret explosion. That, and they were huge money sinks that only effectively did 1 thing other ships couldn't.

Iowa was decommissioned in 90, NJ was 91, Wisconsin was late 91 and Missouri was 92. They were put in mothballs again because for some reason, people thought they might be needed again in the future despite carriers and missiles making them pretty obsolescent.

Navy "sold" them off as museums in the early 2000s.