9/9/2010:
A deadly fire aboard the USS North Dakota made national headlines on this date a century ago. The fire occurred on September 8th, as the ship returned to port in Virginia from fleet exercises. A heavy dreadnought, the North Dakota ran on fuel oil, which was highly combustible. The ship was sailing in formation when a small explosion in its oil storage room caused the fire. Thick black smoke quickly began issuing from below decks, and the captain immediately ordered the ship to fall out of formation to protect the other ships. The ship's crew and officers rushed to put out the fire, but it spread so rapidly that three enlisted Navy men, all coal passers, perished in the flames.
The engine and oil storage rooms were flooded with seawater, filling the hold of the ship to a depth of nine feet. Unfortunately, the oil continued to burn above the water line. Six men entered the flooded, burning engine room and were able to retrieve the bodies of the three coal passers. They were later awarded the Medal of Honor for their "extraordinary heroism." The captain, meanwhile, feared that the fire would ignite the ship's gunpowder reserves, stored just above the engine room, causing an explosion that would tear apart the ship.
When the engines gave out, the North Dakota's pumps could no longer be used to douse the flames. Admiral Schroeder, commanding the entire fleet of ships, "...ordered a tugboat and the USS New Hampshire to stand by the North Dakota." The ships were able to pump water onto the burning ship, allowing the fire to be extinguished before the flames reached the gunpowder.
After four boilers were repaired, the ship was able to steam into port. The fire was not the last aboard the ship, however: only three months later, the ship caught fire once more off the European coast. The second fire resulted from an explosion in the coal bunkers, causing the death of one sailor. In 1923, the North Dakota was taken out of service, and eventually dismantled for scrap metal. Although considered the biggest, heaviest, and fastest battleship in the world at her launching in 1908, the North Dakota was plagued by engine trouble throughout her naval career.
Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job
Sources:
The Atlanta Constitution. September 10, 1910: pg. 9.
http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/8th_ussnd/ussnd_fire.html
http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/8th_ussnd/ussnd_intro.html