DD Willy D Porter

On 12 November, she departed Norfolk to rendezvous with Iowa (BB-61) the following day.
That battleship was on her way to North Africa carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt to
the Cairo and Teheran Conferences. Porter was involved in a major mishap while departing
Norfolk when her anchor tore the railing and lifeboat mounts off a docked sister destroyer
while maneuvering astern. The next day, a depth charge from the deck of Porter fell into
the rough sea and exploded, causing Iowa and the other escort ships to take evasive
maneuvers under the assumption that the task force had come under torpedo attack by a
German U-boat.

On 14 November, at Roosevelt's request, Iowa conducted an anti-aircraft drill to
demonstrate her ability to defend herself. The drill began with the release of a number of
balloons for use as targets. While most of these were shot by gunners aboard Iowa, a few
of them drifted toward the William D. Porter which shot down balloons as well. The Porter,
along with the other escort ships, also demonstrated a torpedo drill by simulating a
launch at Iowa. This drill suddenly went awry when the #3 torpedo aboard William D. Porter
discharged from its tube and headed toward Iowa.

William D. Porter attempted to signal Iowa about the incoming torpedo but, owing to orders
to maintain radio silence, was forced to use a signal lamp. However, the destroyer first
misidentified the direction of the torpedo and then relayed the wrong message, informing
Iowa that Porter was backing up rather than telling her that a torpedo was in the
water.[1] In desperation the destroyer finally broke radio silence, using codewords that
relayed a warning message to Iowa regarding the incoming torpedo. After confirming the
identity of the destroyer, Iowa turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo. Roosevelt,
meanwhile, had learned of the incoming torpedo threat and asked his Secret Service
attendee to move his wheelchair to the side of the battleship, so he could see.[1] Not
long afterward, the torpedo detonated in the ship's wake some 3,000 yards astern of the
Iowa. Iowa was unhurt, but trained her main guns on William D. Porter out of concern that
the smaller ship may have been involved in some sort of assassination plot.

Following these events, the William D. Porter's captain, and her entire crew, were placed
under arrest - the first time in U.S. Navy history that this had occurred. The ship and
her crew were ordered to Bermuda for an inquiry into the Iowa affair. Captain Walker and
several of his officers were sentenced to shore duty in obscure locations. Torpedoman
Lawton Dawson, whose failure to remove the torpedo's primer had enabled it to fire at
Iowa, was sentenced to hard labor, though President Roosevelt intervened in his case, as
the incident had been an accident.

A week later, William D. Porter returned to Norfolk and prepared for transfer to the
Pacific. She got underway for that duty on 4 December, steamed via Trinidad, and reached
the Panama Canal on the 12th. After transiting the canal, the destroyer set a course for
San Diego, where she stopped between 19 and 21 December to take on cold weather clothing
and other supplies necessary for duty in the Aleutian Islands.