USS Iowa (BB-61)

We're not ready yet.

That's one of the last things anyone heard from the inside of turret two of the USS Iowa back in 1989.

Seconds later, every man inside that turret was gone.

47 in total.

But not everybody was buying it.

And the more people that pulled at the threads, the less the story held together.

This is the story of Clayton Hartwig and the tragedy on the USS Iowa.

And stick with us, because this one's going to make you

That's right, folks.

We're talking about that time when the USS Iowa's number two turret exploded, and then the cover-up of that explosion.

I do want to acknowledge that other podcasts in the Napothene extended universe had done this, and we're doing it now because, shut up.

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

It's a DPS that you're unwilling to use.

Yeah, pretty much.

And the USS Iowa class pictured here, right? This was the largest class of battleships built by the United States with the biggest guns and the heaviest armor.

And we stopped after that.

Was that something that was passed down to you? That was

a mixture of being a Boy Scout, but also my grandfather was in the Navy, and he served during the Korean War as a navigator on the USS Iowa.

Okay.

And he was also—he built a business.