In The Atlantic, Death Always Rides Shotgun

(Texas Tower #4 - Public Domain Image)

 

I was talking to my friend Mike yesterday at the Gloucester Fish Pier about how dangerous fishing and working in the North Atlantic was and is. Mistakes or simple bad luck could well end in death or debilitating injury.   By way of illustrating his point, he told me the story of the ill-fated Texas Tower #4 radar installation.....   On January 13th, 1961, Mike and his father-in-law were steaming to fishing grounds eighty miles off New York. In the distance they saw a large object that was completely stationary. They headed towards it to get a better look. As the fishing vessel drew closer they could make out what looked like an alien space ship sitting on three legs out in the Atlantic. While they were passing by, windows opened up on the structure and the some of the men inside hung their heads out and waved...  What Mike saw that day was the Texas Tower #4 radar installation operated by the US Air Force. The tower's purpose was to extend radar coverage 300 - 500 miles out into the Atlantic to give early warnings should the Russians try to attack from the sea.    The radar installation was huge and looked quite formidable from the vantage point of their fishing boat.  Two days later, Mike told me, during a vicious Nor' Easter, Texas Tower #4 collapsed and sank to the bottom of the frigid Atlantic taking all twenty eight souls aboard. Mike and his father-in-law were some of the last few people to see Texas Tower #4 and the crew aboard above water.   I went home and did some additional reading about Texas Tower #4. Here's some of what I found out.    TT#4 had a troubled history. It sat in 186 feet of water, three times deeper than any other offshore radar tower at the time. It was always an unstable platform.  The tower was built by a contractor with no experience building offshore structures using a "new, innovative design."  Despite modifications to stabilize it, during heavy weather, the platform would buck so much that men would be knocked off their feet. The crew nicknamed the platform "Old Shaky" and joked that they shouldn't shave with a straight razor while aboard.   The integrity of the structure was weakened further by Hurricane Donna in 1960. Donna's 132mph winds and 50 foot seas fractured critical underwater bracing. There was so much damage done to the superstructure and the bracing that the government planned on a complete evacuation of the facility on February 1,1961 so that comprehensive repairs could be done.  Unfortunately, sixteen days prior to the evacuation order, the unforgiving Atlantic spawned a storm fierce enough to take down the tower along with its twenty eight man crew.    The commanding office of the tower begged his superiors to allow evacuation in the face of the onrushing storm. His request was denied. The reasoning was that they didn't want to abandon a top secret radar facility and perhaps allow the Russians to board it and learn about American radar tech.  It wasn't until 2010 that the men aboard TT4# were recognized for their sacrifice. Then-president Barack Obama sent letters of appreciation to the crew's families.  For those who would like to delve deeper into the technical details of TT#4's demise, here is a link to a failure analysis prepared by UC Berkley and Global Maritime Inc. in 2002.

 

 

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