The Nation - News from Oct. 3, 1989
The commander of the Atlantic Fleet’s Naval Surface Force has flown to the Mediterranean to conduct a disciplinary inquiry aboard the Iowa, the battleship on which 47 sailors were killed in an April explosion, Pentagon sources said. Vice Adm. Joseph S. Donnell III is conducting a “flag mast,” a non-judicial form of inquiry in which he will determine whether the captain and several other officers from the Iowa should be punished, the sources said. In a lengthy study, the Navy said Petty Officer Clayton M. Hartwig “most likely” caused the explosion in a gun turret by inserting a detonator between powder bags.
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