The USS Iowa disaster: success of the forensic dental team
Brannon, R.B.; Morlang, W.M.
Journal of Forensic Sciences 49(5): 1067-1068
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-1198 PMID: 15461111 Document Number: 575673
The authors record the contributions of dentistry to the identification of the crew members who were in one of the most significant peacetime military accidents in U.S. Navy history-the April 1989 explosion in a gun turret on the battleship USS Iowa and the deaths of 47 U.S. Navy personnel. Dental identification was the primary means of identification for most because a very high percentage of the bodies were burned or fragmented. The dental-identification team's success was a direct result of its preparedness, its use of dental personnel with mass-disaster experience, and the overall excellent quality of the antemortem dental records. The dental-identification team's successful involvement in the USS Iowa tragedy was considered a model for success and therefore was instrumental in contributing to the development of the American Board of Forensic Odontology "Guidelines for the Development of a Disaster Dental Identification Team.".