"Don't shoot we're Republicans!"

[Murph]

Funny history. This would classifiy as a career ender by any definition of the term.....

USS William D. Porter (DD-579) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On 12 November, she departed Norfolk to rendezvous with Iowa (BB-61) the following day. That battleship was on her way to North Africa carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Cairo and Teheran Conferences. Porter was involved in a major mishap while departing Norfolk when her anchor tore the railing and lifeboat mounts off of a docked sister destroyer while backing up. The next day, a depth charge from the deck of Porter fell into the rough sea and exploded, causing Iowa and the other escort ships to take evasive maneuvers under the assumption that the task force had come under torpedo attack by a German U-boat.[1]

On 14 November, at Roosevelt's request, Iowa conducted an anti-aircraft drill to demonstrate her ability to defend herself. The drill began with the release of a number of balloons for use as targets. While most of these were shot by gunners aboard Iowa, a few of them drifted toward the William D. Porter which shot down balloons as well. The Porter, along with the other escort ships, also demonstrated a torpedo drill by simulating a launch at Iowa. This drill suddenly went awry when the #3 torpedo aboard William D. Porter discharged from its tube and headed toward Iowa.[1]

William D. Porter attempted to signal Iowa about the incoming torpedo but, owing to radio silence, was forced to use a blinker light. The destroyer misidentified the direction of the torpedo and then relayed the wrong message informing Iowa that Porter was backing up rather than telling them that a torpedo was in the water.[1] In desperation the destroyer finally broke radio silence using codewords that relayed a warning message to Iowa regarding the incoming torpedo. After confirming the identity of the destroyer, Iowa turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo. Roosevelt, meanwhile, had learned of the incoming torpedo threat and asked his Secret service attendee to move his wheelchair to the side of the battleship.[1] Not long afterward, the torpedo detonated in the ship's wake some 3,000 yards astern of the Iowa.. Iowa was unhurt and trained her main guns on William D. Porter out of concern that the smaller ship may have been involved in some sort of assassination plot.[2] William D. Porter completed her part in the mission and steamed west to Bermuda, where she arrived on 16 November. The crisis was over and so was Captain Walker's career. His final utterance to the Iowa, in response to a question about the origin of the torpedo, was a weak, "We did it."

Shortly thereafter, the brand new destroyer, her captain and the entire crew were placed under arrest and sent to Bermuda for trial. It was the first time that a complete ship's company had been arrested in the history of the US Navy. The ship was surrounded by Marines when it docked in Bermuda, and held there several days as the closed session inquiry attempted to determine what had happened. Torpedoman Dawson eventually confessed to having inadvertently leaving the primer in the torpedo tube, which caused the launching. Dawson had thrown the used primer over the side to conceal his mistake. Following this incident, ships would routinely greet the "Willie D." with "Don't shoot! We're Republicans!"
A week later, she returned to Norfolk and prepared for transfer to the Pacific. She got underway for that duty on 4 December, steamed via Trinidad, and reached the Panama Canal on the 12th. After transiting the canal, the destroyer set a course for San Diego, where she stopped between 19 and 21 December to take on cold weather clothing and other supplies necessary for duty in the Aleutian Islands.

[dmora]

All the more reason to blast away!

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by dmora

All the more reason to blast away!

I started to make a scathing response, but then I noticed you are from Austin so I will just send my condolences.

[Jeff_Green]

Originally Posted by bondarnes

I started to make a scathing response, but then I noticed you are from Austin so I will just send my condolences.

lol It wouldn't do any good, Don... you'd have to talk REALLY slow!

I kid! I kid! kinda

[srwatters]

And therein lies the origin of the phrase "shoot at a republican, get sent to Alaska". Or wait, am I confusing that with "shoot at a party member, get sent to Siberia"?