Top Secret Pearl Harbor Disaster

May 21, 1944

While everyone is familiar with the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese in 1941, few have heard about the Pearl Harbor disaster in 1944. That’s because it was classified top secret until 1960. On May 21, 1944 an explosion aboard the USS LST-353 while it was moored at Pearl Harbor naval base set off a chain reaction of explosions causing the ship to sink and spread fire to the surrounding ships. In all, six LSTs sank and 163 men were killed. It is believed that the incident was caused by a mortar round explosion during an unloading operation.