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On This Day: USS Iowa explosion kills 47 sailors

On April 19, 1989, an explosion in a gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa killed 47 sailors.

By UPI Staff
A photo taken from the bridge captures the explosion of the No. 2 16-inch gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa on April 19, 1989. It was later determined that 47 sailors were killed by the blast. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy
1 of 5 | A photo taken from the bridge captures the explosion of the No. 2 16-inch gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa on April 19, 1989. It was later determined that 47 sailors were killed by the blast. File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy

April 19 (UPI) -- On this date in history:

In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington, Mass. Eight minutemen were killed and 10 injured in an exchange of musket fire with British redcoats.

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In 1912, Col. Archibald Gracie, survivor on the ill-fated Titanic, told of being sucked under by the sinking ship before managing to make his way back to the surface and the safety of a life raft.

In 1943, Jewish residents of the Warsaw ghetto revolted when Germans tried to resume deportations to the Treblinka concentration camp. When the uprising ended on May 16, 7,000 Jews and 300 Germans had died and the ghetto lay in ruins.

In 1956, famed actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

File Photo by George Bilyk/UPI

In 1971, the Soviet Union launched its first Salyut space station.

In 1987, the first Simpsons cartoon appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.

In 1989, an explosion in a gun turret aboard the battleship USS Iowa killed 47 sailors.

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In 1989, a Wall Street banker jogging through Central Park was assaulted and raped, leaving her in a coma for more than a week. Five teenagers were convicted in the attack, but in 2002, another man confessed to the attack, which was confirmed by DNA evidence.

In 1993, a 51-day Branch Davidian standoff near Waco, Texas, ended when fire destroyed a fortified compound after it was tear-gassed by authorities. Cult leader David Koresh and about 75 followers, including 17 children, were killed.

In 1994, a federal jury awarded police-beating victim Rodney King $3.8 million in compensatory damages from the city of Los Angeles.

In 1995, a bomb exploded outside a federal office building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring several hundred others.

In 2000, a federal appeals court ruled in a high-profile case that 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez could stay in the United States until judges heard a full appeal from his relatives who sought to retain custody of the boy. He was eventually returned to his father in Cuba.

File Photo by Patrick Ward/UPI
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In 2005, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, already a major power in the Roman Catholic Church, was elected pope to succeed John Paul II. He chose the name of Benedict XVI.

In 2013, one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was killed by police and another, his brother, was arrested. The city had been in a virtual lockdown.

In 2018, for the first time in decades, someone outside the Castro family assumed the presidency of Cuba -- Miguel Diaz-Canel.

UPI File Photo

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