
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990                   TAG: 9005260311
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ATTORNEY FOR ONE IOWA FAMILY READY TO SUE

The Navy should pay millions in damages after a congressional report rejected the service's finding that a sailor's sabatoge caused last year's fatal USS Iowa explosion, an attorney for the sailor's family said Friday.

"I am more convinced than ever that we have a legitimate claim for intentional and negligent infliction of emotion distress against the Navy," Kreig Brusnahan said from his Cleveland office.

Brusnahan represents the family of Gunner's Mate Clayton Hartwig, one of 47 sailors killed when an explosion and fireball ripped through the battleship's No. 2 turret April 19, 1989.

A four-month, $4 million investigation by the Navy concluded Hartwig most likely caused the explosion by inserting a detonating device between bags of powder in the 16-inch guns.

But Thursday, the Navy announced it was reopening its investigation and was suspending the use of the 16-inch guns after an explosion at a test site.

And Friday, a General Accounting Office report to the Senate Armed Services committee said it could not support the Navy's original findings. The GAO report suggested that gunpowder bags may have been unintentionally rammed too hard and too far into the barrel.

- Associated Press

by CNB