It was 44 years ago that the Royal Canadian Navy experienced its worst peacetime accident, and Dinger Bell was one of the sailors in the middle of it.
Bell, who was an Able Seaman on HMCS Kootenay in 1969, was in the engine room with nine other sailors when the gearbox exploded.
“We were all basically in the same area when the explosion happened,” he recalls. “We all had to get out (using) a small ladder, about 15 ft high, and a foot and a half wide, and we were all on fire, so it wasn’t an easy thing to do.”
“Only three of us got out of the engine room alive.”
Nine sailors were lost and more than 50 were injured in the explosion on board HMCS Kootenay.
On Wednesday morning, a commemorative service was held to mark the 44th anniversary at the navy’s damage control training facility outside of Halifax.
Douglas Holmes was in the ship’s cafeteria at the time of the explosion.
“I was taking my dishes back to the scullery when the fire ball came right at me,” said Holmes.
Holmes, who was a Leading Seaman at the time, spent more than 10 days recovering in hospital.
He says, even though more than four decades have passed, the memories of that October day are still strong.
“I still remember, I still have the dreams, still shaky about it.”
Most of the crew trained as firefighters were killed or injured in the explosion and fire, with the flames even blocking off access to the crew’s fire fighting gear.
“In order to rescue personnel they actually had to use diving equipment in order to navigate through the smoke,” said LtCdr. Troy Hulme.
According to Hulme, the Damage control Division Commander, the incident changed the way the navy prepares for emergencies at sea.
“Our business is to teach damage control and there were many lessons learned that day in 1969,” he said.
Bell believes remembering the tragedy of HMCS Kootenay is just as important as those lessons.
“It was forgotten for so many years, we weren’t allowed to talk about this for 30 years, so you know it’s important that people know.”
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