GERMAN DESTROYER G-102 HIT BY 300 POUND BOMB
Off Virginia Capes (JFK+50) On July 13, 1921, a 300 pound bomb hit the German destroyer G-102* "near the bridge, tearing out the forward funnel and seeming to rip her open..."
Carter Field writes that...
"this was the army's first chance in the naval bombing tests...under General Mitchell."
43 bombs were dropped, but there were only 4 "hits." The first bomb alone, however, "would have sunk the destroyer without the aid of any additional damage."
*G-102 was a torpedo boat built for Argentina in 1914 but utilized by Germany in WWI. She was 269 feet long with four 8.8 cm guns, torpedo tubes & 24 mines. G-102 was turned over to the Allies at the end of the war.
SOURCE
"Giant Bombers' Aim Deadly to Old Destroyer," by Carter Field, The New York Tribune, July 14, 1921, Chronicling America, www.loc.gov/
