During a fleet gunnery practice in Cape Cod Bay on July 15, 1907 a turret explosion occurred in the aft 8"/45 superfiring (upper) turret of USS Georgia. In the inquiry that followed it was determined that a flare-back from a previous shell had caused the two bags of cordite to ignite. There was no shell yet in the breech and an ember still in the barrel came in contact with one of the bags. A brown patch was noticed on one of the bags by one of the men loading the gun, he warned the others of the immediate danger and several men dove to the floor, but seconds later the two bags fully ignited causing more of a flash fire than a traditional explosion.

Men outside the turret came to the aide of their stricken fellow crewmen and pulled them from the turret, two men who were badly burned (Lt. Goodrich and Seaman Malek) crawled out of the turret and jumped into the sea to alleviate their pain choosing drowning over dying from burns, they were both picked up by a motor launch. Goodrich, the son of Rear Admiral Casper F. Goodrich, Commandant of the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard, died just before midnight that night with his father at his side (this was the third son Adm. Goodrich had lost in service). Seven other men had died and fourteen were badly injured by burns and inhalation of the gasses.

President Theodore Roosevelt, who was at Oyster Bay at the time, sent the following telegram to the Navy department that afternoon;

"I am inexpressibly shocked and grieved at the dreadful accident on the Georgia and the death of gallant officers and men. I wish full particulars at the earliest possible date. Let me know the condition of the wounded men. Repeat this to the captain of the Georgia."

Georgia arrived at the Charleston Naval Shipyard later that day and the wounded were taken to Chelsea Naval Hospital, two of the survivors later died of their injuries, the suffering of these men (and the others) can scarcely be imagined. By the next day flowers had been sent in a show of respect by Admiral Baron (later Prime Minister) Gonbee Yamamoto (no relation to the World War II Admiral) of the Imperial Japanese Navy who was touring several navy shipyards at the time.

Of course there were new procedures put in place to make keep a disaster like this from happening again, but such tragedies happened again and again. The most famous such case in the present generation would be that of the USS Iowa BB-61 on Apr. 19, 1989 in which forty-seven men were killed.