USS ALBANY COLLISION

          The catastrophic collision of the container ship Dali with Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on 26 March 2024 is by no means the only time such an event has occurred.  Indeed, on this date 50 years ago a US Navy cruiser was involved in a similar accident at Yorktown, Virginia.

          The Yorktown Naval Weapons Station lies on a navigable section of the York River about 14 miles above Yorktown, Virginia.  When this facility was originally commissioned in 1918, navigation up the York River was unencumbered.  But in 1952 the State of Virginia built the George P. Coleman Bridge to carry Route 17 across the York River between Gloucester Point and Yorktown.  To allow the passage of traffic, the bridge was constructed with a central pillar supporting the middle of a 1000-foot span.  This span could pivot 90°, creating port and starboard channels for the passage of ships.  Each channel was an ample 450 feet wide.  All was well until this Saturday afternoon, when the guided missile cruiser USS ALBANY (CG-10) attempted to reach the fuel pier at WPNSTA Yorktown.

As ALBANY approached the bridge, appropriate signals were exchanged between the ship and the bridge operator.   The bridgeman powered up the motors that began to swing the central span.  But as ALBANY neared, the bridge operator recognized that the warship’s speed was too great.  She would reach the bridge before the span had fully opened.  The crew aboard the cruiser reached the same conclusion at nearly the same time, and her engines were reversed “full astern” in an instant.  The bridgeman reversed his motor too, closing the span, hoping to create a few more feet of space in which the cruiser could stop.  It didn’t work.

With the screech of twisting metal, the superstructure of the cruiser collided with the bridge span.  Electrical cables and limit switches on the bridge were torn loose.  Pinions on the circular rack gear were sheared off and the bridge’s central span was pushed 35° in the wrong direction.  Repairs to ALBANY would tie her up for the next five months.

The Commission on Ship Bridge Collisions, in their investigation, called the accident near-catastrophic.  Had the cruiser been moving only slightly faster, the Coleman bridge likely would have collapsed.  The next closest York River crossing for motorists was 32 miles north at West Point, Virginia, creating a 65-mile, 90-minute detour while repairs to the Coleman Bridge were affected.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  20 DEC 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

National Academies Press.  Ship Collisions with Bridges: The Nature of the Accidents, Their Prevention, and Mitigation.  Chapter 6, p, 24, 1983. At: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/27742/chapter/6, retrieved 24 March 2025

Oral History, CAPT James Bloom, USN, a witness to the event.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Sailors from this day will remember Nick’s Seafood Pavilion, a restaurant located under the Coleman Bridge in Yorktown.  Owned by Nick and Mary Mathews, Greek immigrants who loved America, his restaurant was a favorite of celebrities such as John Wayne, Randy Travis, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred McMurry, and Tennessee Ernie Ford.  Since 1944, as US Navy ships passed the restaurant, Nick could often be seen waving an American flag from the civilian dock.  Mary Mathews was chosen to be the sponsor of USS YORKTOWN (CG-48) at the warship’s launch in 1983.  Nick unexpectedly died on the way to the christening ceremony.  Nick Mathews is remembered today by the many South Vietnamese refugees he sponsored in the 1970s and for his generous donation of the Yorktown Visitor’s Center.  Nick’s Seafood Pavilion was severely damaged in Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and was demolished.  A boutique mall stands on the spot today.

          George Preston Coleman (1870-1948) was the head of the Virginia Highway Commission from 1913-1922 and was elected mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia, in the following years.

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