Navy planned to bomb wreckage of one of worst Central Coast maritime disasters
Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Navy had its worst peace-time disaster, just south of the San Luis Obispo County line.
Seven destroyers were wrecked and 23 sailors lost their lives when a squadron on a speed training exercise went astray in what has since been called the Honda Point disaster. A navigation error had fatal results when ships turned too soon and crashed squarely onto the rocks on a foggy September night in 1923.
The Bay Theater in Morro Bay is hosting a benefit showing of “Disaster at Devil’s Jaw” a documentary about the disaster on May 19 at 5:30pm.
The showing supports Morro Bay’s Maritime Museum.
For years, the wreckage was a lasting embarrassment and macabre tourist attraction south of Lompoc on what is now Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The aftermath was also immortalized by commercial photographer Frank Aston, who recorded major events then displayed prints at his studio to attract customers.
The Daily Telegram at the time rarely paid to engrave and publish local photos, so this was an effective draw in the 1920s.
Even as late as the early 1980s, there were still pieces of wreckage that could be seen on the rocks.
The Navy proposed to bomb the embarrassment to bits in 1928, but apparently it didn’t accomplish the goal.
Two pictures ran on the front page of the Daily Telegram on Feb. 7, 1928. A watermark shows that the engravings were provided by the Newspaper Enterprise Association, the national Scripps news service.
The upper image was the ungainly Curtiss F-5l flying boat. It was a significant anti-submarine craft during World War I, but with a payload of only four 230-pound bombs, it was unlikely to destroy the destroyers. It was an open cockpit aircraft that must have been an uncomfortable assignment.
The lower image is similar to one of the Aston photos.
Here is the story with typos corrected.
Navy Will Erase Wrecks at Honda
Residents of San Luis Obispo will recall the disaster of the seven U.S. navy destroyers at Point Honda, near Surf, just below the county line, something over four years ago.
First news of the disaster came through the S.P. (Southern Pacific Railroad) operator at Surf to the train dispatcher’s office in this city, and a relief train was made up here and rushed to the aid of the injured men. Physicians and nurses from this city, with food blankets and other emergency supplies were sent to the scene of the wreck.
Word of the disaster was sent out to the world through the Daily Telegram news staff.
An official letter of thanks from the Secretary of the Navy to the officials and people of San Luis Obispo, for their services, was sent to Mayor Sinsheimer, following the wreck.
Hundreds of residents of this section viewed the battered war vessels on the rocks, driving as far as the road went and then walking out to the scene of the crash, immediately after the wreck and on Sundays and holidays for months afterward tourists drove to the spot.
Point Honda is off the highway, but near the Southern Pacific Coast line right of way, and is difficult to access by car.
