The USS William D. Porter was a destroyer commissioned on July 6, 1943 with a crew of rookies commanded by Lt. Commander Wilfred Walter. Little did they know, they would attempt to assassinate the President. In November, 1943, the “Willie Dee” was assigned escort duty for the battleship Iowa. It and two other destroyers would follow the Iowa across the Atlantic to North Africa. On board the battle wagon was President Franklin Roosevelt and other bigwigs like Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Commander in Chief of the Navy Ernest King. They were headed for the Tehran Conference with Churchill and Stalin. The day before they left, the Porter collided with another ship while docking. It was the first of a series of events that made the Willie Dee the poster destroyer for SNAFU (situation normal, all f***** up). The next day, while escorting the Iowa, a big explosion put the fleet on alert for a sub attack. The Porter was forced to admit it had been an accidental dropping of a depth charge without its safety on. (The accidental depth charge story may have been invented.) Later, a huge wave washed a sailor overboard. He was not found.
On November 14, 1943, the captain of the Iowa decided to give FDR a show by having his anti-aircraft guns fire at some weather balloons. Walter wanted to be part of the practice, so he ordered his crew to battle stations. They would simulate a torpedo attack on the Iowa. ( Destroyers carried torpedoes to attack other ships.) Unfortunately, a sailor named Lawton Dawson accidentally fired one. Porter had to make another “oops!” call. There was panic on the Iowa as it took evasive maneuvers. FDR insisted on having his wheelchair wheeled to the side so he could see the torpedo. He saw it explode in the wake of the ship. The Iowa trained it guns on the puny assassin. Porter was ordered to put the ship under arrest and sail to Bermuda for trial. Dawson was sentenced to 14 years hard labor and the crew was going to be bounced out of the Navy, but FDR forgave everyone.
The ship’s career continued in the Aleutian Islands. One story had it firing a shell that landed in a general’s front yard. It later served in the invasion of Okinawa. Wherever the Willie Dee joined the fleet, the crew was always greeted by “Don’t shoot, we’re Republicans!” On June 10, 1945, a kamikaze dived on the Porter. It crashed alongside, lucky right? But then it exploded under the destroyer, lifting the ship out of the water and sinking it. Thankfully, the crew survived and went to other ships that undoubtedly were luckier.
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/wwii-naval-ship-unlucky-almost-killed-fdr/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_William_D._Porter_(DD-579)
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