Tag Archives: Virginia

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On this day: the USS Missouri aground

21st of January, 1950, and shows US Navy battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) four days after running aground near Thimble Shoal Light in Virginia, USA.

This photograph is from the 21st of January, 1950, and shows US Navy battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) four days after running aground near Thimble Shoal Light in Virginia, USA. She was trapped there until the 1st of February, when she was refloated and repaired.

The Missouri is famous for being the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan in 1945, ending the Second World War.

In the years following the accident in Virginia, the ship was used in the Korean and Gulf Wars before being transformed into a museum ship at Pearl Harbor.

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On this day: the Wreck of the Old 97

On the 27th of September, 1903 the Old 97, a Southern Railway train, derailed at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia.

Eleven were killed – nine immediately – and seven injured.

The crash inspired a ballad that would become famous in the United States, and would later become the focus of a copyright case.

The crash occurred because the train’s operator was running at high speed in order to stay on schedule. The train derailed and fell into a ravine. Some of the survivors attributed their luck to jumping from the vehicle before its plunge down the slope.

This photograph is believed to have been taken a few days after the disaster, as the train has been set back upright.

Wreck of the Old 97