Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 3, 1990 TAG: 9003032507
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The Navy's determination of a cause for the explosion that claimed the lives of 47 crewmen, including Hartwig, last April "is based on evidence inadequate to support the conclusion," the congressional panels concluded in a 48-page report.
The two groups within the House Armed Services Committee - the Investigations subcommittee and Defense Policy Panel - cited what lawmakers said were four major flaws in the Navy inquiry: the structure of the investigation, technical tests, police work and psychological analysis.
The Navy, in releasing its report last September, concluded that Hartwig "most likely" caused the explosion by inserting some type of detonator between bags of gunpowder in one of the ship's 16-inch guns.
Navy officials acknowledged at the time that their evidence was circumstantial since all the witnesses, including Hartwig, were killed in the blast in the battleship's gun turret No. 2.
The Navy said in a statement that it "stands by its conclusion that the explosion in Turret 2 on board USS Iowa on April 19, 1989, was the result of the wrongful, intentional act most probably committed by Petty Officer Clayton Hartwig.
"This conclusion was reached after an intensive investigation during which the Navy conducted more than 20,000 technical tests and ruled out possible accidental causes including mechanical failure, friction, propellant instability and personnel error."
Ellis Rubin, a Miami attorney representing former Gunner's Mate Kendall Truitt, who was linked to the blast in several news reports, said Truitt's family was "gratified an official agency of the government has cleared up this matter."
The new report, "USS Iowa Tragedy: An Investigative Failure," summarizes many of the complaints House members raised last December during three days of hearings into the battleship explosion.
At the time, Rep. Nicholas Mavroules, D-Mass., contended the Navy irresponsibly rushed to judgment.
The congressional report faulted the Navy for conducting a one-man inquiry and never upgrading to a board of investigators when it became clear that the explosion cause might have been criminal, not technical.
In addition, it wasn't until May 8 - nearly three weeks after the blast - that the Naval Investigative Service focused on the possibility of a criminal act, the report said.
"At this time . . . NIS was faced with a contaminated crime scene, no chain of custody for evidence and a virtual inability to conduct a proper criminal inquiry from an evidentiary standpoint," the report said.
Referring to extraordinary measures used to remove the projectile that was lodged in the gun barrel after the explosion, the report said, "Although this was to become the most crucial physical evidence, it was contaminated during the process."
The subcommittees also criticized the Navy for first identifying an electronic timer as the probable cause of the blast then later saying that a chemical detonator was the logical igniter.
The congressional report also questioned the Navy's selective use of information from the FBI.
At the same time, the panels attacked the psychological analysis conducted by the FBI and cited the assessment of 10 of 14 experts the subcommittees consulted who determined that the FBI analysis was invalid.
Last December, three FBI psychologists cited various bits of information that when pieced together, according to their assessment, formed a picture of Hartwig as an individual bent on self-destruction.
by CNB