USS Turner
Destroyer · United States · Lost 1944 · Long Island & the New York Approaches
A U.S. Navy destroyer torn apart by unexplained internal explosions while anchored near the New York Harbor approaches in January 1944, killing well over a hundred crew.
The Vessel and Her Loss
USS Turner was a Gleaves-class destroyer commissioned in 1943 for Atlantic convoy escort duty. On the morning of January 3, 1944, while anchored near the entrance to New York Harbor off Sandy Hook, she was rocked by a series of violent internal explosions and sank within hours. Rescue vessels saved many of the crew, but 138 sailors were killed. The precise cause of the explosions was never conclusively established, and the loss remains one of the U.S. Navy's unresolved wartime mysteries so close to home.
Vessel
- 1943
- DD-648
- Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company
- Kearny, New Jersey
- Steel
- 348.33 ft
- 36.08 ft
- Not established
- Steam turbine, twin screw
- United States Navy
Loss
- January 3, 1944
- Mechanical failure
- About 6 miles east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, near the New York Harbor approaches
- Atlantic Ocean
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- 138
- Not established
The Wreck Today
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- 40.48° N 73.87° W
- Reported, unconfirmed
- Sandy Hook, New Jersey / New York Harbor approaches
Position reported in wartime action records as approximately 6 miles east of Sandy Hook; not independently verified against a modern survey.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Documented (80/100)
The precise cause of the internal explosions was never conclusively established and remains debated among naval historians.
Naval History and Heritage Command / Wikipedia summary of official records
Build data, loss date, casualty figures.
Follow-up investigation into missing sailors and casualty accounting.
