
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 4, 1990                   TAG: 9005040861
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

RETIRING IOWA CAPTAIN ASSAILS INVESTIGATORS

The investigation of the fatal gun turret explosion aboard the battleship Iowa was done by people interested in "getting it over with" and was based on unsubstantiated reports and suppositions, the ship's commanding officer said today at his retirement.

"It is too bad the Iowa investigation team consisted of managers - and apparently not very good managers at that - people more concerned about determining whether the paperwork was done than if people were properly trained," said Capt. Fred Moosally during the World War II-era battleship's change of command ceremony.

Moosally, who has never previously commented on the explosion a year ago, said the investigation was handled by "people more concerned with `getting it over with' and therefore presenting facts and opinions based on unsubstantiated third-party information, unsubstantiated reports and supposition."

A gun turret explosion April 19, 1989, that killed 47 of his crewmen put Moosally and the Iowa on the front pages. A controversial Navy report blamed sabotage by a sailor as the "most likely" cause of the tragedy.

"After the investigation report was released, it is too bad that the ball was handed off to people most concerned about an institutional image, and therefore unable to bring themselves to admit that the investigation report is irreconcilable with the results of every inspection held on the Iowa before and after April 19," Moosally said.

"I leave this subject by asking a question which others must answer. How could this have happened in our Navy? The explosion . . . was a dual tragedy. Forty-seven men died and 1,500 survivors were made victims when they should have been heros," Moosally said.

A 1966 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Moosally has served aboard a half-dozen frigates and destroyers, and commanded the guided missile cruiser USS Kidd before taking the Iowa command.

The Navy's investigation of the explosion also found several deficiencies in the administration of the ship. In a separate investigation, Moosally and three other crewmen were given reprimands. The Navy said the deficiencies were not related to the explosion.

"I am responsible for everything that happens aboard my ship and I have no excuse for the problem areas that were found aboard Iowa during the investigation," Moosally said previously in a formal reply to his reprimand.

The investigation concluded Gunner's Mate Clayton Hartwig deliberately caused the blast. Hartwig died in the explosion.

by CNB