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Photo # NH 97983:  Wrecks of destroyers Nicholas and S.P. Lee at Honda Point, California, some time after they went aground

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1920s -- 1923

Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923 --
Later Views of the Wrecks

When the special train took hundreds of survivors from Honda Station on the afternoon of 9 September 1923, eighteen Navy men were left behind as a "Wreck Patrol", assigned to protect the seven stranded destroyers from looters, watch for the bodies of the dead and recover them if possible. Ultimately, seventeen bodies were found. Another six had been swept out to sea or were otherwise unaccounted for.

Though the ships themselves were damaged beyond recovery, serious efforts to salvage their weapons and equipment were quickly undertaken. Saved materiel included torpedoes, many of the ships' torpedo tubes and guns, radios, documents and whatever else was worth the effort. Some guns and other heavy items had to be left behind, particularly on the wrecks furthest from the mainland, where recovery was simply too dangerous.

A special Court of Inquiry investigated the loss of twenty-three irreplaceable lives and seven expensive destroyers. A subsequent Court Martial adjudicated the issue of blame and punishment. Squadron Commander Edward H. Watson and the Commanding officers of Delphy and Nicholas were found guilty, though the latter's conviction was set aside by the reviewing Admiral.

Other "tin-cans", from the vast surplus of destroyers built under the World War I building program, soon replaced the lost ships in the operating forces. Heavy waves rolling in against the California coast began to break apart the fragile hulls of the seven wrecks within weeks of the Honda Point disaster. By the end of 1924, every one of these once-valuable fighting ships had been reduced to scattered components, few of them recognizable to any but the most knowledgeable eye.

This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have of wrecked destroyers at Honda Point, California, during the months and years following their loss.

For other pictures of the Honda Point wrecks, showing them after they had been broken up by the surf, see:

  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923 -- Later Views of the Wrecks (Part II); and
  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923 -- Later Views of the Wrecks (Part III).

    For more images related to the September 1923 Honda Point Disaster, see:

  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    The views presented immediately below were taken during the weeks just after the ship strandings, while efforts were underway to salvage equipment from the wrecked ships, and as waves were beginning the process of breaking them apart:

    Photo #: NH 97982

    Honda Point Disaster, September 1923


    Wreck of USS Chauncey (DD-296) near shore, during salvage operations some time after 8 September 1923, when she went aground on Honda Point with six other destroyers. Sheer legs are rigged atop her galley deckhouse to assist in removing items from the ship. Her midships 4"/50 guns have already been sent ashore.
    The wreck of USS Woodbury (DD-309) is in the middle distance.
    Photographed by Sever.

    Collection of Lieutenant Kelly Green.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 460pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97984

    Honda Point Disaster, September 1923


    Wreck of USS S.P. Lee (DD-310) stranded near shore at Honda Point, with the wreck of USS Nicholas (DD-311) in the left background. Photographed some time after 8 September 1923, when both ships went aground with five other destroyers during a foggy night.
    By the time this photo was taken Nicholas' bow had broken away from the rest of her hull.

    Donation of Captain Edward L. Beach, USN (Retired), 1988.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97985

    Honda Point Disaster, September 1923


    USS S.P. Lee (DD-310) and USS Nicholas (DD-311) wrecked at Honda Point. Photographed some time after 8 September 1923, when both ships went aground with five other destroyers during a foggy night.
    By the time this photo was taken Nicholas' bow had broken away from the rest of her hull.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Captain Washington I. Chambers, USN.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 455 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 97983

    Honda Point Disaster, September 1923


    Wrecks of USS Nicholas (DD-311) and USS S.P. Lee (DD-310) off Honda Point. Photographed by Sever some time after 8 September 1923, when both ships went aground with five other destroyers during a foggy night.
    By the time this photo was taken Nicholas' bow had broken away from the rest of her hull.

    Collection of Lieutenant Kelly Green.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     


    The views presented below were taken several months following the ship strandings, probably in early or mid-1924, when the wrecks had been substantially broken up by the surf:

    Photo #: NH 55101

    Honda Point disaster, September 1923


    Wreckage of USS Chauncey (DD-296) off Point Pedernales (Honda Point), California, circa early or mid-1924, while she was being broken up by the surf. This view shows her bow in the foreground, with her midships deckhouse and a smokestack beyond.

    Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence, May 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 56KB; 430 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 55102

    Honda Point disaster, September 1923


    Wreckage of USS Chauncey (DD-296) off Point Pedernales (Honda Point), California, circa early or mid-1924, while she was being broken up by the surf. This view shows her midships deckhouse and a smokestack at left, with boilers beyond them, in the center.

    Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence, May 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 81KB; 435 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42175

    Honda Point disaster, September 1923


    Part of the wreck of USS Woodbury (DD-309), just off Point Pedernales (Honda Point), California, circa early or mid-1924, while she was being broken up by the surf.
    The item sticking up over Woodbury's remains, in the left center, is a smokestack and the galley deckhouse from the wreck of USS Chauncey (DD-296).

    Photograph was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence, May 1930.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 62KB; 420 x 765 pixels

     

    For other pictures of the Honda Point wrecks, showing them after they had been broken up by the surf, see:

  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923 -- Later Views of the Wrecks (Part II); and
  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923 -- Later Views of the Wrecks (Part III).

    For more images related to the September 1923 Honda Point Disaster, see:

  • Honda Point Disaster, 8 September 1923.

    Source Note: The text that introduces the pages of this presentation is largely based on the book: "Tragedy at Honda", by Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood, USN-Retired, and Colonel Hans Christian Adamson, USAF-Retired (Chilton Company, Publishers, Philadelphia and New York, 1960).


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 14 July 2002
    Text revised 27 July 2002