title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Captain Joseph Dominick Miceli, from NAVSEA, was assigned to Milligan's team to lead the technical investigation into the explosion. Miceli had commanded the Naval Weapons Support Center at Crane, Indiana from 1982 to 1985. Much of the powder in use on "Iowa" was bagged under Miceli's direction at Crane. While at Crane, Miceli had also begun the use of "wear reducing" polyurethane foam jackets on the powder bags. Cyanide gas from the burning foam jackets had killed many of the turret crewmen. Therefore, as noted by Navy officers and later by outside observers, Miceli had a potential conflict of interest regarding any findings that powder or powder bags had contributed to the explosion or to any deaths afterwards. Ted Gordon, former Navy Deputy Judge Advocate General, stated: "Joe Miceli had his own turf to protect. The guns, the shells, the powder were all his responsibility. He had a vested interest in seeing that they were not at fault in the "Iowa" accident."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Upon receiving Kubicina's letters concerning Hartwig's life insurance policy, Morse and Moosally turned them over to Milligan on 7 May. Milligan immediately called Claude Rollins, the NIS regional director in Norfolk, and requested NIS assistance in the investigation. Ted Gordon, the commanding officer of the NIS, objected to opening a formal criminal investigation because Milligan's investigation was supposed to be informal. Admiral Leon A. Edney, the U.S. Navy's Vice Chief of Naval Operations, however, told Gordon that formal NIS participation in the investigation under Milligan's supervision was fine.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Meeting with NIS agents at Norfolk on 9 May, Messina explained that Hartwig had been Turret Two's center gun captain, had been peering into the gun's breech at the time of the explosion, according to the wounds found on his body, and had likely inserted an ignition device between two of the powder bags as the gun was loaded. Messina told the NIS agents about Hartwig's insurance policy and that a homosexual relationship had possibly existed between Hartwig and Truitt. Later, Milligan's team told the NIS that a book called "Getting Even: The Complete Book of Dirty Tricks" by George Hayduke had been found in Hartwig's locker. Milligan subsequently reported that the book contained instructions on how to construct a bomb.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: NIS agents Tom Goodman and Ed Goodwin interviewed Kubicina soon after accepting the case. After initially discussing the insurance policy, the agents began asking Kubicina about Hartwig's sexuality. Kubicina later found out that the U.S. Navy had also interviewed Hartwig's best friend from high school and lied to him about what she had said. NIS agents interviewed Truitt and repeatedly pressed him to admit to a sexual relationship with Hartwig. Other agents interviewed Truitt's wife Carole, also pressing her about the sexual orientation of Hartwig and Truitt, asking questions about how often she and her husband had sex, what sorts of sexual acts they engaged in, and whether she had ever had sex with any of Truitt's crewmates. When Truitt learned of the interview, he advised the NIS that he would not cooperate further with the investigation. A search of Truitt's locker turned up a burlap bag of the type filled with gunpowder for firing the big guns. Based on this, the insurance policy, Hartwig's known antipathy for Truitt's wife, and the belief that Truitt and Hartwig had been sexually involved, the NIS considered Truitt a suspect. Truitt and Hartwig had previously been questioned about being gay in February 1987, but each denied it and the matter had been dropped.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Beginning in May, reports on the NIS investigation began to appear in news media, including "The Virginian-Pilot", "Newsday", "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", and the "Daily Press", most of which mentioned Hartwig or Truitt by name. The reporters later stated that the information in their stories was leaked to them by sources in the NIS, the U.S. Navy's Chief of Naval Information (CHINFO) office, led by Rear Admiral Brent Baker, or by other Department of Defense (DoD) officials. On 24 May, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) aired an NBC news story by Fred Francis and Len Tepper that identified Truitt and Hartwig as criminal suspects in the "Iowa" explosion and implied that the two had been in a homosexual relationship. NIS special agent James Whitener had—without authorization, it was later revealed by NIS officials—given Tepper and Francis classified computer diskettes containing the complete NIS files on the "Iowa" investigation. Later media reports indicated that the U.S. Navy believed that Hartwig had intentionally caused the explosion after his relationship with Truitt had gone sour.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 25 May at Norfolk, NIS agents Goodman and Mike Dorsey interrogated Seaman David Smith, an "Iowa" crewman and friend of Hartwig. The NIS agents kept Smith in the interrogation room for 7 hours and 40 minutes and, according to Smith, repeatedly threatened that they would charge him with 47 counts of accessory to murder, perjury, and obstruction of justice unless he admitted that Hartwig had told him that he intended to blow up Turret Two. Smith refused. At 10:00 p.m., Smith was allowed to return to "Iowa", where he then stood a nine-hour watch. Less than one hour after finishing the watch, Smith was taken back to the NIS building at Norfolk and interrogated for an additional six hours. Finally, Smith claimed that Hartwig had made romantic advances towards him, had shown him an explosive timer, and had threatened to blow up Turret Two. Three days later, however, Smith recanted his statement to the NIS in its entirety when he was asked to reread and reaffirm a transcript of the interrogation, and signed a statement to that effect. Smith's original statement was later leaked to the media without noting that he had retracted it.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Lieutenant Commander Thomas Mountz, a clinical psychologist assigned to assist the NIS investigation, asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Behavioral Analysis Unit for help in compiling a "psychological autopsy" on Hartwig. Visiting the FBI's facility at Quantico, Virginia, Mountz, Goodman, Goodwin, and NIS employee Dawn Teague explained to FBI special agents Richard Ault and Roy Hazelwood that the "Iowa" explosion was not an accident, but an act of sabotage. The NIS gave the FBI agents copies of their interviews with several "Iowa" crewmen, including Smith, and with Hartwig's family and acquaintances. They did not tell the FBI that Smith had recanted his statement to the NIS. On 15 June, the day after receiving the material about Smith's interview, Ault and Hazelwood issued a 15-page "equivocal death analysis" stating that, in their opinion, Hartwig was not homosexual but that he "died as a result of his own actions, staging his death in such a fashion that he hoped it would appear to be an accident".


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: NIS agents Robert Nigro and Goodman briefed Miceli on their case against Hartwig, telling him that they believed that Hartwig had blown up Turret Two with a Radio Shack timer, and gave him a copy of Smith's interview. They did not tell Miceli that Smith had recanted his statement or that the NIS had been unable to find any evidence that Hartwig had ever purchased any electronic device from Radio Shack. Miceli directed his team to begin testing to see if an electrical timer could have ignited the powder bags. Technicians at the Navy's metallurgical laboratory at Norfolk Naval Shipyard tested the copper-nickel-alloy rotating band from the center gun's projectile, and stated that they had found trace chemical elements, including barium, silicon, aluminum, and calcium, under the band, which indicated that an electronic timer had been used to cause the explosion. Miceli asked the FBI to duplicate the test on the band. After testing the band, the FBI stated that they did not believe an electronic timing device had been present and that chemicals found on the band likely came from Break-Free solvent used by the Navy to extract the projectile from the center gun barrel after the explosion. According to Ken Nimmich of the FBI Laboratory, Miceli then abruptly terminated the Navy's request for assistance from the FBI lab.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 28 August, technicians at the Naval Weapons Support Center at Crane, Indiana confirmed the FBI's conclusion that an electronic timer, batteries, and/or a primer were not involved in the explosion. Subsequently, Miceli's team announced that a chemical—not electrical—ignition device had been used to cause the explosion, but the new conclusion was not included in Milligan's report before the report was released. On 11 August 1989 the Navy, acting on a recommendation from Miceli, recertified the "Iowa"-class battleship's 16-inch guns for operation.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 15 July 1989 Milligan submitted his completed report on the explosion to his chain of command. The 60-page report found that the explosion was a deliberate act "most probably" committed by Hartwig using an electronic timer. The report concluded that the powder bags had been overrammed into the center gun by , but had been done so under Hartwig's direction in order to trigger the explosive timer that he had placed between two of the powder bags.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Donnell, on 28 July, endorsed Milligan's report, saying that the determination that Hartwig had sabotaged the gun "leaves the reader incredulous, yet the opinion is supported by facts and analysis from which it flows logically and inevitably". Donnell's superior, Atlantic Fleet Commander Admiral Powell F. Carter, Jr., then endorsed the report, adding that the report showed that there were "substantial and serious failures by Moosally and Morse", and forwarded the report to the CNO, Carlisle Trost. Although Miceli had just announced that test results at Dahlgren showed that an electronic timer had not caused the explosion, Trost endorsed the report on 31 August, stating that Hartwig was "the individual who had motive, knowledge, and physical position within the turret gun room to place a device in the powder train". Trost's endorsement cited Smith's statement to the NIS as further evidence that Hartwig was the culprit. Milligan's report was not changed to reflect Miceli's new theory that a chemical igniter, not an electrical timer, had been used to initiate the explosion.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Most of the victims' family members criticized the Navy's conclusions. Many of the families told media representatives of private misgivings that the victims had expressed to them about problems with training and the dangerous gunfire experiments occurring on "Iowa" before the explosion. Hartwig's family disputed the allegations that he was depressed and suicidal.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Several journalists immediately began questioning the results of Milligan's investigation. John Hall, a reporter for the "Richmond Times-Dispatch", wrote a series of four articles beginning on 17 September that revealed that "Iowa" was engaged in illegal powder experiments when the gun blew up; that conflicts of interest were evident in the investigators assigned to the inquiry; that many of the ship's crew were improperly or inadequately trained; and that evidence did not support the Navy's theory that Hartwig caused the explosion. The Associated Press picked up Hall's story and it was run in other newspapers throughout the United States. Robert Becker and A. J. Plunkett from the "Daily Press" wrote a lengthy story which criticized Milligan's report in detail. ABC reporter Robert Zelnick wrote an op-ed piece, which ran in "The New York Times" on 11 September, heavily criticizing the Navy for, in Zelnick's words, "scapegoating a dead seaman." Television newsmagazines "20/20" and "60 Minutes" both ran stories questioning the Navy's conclusions. "The Washington Post", in contrast, ran a story by George Wilson that generally supported the Navy's findings.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 3 October, Donnell disciplined "Iowa"s officers in response to findings in Milligan's report. Moosally and Bob Finney, "Iowa"s operations officer, were given nonpunitive "letters of admonition" which were not placed in their permanent personnel records. Kissinger and Skelley received punitive letters of admonition which were placed in their records, as well as fines of $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. Donnell suspended both fines. Shortly thereafter, the Navy issued a statement explaining that the safety violations and training deficiencies found aboard "Iowa" during the investigation were unrelated to the explosion. Two weeks later, a panel of thirteen admirals recommended that Moosally be given another major command, stating that Moosally was "superbly fit" for such responsibility. Milligan was one of the admirals on the panel who supported the recommendation. After "60 Minutes" producer Charles Thompson asked Brent Baker and Chief of Naval Personnel Jeremy Michael Boorda about the recommendation, Moosally's name was withdrawn.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Ohio Senators Howard Metzenbaum and John Glenn were concerned with the Navy's conclusions and arranged to hold a hearing on the Navy's investigation in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), chaired by Sam Nunn. Also, Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar asked Nicholas Mavroules, chairman of the Investigations Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee to look into the Navy's findings and schedule hearings. John Glenn asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Navy's investigation into the explosions as well as to examine the unauthorized gunfire experiments and other unsafe practices that might have occurred on "Iowa" and review the Navy's utilization of the four "Iowa"-class battleships.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: The first Senate hearing took place on 16 November 1989. Trost, Milligan, Miceli, and Robert Powers from the NIS testified at the hearing and were questioned by Senators Glenn, Alan Dixon, John McCain, and James Exon. The senators questioned the Navy officers about the lack of adequate training on "Iowa", the age and condition of the ship's powder, problems with the center gun's rammer, the illegal gunfire experiments, the methods used and conclusions reached in the investigation, and the series of leaks to the media from Navy and NIS personnel.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 11 December 1989 Moosally testified before the SASC. He denied that "Iowa" had carried out illegal or unauthorized gunfire experiments. In response to questions from the senators, Moosally stated that he believed the explosion was an intentional act, but that he could not support Milligan's conclusion that Hartwig was the culprit. During the hearing, Sam Nunn announced that Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, had agreed to a request by the GAO to assist with the Navy's technical investigation to see if there might be a natural explanation for the explosion. Later, FBI agents Ault and Hazelwood appeared before the committee and answered questions about how they had prepared their equivocal death analysis on Hartwig. In addition, Truitt plus two other "Iowa" sailors and acquaintances of Hartwig testified that Hartwig was not suicidal and that the Navy was trying to "cover up" that the explosion was likely an accident.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 12, 13, and 21 December, the House Armed Services Committee held its hearings into the Navy's investigation. The committee, including Mavroules, Les Aspin, Larry Hopkins, Norman Sisisky, and Joseph Brennan, interviewed Donnell, Ault, Hazelwood, Milligan, Miceli, Truitt, Nimmich, and Richard Froede, the Armed Services Medical Examiner.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In early March 1990, the House Armed Services Committee released its report, titled "USS "Iowa" Tragedy: An Investigative Failure". The report criticized the Navy for failing to investigate every natural possible cause before concluding that the explosion was an intentional act. The report also criticized the Navy for allowing the turret and projectile to become contaminated; for permitting evidence to be thrown overboard; for endorsing Milligan's report prior to completing the technical investigation; and for neglecting to disclose the nature of the disagreement with the FBI laboratory over substances found on the projectile's rotating band. The FBI's equivocal death analysis was labeled the "single major fault of the investigation". The NIS's actions in the investigation were described as "flawed" and the NIS agents assigned to the case were criticized for unprofessional interviewing techniques and for leaking sensitive documents and inaccurate information. Finally, the report concluded that Milligan was unfit to oversee a major criminal investigation.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Forty scientists from Sandia, led by Richard Schwoebel, began an independent technical inquiry into the explosion on 7 December 1989. In order to investigate the Navy's theory that an electronic or chemical ignition device had been used to cause the explosion, Schwoebel asked Miceli to examine the projectiles removed from Turret Two's left and right guns to compare with the one taken from the center gun. Miceli informed Schwoebel that both projectiles had been misplaced and he could not locate them.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: At a 16 January 1990 meeting with the Sandia scientists, Steve Mitchell, a technician from Indian Head Naval Surface Warfare Center, reported that his team had discovered that the propellant pellets making up the powder in "Iowa"s powder bags could fracture and give off hot fragments in drop tests, and that the fractured surface often had a burnt appearance and odor. At this point, according to Schwoebel, Miceli interjected and said, "This kind of thing can't be duplicated during the actual loading operation. This result is not relevant to the explosion." Mitchell added that his team had found it extremely unlikely that friction or static electricity could have ignited the center gunpowder bags. Tom Doran, a member of Miceli's team from Dahlgren, reported that his team had conducted tests to see if an overram could have caused the explosion, but revealed that the tests had used bags filled with wooden pellets with black powder pouches at the ends, not actual powder bags.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Sandia investigators asked if two similar explosions on the battleship could be related to the "Iowa" explosion. In 1924 and 1943, open breech explosions had occurred in the Turret Two center gun aboard "Mississippi", each time killing most of the crewmen in the turret. Miceli's team responded that the explosions were not related, because the "Mississippi" incidents were not actual explosions, but "intense burnings" of the powder which resulted from different causes than the "Iowa" incident. A staff officer from Naval Sea Systems Command, Rear Admiral Robert H. Ailes, told Sandia that the "Mississippi" explosions "would not be discussed".


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Sandia's chemical and materials analysis group, headed by James Borders, investigated further the theory about a chemical igniter. Navy technicians stated that the discovery under the center gun's projectile's rotating band of minute steel-wool fibers that were encrusted with calcium and chlorine, a fragment of polyethylene terephthalate (commonly used in plastic bags), and different glycols, including brake fluid, hypochlorite, antifreeze, and Brylcreem together indicated the use of a chemical igniter. The Navy was unable to locate the steel-wool fiber evidence for Borders to examine. No untouched portions of the rotating band remained and Sandia was provided with a section to examine that had already been examined by the FBI. Borders' team examined the rotating band and did not find any traces of polyethylene terephthalate. The team found that the glycols present actually came from the Break-Free cleaning solution which had been dumped into the center gun's barrel to help free the projectile after the explosion. The team also found that calcium and chlorine were present in "Iowa"s other gun turrets and in the gun turrets of the other "Iowa"-class battleships, and that this was indicative of routine exposure to a maritime environment. Borders concluded that ordinary sources accounted for all of the "foreign materials" found by the Navy on the center gun projectile, and that the theory that a chemical igniter had been used to cause the explosion was extremely doubtful.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Karl Schuler, a member of Sandia's team, determined that the five powder bags in Turret Two's center gun had been rammed into the gun, farther than the 21 inches that the Navy had estimated in Milligan's report. After spending 50 hours exploring the ramifications on a Cray supercomputer, Schuler concluded that this overram, combined with the of pressure produced by the rammer, likely compressed the powder bags to the point that they had ignited. Mel Baer, a Sandia team member, determined that the explosion likely occurred in the vicinity of the first (most forward) powder bag, corroborating the Navy's conclusion on this point.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Another group of Sandia investigators, directed by Paul Cooper, conducted 450 drop tests using small bags of D-846 powder in late March to early May 1990. The team determined that the "tare" or "trim" layer (a small amount of powder placed at the end of each bag to equalize the bag's weight, inserted in the mid-1980s when the powder was mixed and rebagged under Miceli's direction) would often ignite when compressed at high speed. Cooper found that the burning fragments did not ignite adjacent powder in the same bag, but instead would burn through the bag material and ignite the adjacent bag's black powder patch and thereby ignite the rest of the bags. The week of 7 May, Schwoebel asked Miceli to conduct drop tests at Dahlgren using five actual bags of powder compressed into a steel cylinder of the same diameter as a 16-inch gun. Miceli responded that Cooper's finding "has no relation to actual 16-inch gun conditions" and refused repeated requests from Sandia to conduct the tests.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Concerned that Miceli's refusal to conduct full-scale drop tests was placing Navy gun crews at risk, on 11 May Schwoebel contacted Rick DeBobes, Nunn's counsel for the SASC. On 14 May 1990, a letter from Nunn was sent to Trost requesting that the Navy conduct the tests as requested by Sandia and that Sandia be allowed to observe the tests. That same day, Miceli's supervisor, Vice Admiral Peter Hekman, commander of Sea Systems Command, called Sandia's president, Al Narath, and told him that the Navy would conduct the full-scale drop tests as requested and Sandia was invited to participate.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: The drops tests were conducted at Dahlgren under Miceli's and Tom Doran's direction. The tests consisted of vertically stacking five D-846 powder bags under an weight and dropping them onto a steel plate to simulate a high-speed overram in a 16-inch gun barrel. On 24 May 1990 on the 18th drop test, the first witnessed by Cooper and Schuler, the powder bags exploded, destroying the entire testing apparatus. Miceli immediately told Hekman, who notified the Navy's leadership to halt any further use of 16-inch guns and to reopen the Navy's investigation.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: The next day Schwoebel, Schuler, Cooper, and Borders publicly briefed the SASC in the Hart Senate Office Building on the results of their investigation, stating that, in Sandia's opinion, the explosion had occurred because of an overram of the powder caused by either an accident due to human error or an equipment failure. In his closing remarks the committee chairman, Sam Nunn, rejected Milligan's finding that the explosion had resulted from an intentional act. Nunn added that Milligan's conclusions were not supported "by reliable, probative, and substantial evidence". Nunn later criticized the NIS, saying, "The Navy's whole investigative technique here should be under serious question."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Also testifying before the Senate on 25 May was Frank C. Conahan from the GAO. Conahan reported that the GAO had found that the "Iowa"-class battleships were not assigned an equal share of personnel in comparison with other Navy ships, especially in the main gun department. The GAO observed that the nonjudicial punishment rate on the battleships was 25% higher than for the rest of the Navy. Conahan concluded by suggesting that, because of the issues surrounding the limited deployment availability of the battleships, they "seem to be top candidates for deactivation as we look for ways to scale back US forces."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: After the Senate hearing, the Secretary of the Navy, Henry L. Garrett III, reopened the investigation. Nunn, via DeBobes, directed that no one associated with the first investigation, especially Milligan or Miceli, be involved with the second. In spite of this request, the Navy chose Miceli to lead the new investigation but continuously report on his progress to a technical oversight board. On 30 June 1990 Frank Kelso relieved Trost as CNO and Jerome L. Johnson replaced Edney as vice-chief. Shortly thereafter, DeBobes visited Kelso in the Pentagon and suggested that it was not a good idea to leave Miceli in charge of the reinvestigation. Kelso listened but declined to remove Miceli. Sandia, at the Senate's request, remained involved in the investigation. The Navy stated that it expected the reinvestigation to be completed in six months.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In June and July 1990, Miceli's team conducted overram tests using a full-scale mock-up of a 16-inch gun breech. The tests were conducted at rammer speeds of 2, 4, 8, and . One of the tests at 14 ft/s caused an explosion in the breech. Cooper and Schuler, who were observing the tests, reported to Schwoebel that, in their opinion, Miceli tried to limit the scope of the testing and conduct most of the ram tests at lower speeds. The Sandia team members also noted that Miceli refused to allow his civilian technicians to test alternate overram scenarios and appeared, by various means, to deliberately delay the progress of the investigation.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: During further overram testing by Miceli's team, four more explosions occurred. Tom Doran, a civilian member of Miceli's team, told Schwoebel on 18 July that his tests had shown that overram explosions could occur much more easily and at slower speeds depending on the configuration of loose pellets in the powder bags. Doran reported that Miceli then ordered him not to conduct further testing along that avenue of inquiry.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In August 1990, the Navy lifted the restriction on firing 16-inch guns. The Navy removed the trim layers from the 16-inch powder bags, added a color-coded system on the 16-inch gun ram to indicate the slow-speed ram position, and instructed gun crews to conduct additional training on rammer operations.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In November 1990, Cooper discovered the two missing Turret Two left and right projectiles in a warehouse at Dahlgren. Cooper and other Sandia scientists examined the shells and found the same iron fibers and chemicals on the two shells that had been found on the center gun projectile. Said Schwoebel, "It should have ended the Navy's case against Hartwig right then and there." The Navy disagreed that the materials found on all three shells were the same.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 3 July 1991 Miceli briefed the NAVSEA technical oversight board and stated that his investigation supported the Navy's original theory that the explosion was an intentional act. Although Sandia representatives were present at Miceli's briefing, the board members did not invite Sandia to rebut or comment on Miceli's assertions.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Sandia's final findings were submitted to the Senate in August 1991 and included in the GAO's report on its investigation. Schwoebel's team concluded that the fibers and various chemical constituents found by the Navy on the center gun projectile were unrelated to the explosion. The team found that an overram had occurred, but could not determine the speed at which the rammer had compressed the powder bags against the projectile. Sandia found that the overram had likely caused the explosion and that the probability was 16.6% of selecting a group of five-bag charges from the propellant lot aboard "Iowa" that was sensitive to ignition by overram. The report stated that, in Sandia's opinion, the explosion had occurred immediately with the overram—that there was no delay as theorized by the Navy. Sandia theorized that the overram may have occurred due to inadequate training of some members of the center gun crew; a poorly conceived, briefed, and executed firing plan that contributed to confusion; and—possibly—a malfunction of the rammer. Sandia's report concluded that the probability of powder ignition in the 16-inch guns by an overram was such that measures needed to be taken to ensure that overrams were precluded at any speed. The GAO report concluded that the possibility of an overram-caused explosion was a "previously unrecognized safety problem". Schwoebel's team also briefed Admiral Kelso at the Pentagon on their findings.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 17 October 1991, 17 months after the Navy reopened the investigation, Kelso conducted a press conference at the Pentagon to announce the results of the Navy's reinvestigation. Kelso noted that the Navy had spent a total of $25 million on the investigation. He stated that the Navy had uncovered no evidence to suggest that the gun had been operated improperly, nor had it established a plausible accidental cause for the explosion. Kelso stated, "The initial investigation was an honest attempt to weigh impartially all the evidence as it existed at the time. And indeed, despite the Sandia theory and almost two years of subsequent testing, a substantial body of scientific and expert evidence continue to support the initial investigation finding that no plausible accidental cause can be established." Kelso added that the Navy had also found no evidence that the explosion was caused intentionally. He further announced that he had directed the Navy to never again use an informal board composed of a single officer to investigate such an incident. Kelso concluded by offering "sincere regrets" to the family of Clayton Hartwig and apologies to the families of those who died, "that such a long period has passed, and despite all efforts no certain answer regarding the cause of this terrible tragedy can be found".


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Turret Two was trained forward with its own mechanism after the explosion, and superficial repairs were conducted. All the related repair pieces were stored inside the turret and the turret was sealed shut. The turret was never put back into operation.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: "Iowa" was decommissioned in Norfolk on 26 October 1990 and became part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Around the same time, from August 1990 to February 1991, the "Iowa"-class battleships and were deployed to the Persian Gulf. The two battleships fired 1,182 16-inch shells in support of Gulf War combat operations without mishap.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: As part of the National Defense Reserve Fleet, "Iowa" was berthed at the Naval Education and Training Center in Newport from 24 September 1998 to 8 March 2001, when she began her journey under tow to California. The ship was stored at Suisun Bay near San Francisco from 21 April 2001 to 28 October 2011 as part of the Reserve Fleet there. In May 2012, "Iowa" was towed to San Pedro, California, and is now a floating museum.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Milligan and Miceli retired from the Navy in 1992 as a rear admiral and captain, respectively. Milligan later taught economics at the Naval Postgraduate School, then became vice president of a national insurance company.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Captain Moosally retired at that rank in May 1990. At his change of command ceremony on "Iowa" on 4 May, Moosally criticized the Navy for mismanaging the investigation, saying that the investigators were "people who, in their rush to manage the "Iowa" problem, forgot about doing the right thing for the "Iowa" crew". Later, Moosally began working for Lockheed Martin in the Washington, D.C. area. In 2001, Moosally told "The Washington Post", "Only God knows what really happened in that turret. We're never really going to know for sure."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Skelley was transferred to the battleship "Wisconsin" in late 1990 or early 1991 and helped direct that ship's gunnery participation during the Gulf War. He retired from the Navy in the fall of 1998.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Meyer resigned in 1991. In his resignation letter, he complained about the Navy's investigation into the explosion, and Miceli's and other officers' roles in what Meyer claimed was a cover-up. The letter was passed to Vice Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, then chief of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, who requested, unsuccessfully, that Meyer withdraw it. When Meyer subsequently received his discharge papers, he discovered that statements in his letter criticizing the Navy and certain officers had been removed. Following assignment to the Middle East Force during Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Meyer followed through with his resignation, and matriculated at the Indiana University School of Law at Bloomington. Meyer later served as the director of civilian reprisal investigations for the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Defense. As one of two director-level leaders of the Department of Defense Whistleblower Program, he conducted and oversaw allegations of whistleblower reprisal made by DoD civilian employees and submitted to the Inspector General.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Kendall Truitt was denied reenlistment, reportedly in retaliation for his speaking to the press and defending Hartwig. He was discharged on 9 February 1990. He continued his effort to clear Hartwig's name in statements to the media.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: "The New York Times" in 1993 severely criticized the U.S. Navy for a series of botched investigations, including the Tailhook scandal, the "Iowa" explosion, security breaches at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia, and a problematic investigation into the murder of a homosexual sailor in Yokosuka, Japan. The newspaper stated, "Each fumbled inquiry may have exposed a different U.S. Navy foible. The repeated bungling suggests a systemic problem in the Naval Investigative Service—and a management failure at the highest levels."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Schwoebel, in 1999, published a book titled "Explosion Aboard the Iowa" on his experience directing Sandia's investigation into the explosion. In the book, Schwoebel concluded that, in his opinion, the "Iowa" incident and aftermath illustrated that high-consequence incidents should be investigated by an independent group instead of by a self-assessment, as had occurred with the U.S. Navy investigating itself in this case. He also observed that abuse results when a powerful organization attempts to manipulate the press, as the U.S. Navy had apparently tried to do through leaks of information about the investigation. Furthermore, Schwoebel noted the unfair and indiscriminate recitation by the press of the sensational material leaked by the U.S. Navy. Finally, he observed that the U.S. Navy was lacking a due process in military justice as it related to deceased personnel.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Also in 1999, Charles Thompson published a book, titled "A Glimpse of Hell: The Explosion on the USS Iowa and Its Cover-Up", documenting his investigation into the explosion and its aftermath. The book was extremely critical of many of "Iowa"s crewmembers, as well as many of those involved with the subsequent U.S. Navy investigation, and the NCIS (formerly NIS). Thompson stated that after the book was published, a previously scheduled invitation to speak at the U.S. Navy's National Museum was rescinded, his book was banned from being sold in the museum's book store, and Navy exchange stores at bases throughout the world were forbidden from selling his book.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Alan E. Diehl, a former safety manager for the U.S. Navy, described the USS "Iowa" incident in his 2003 book "Silent Knights: Blowing the Whistle on Military Accidents and Their Cover-Ups". Diehl called the incident and its aftermath the worst military cover-up he had ever seen.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: On 19 April 1991, the Hartwig family sued the Navy for "intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress" under the Federal Tort Claims Act. On 30 June 1992 the Hartwigs added another count of emotional distress to the lawsuit, after the Navy sent a letter to Hartwig's parents inviting the dead sailor to join the U.S. Naval Reserve. The Hartwigs sued for emotional distress in order to avoid the limitations imposed by the "Feres" Doctrine. The DoD asked for a dismissal of the Hartwigs' suit on grounds of sovereign immunity, but in May 1993, US District Judge Paul R. Matia ruled in Cleveland that the Hartwigs' suit could proceed. After discovery, the government again moved for dismissal. On 26 January 1999 Magistrate Judge David Perelman issued a recommendation to grant dismissal because several years of discovery had revealed that defamation was essential to the Hartwigs' claims, and that pure defamation claims were barred by sovereign immunity. The Hartwig family filed objections, but on 10 November 1999 District Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr. adopted the recommendation to dismiss, ruling that "however hurtful the government's action may have been, they cannot form the basis of a claim against the United States."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: The Hartwigs sued NBC News for $10 million for emotional distress, claiming that the reports by Fred Francis had falsely portrayed Hartwig as a suicidal mass murderer. NBC responded by claiming that it could not be held liable, because its information had come directly, via leaks, from the NIS. A federal judge dismissed the suit.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Thirty-eight of the other "Iowa" victims' family members filed suit against the Navy, seeking $2.35 billion in damages for the death of their family members in the explosion. Citing the "Feres" case, US District Judge Claude M. Hilton in Alexandria, Virginia, summarily dismissed the suit.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In March 2001 Captains Moosally, Miceli, Morse, and CDR Finney filed suit against "Glimpse of Hell" author Thompson, his publisher, W.W. Norton, and Dan Meyer, who the plaintiffs stated provided much of the information used in the book, for libel, false light privacy, and conspiracy. In April 2001 Mortensen filed a separate suit for the same causes of action.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: In April 2004, the South Carolina Supreme Court dismissed the suits against Thompson and Meyer, but allowed the suit against W. W. Norton to proceed. In February 2007 the suit was settled out-of-court for undisclosed terms. Stephen F. DeAntonio, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that they felt "totally vindicated". W. W. Norton did not publicly retract or repudiate any of the material in Thompson's book, however, instead sending a letter to the former officers stating, in part, "To the extent you believe the book implies that any of you were engaged in a cover-up, were incompetent, committed criminal acts, violated Naval regulations or exhibited faulty seamanship or professional ineptitude, Norton regrets the emotional distress experienced by you or your family."


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: A memorial to the 47 sailors killed in the explosion was erected at "Iowa Point" on Norfolk Naval Station. The project was overseen by regional Naval Commander RADM Paul Moses and his public affairs staff. Each year after the accident on 19 April a memorial service is held at Iowa Point in memory of those killed in the explosion.


title: USS Iowa turret explosion

text: Since her decommissioning, the Battleship "Iowa" Museum (San Pedro, Calif.) hosts an annual memorial ceremony for the deceased crewmen of Turret 2. On 19 April 2019 a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the incident occurred in San Pedro, officiated by the Veteran's Association of the USS Iowa. A similar event was held the same day at Iowa Point in Norfolk, Va.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej (; 8 November 1901 – 19 March 1965) was a Romanian communist politician and electrician. He was the first Communist leader of Romania from 1947 to 1965, serving as first secretary of the Romanian Communist Party (ultimately "Romanian Workers' Party", PMR) from 1944 to 1954 and from 1955 to 1965, and as the first Communist Prime Minister of Romania from 1952 to 1955.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Born in Bârlad (1901), Gheorghiu-Dej was involved in the communist movement's activities from the early 1930s. Upon the outbreak of World War II in Europe, he was imprisoned by Ion Antonescu's regime in the Târgu Jiu detention camp, and escaped only in August 1944. After the forces of King Michael ousted Antonescu and had him arrested for war crimes, Gheorghiu-Dej together with prime-minister Petru Groza pressured the King into abdicating in December 1947, marking the onset of out-and-out Communist rule in Romania.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Under his rule, Romania was considered one of the Soviet Union's most loyal satellite states, though Gheorghiu-Dej was partially unnerved by the rapid de-Stalinization policy initiated by Nikita Khrushchev at the end of the 1950s. Gheorghiu-Dej stepped up measures that greatly increased trade relations between Romania and the Western countries. However, at the same time his government was accused of human rights violations within the country.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: He died of lung cancer in March 1965. His once protégé Nicolae Ceaușescu succeeded him as General Secretary.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was the son of a poor worker from Bârlad, Tănase Gheorghiu, and his wife Ana. He also had a younger sister named Tinca.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Poverty made him leave school early on and start working at the age of 11. Due to his age and the lack of professional training, he often changed jobs, eventually settling to be an electrician. Working at a factory in Comănești, he joined the workers' union and participated in the 1920 Romanian general strike, during which all the participants were dismissed.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: A year later, he was hired as an electrician at the Galați tramway company, where he was also fired after organizing protests against the 9-hour workday and for higher wages. He was later hired by the Romanian Railways (CFR) workshops in Galați.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: As the workers' standard of living was already low, the Great Depression in Romania began eroding it much more so. In 1930, Gheorghiu became more politically active, joining the Communist Party of Romania. He was assigned to organize agitation in the Romanian Railways workshops in Moldavia.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: On 15 August 1931 Gheorghiu was accused of "communist agitation" and punitively transferred to Dej, a town in Transylvania, where he continued the union activity. The union presented a petition in February 1932 to the CFR Railways, demanding better working conditions and higher wages. As a response, the CFR Railways closed down the Dej plant and fired all the workers, including Gheorghiu, who was deprived of the opportunity to be hired by any other CFR Railways workshop in the country.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: During this time, Gheorghiu got the moniker Gheorghiu-Dej from the Siguranța (secret police), in order for his name to be differentiated from other union activists called Gheorghiu. After his dismissal from the CFR Railways workshop, Gheorghiu became even more active in organizing the unions and coordinating the workers of Iași, Pașcani, and Galați.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: On the night of 14–15 July 1932 he was arrested for placing "subversive posters on the walls and poles of Giulești Road", being held in the Văcărești prison. Defended by lawyer Iosif Schraier, he was freed because the posters were meant to be related to the elections, during the electoral campaign for the 1932 Romanian general election.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was briefly arrested again on 3 October 1932, at the end of a workers' meeting in Iași, after he urged the workers to "unite for the fight against the capitalist class", on alleged charges of having hit a police commissioner. He was freed as the charges were found to be false.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: In January 1933, the Romanian Government announced some even more stringent austerity measures that included new wages cuts, which led to the radicalization of the workers. Gheorghiu-Dej, together with union president Constantin Doncea, led the Bucharest workers to the big strike that became known as the CFR Railways Grivița Strike of 1933.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: As the negotiations failed, the government feared a general strike, so it declared a state of siege in Bucharest and other cities. Gheorghiu-Dej was arrested during the night of 14–15 February 1933.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was sentenced to prison in the same year by a military court, serving time in Doftana and in other facilities. In 1936 he was elected to the party's Central Committee and became leader of the "prison faction" of the communist party (party members who were incarcerated in Romania, a term distinguishing them from party members living in exile, mainly in the Soviet Union: the "Muscovite faction").


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: As a known activist, he was detained at Târgu Jiu camp during all of Ion Antonescu's regime and most of World War II period, and escaped only on 10 August 1944, a few days before the fall of the regime. He became general secretary in 1944 after the Soviet occupation, but did not consolidate his power until 1952, after he purged Ana Pauker and her "Muscovite faction" comrades from power. Ana Pauker had been the unofficial leader of the Party since the end of the war.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: While in prison, Gheorghiu-Dej met Nicolae Ceaușescu. They were imprisoned after a rally organized by the communist party, of which both Ceaușescu and Gheorghiu-Dej were members. Gheorghiu-Dej taught Ceaușescu in prison Marxist-Leninist theories and principles, and kept him close as Gheorghiu-Dej steadily gained power after their release from prison in 1944. During 1946–1947, he was a member of Romania's Gheorghe Tătărescu-led delegation to the Paris Peace Conference.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: On 30 December 1947, Gheorghiu-Dej and Prime Minister Petru Groza forced King Michael I to abdicate. Years later, Albanian Communist leader Enver Hoxha alleged that Gheorghiu-Dej personally pulled a gun on the King and threatened to kill him unless he gave up the throne. Hours later, Parliament, fully dominated by Communists and their allies after the elections held a year earlier, abolished the monarchy and declared Romania a People's Republic. From this moment onward, Gheorghiu-Dej was "de facto" the most powerful man in Romania.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Soviet influence in Romania under Joseph Stalin favored Gheorghiu-Dej, largely seen as a local leader with strong Marxist-Leninist principles. The economic influence of Moscow was protected by the creation of the ""Sov-Rom" companies", which directed Romania's commercial exchanges to unprofitable markets (mainly the Soviet Union).


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Up until Stalin's death and even afterwards, Gheorghiu-Dej did not amend repressive policies, such as the works employing penal labor on the Danube-Black Sea Canal. On orders from Gheorghiu-Dej, Romania implemented also the massive forced collectivization of land in the rural areas. At the same time, he was the main instigator of the assassination of Ștefan Foriș in 1946, and the arrest of Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu in 1948, both of whom had been his rivals inside the Party's leadership. Gheorghiu-Dej was also responsible for purging other party colleagues like Ana Pauker and her allies in the Secretariat: Vasile Luca and Teohari Georgescu, who was scapegoated and blamed for many political and economical failures during his rule.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: The first five years of the Romanian People's Republic saw a period of collective leadership, with fellow traveler Groza serving as prime minister. However, in 1952, Groza stepped down from the premiership and became chairman of the presidium of the Great National Assembly (de facto president). Gheorghiu-Dej succeeded him, becoming the first Communist to hold the post. He thus combined the two most powerful posts in Romania in his own hands, with full Soviet approval.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej briefly gave up the first secretaryship of the Communist Party in 1954 to Gheorghe Apostol, retaining the premiership. However, he was still the actual leader of Romania, and he regained the party leadership in 1955, at the same time handing the premiership to Chivu Stoica. In 1961, he became president of the newly created State Council, making him "de jure" head of state. However, he had already been "de facto" head of state since 1947 by virtue of his leadership of the Communist Party.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was at first unsettled by Nikita Khrushchev's reforms in the new process of De-Stalinization. He then became the architect of Romania's semi-autonomous foreign and economic policy within the Warsaw Pact and the Comecon, in the late 1950s, notably by initiating the creation of a heavy industry in Romania which went against Soviet directions for the Eastern Bloc as a whole (e.g., the new large-scale steel plant in Galați, which relied on iron resources imported from India and Australia). Ironically, Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej was once considered one of the most loyal among the Soviet satellites, and thus there is a tendency to forget "who first established the pattern of foreign policy openness and 'liberalness' coupled with domestic repression." The ideological steps undertaken were made clear by the ousting of the "Sov-Rom" companies, together with the toning down of Soviet-Romanian common cultural ventures. In 1958 the Red Army withdrew its last troops from Romania (a personal achievement of Gheorghiu-Dej). The official "History of Romania" made then reference to a Romanian Bessarabia, as well as other topics which tensed relations between the two communist countries. Moreover, the final years of Dej's regime saw the publishing of Karl Marx texts, which had previously been kept secret, dealing with Russia's imperial policy in previously Romanian regions that were still part of the Soviet Union.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Yet, the Securitate was still Dej's instrument of choice, and Romania joined the other Warsaw Pact countries' wave of repression after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – incidentally, Hungarian leader Imre Nagy was shortly detained on Romanian soil.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: In his late years, Gheorghiu-Dej established diplomatic relations with the First World, including the United States. Such steps were highly encouraged by the president Lyndon B. Johnson, who had come to see Romania as an almost friendly Communist country in the Cold War context (1963). Also, 1964 was the year many political prisoners were released.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: In the early years of Gheorghiu-Dej's rule Romania's relations with the West were tense, marked by accusations of United States espionage and Romanian human rights violations. There were also low levels of trade between Romania and the West, as Romania tied itself to the Soviet Union and the other satellite nations; in 1950, Romania's economic plan involved 89% of trade to be solely with the Soviet Bloc.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Later, however, Romania's willingness to trade with the West became more apparent. For example, 1952 saw the first publication of the journal "Romanian Foreign Trade", which offered opportunities to Western traders to buy Romanian goods, such as petroleum and grain. Western publications also recognized the potential for Romania to sell its products on the world market. An article from "The Times" of 29 August 1953 wrote: "[Romania] could, for instance, it is thought, obtain higher prices on the world market for much of what she is forced to export to Russia, foodstuffs included, in return for machinery and aid." As Gheorghiu-Dej realized, if Romania were able to trade with the West the standard of living would likely rise.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: From 1953, the West gradually relaxed their export controls, which had limited the products that the U.S., Great Britain, and France could export to Eastern Europe. Gheorghiu-Dej, eager to establish interaction between Romania and the West, relaxed travel restraints on Western diplomats in Bucharest and allowed Western journalists more access to Romania. In early 1954, Romania also appealed to Great Britain about having talks to resolve Romania's outstanding claims, to which Great Britain agreed in December of that year.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Romania's foreign policy towards the West was closely tied to its policy toward the Soviet Union; Romania could only develop trading with the West if it asserted its independence from the intensely anti-West Soviet Union. Gheorghiu-Dej realized this, and thus emphasized Romania's sovereignty. In the Second Party Congress, which opened on 23 December 1955, Gheorghiu-Dej gave a five-hour speech in which he stressed the idea of national communism and Romania's right to follow its own interests, rather than be forced to follow another's (referring to the Soviet Union). Gheorghiu-Dej also discussed opening up trade with the West. In an attempt to increase the dialogue between Romania and the West, in 1956 Gheorghiu-Dej instructed the new ambassador to the U.S. to meet with both Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and then with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. As a result of these meetings, the U.S. Department of State expressed interest in increasing the interaction between the two nations, including possibly establishing a library in Bucharest.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Romania's interaction with the West temporarily decreased, however, with the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the violent response of the Soviet Union to the uprising. Still, Gheorghiu-Dej continued to strengthen the independence from the Soviet Union. For example, Romanian schools dropped the Russian language requirement. And, obviously, Romania endorsed the Moscow Declaration of 1957 which stated that "Socialist countries base their relations on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial integrity, state independence and sovereignty, and non-interference in one another's affairs… The socialist states also advocate the general expansion of economic and cultural relations with all other countries…" These statements coincided with Gheorghiu-Dej's claims to national sovereignty and independence.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: In fact, by 1957 Romania had substantially increased its Western trade; in that year trade with the West had increased to 25% of Romania's total trade. By the early 1960s, Romania under Gheorghiu-Dej was more industrialized and productive. After World War II 80% of the population had worked in agriculture, but by 1963, 65% did. And, despite the decrease in hands working the land, agricultural productivity had actually increased. Additionally, Gheorghiu-Dej had successfully begun a strong shift in trade towards the West, further separating it from the Soviet Union; Romania imported much of its industrial equipment from West Germany, Great Britain, and France. This trade pattern followed Gheorghiu-Dej's economic plan, which he made clear to Great Britain and France in 1960, when he sent his head of foreign intelligence to Paris and London in order to clarify Romania's desire to interact with the West and disregard Comecon orders.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: By 1964 Gheorghiu-Dej had made a trading agreement with the U.S. that allowed Romania to buy industrial products from them. The agreement came as a result of U.S. businesses' complaints that they were losing money to Western Europe. During his presidency, President John F. Kennedy, concerned with these businesses' losses, used his powers to increase trade between the U.S. and Eastern Europe, a policy which President Lyndon Johnson also followed.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Thus, Gheorghiu-Dej greatly increased trade with the West, making Romania the first Soviet Bloc country to trade with the West, completely independently. Through his policy of national sovereignty, Gheorghiu-Dej increased the popularity of Romania in the West. National U.S. publications moved away from reports in the early 1950s of human rights abuses and oppression, towards articles from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s of Romanian de-satellization. In the early 1960s, "The Times" also reported often on Gheorghiu-Dej's and Romania's increased economic ties with the West. Gheorghiu-Dej's successful efforts to expand Romania's foreign relations, especially those with the West, were evident at his March 1965 funeral, attended by 33 foreign delegations, including a special French envoy sent by General Charles de Gaulle. Gheorghiu-Dej's policies set the stage for his successor, Nicolae Ceaușescu, to carry Romania's new course even further.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej died of lung cancer in Bucharest on 19 March 1965. Gheorghe Apostol has claimed that Gheorghiu-Dej himself designated him party leader in waiting; in any case many perceived him as such in 1965. But Prime Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer, who had developed hostility towards him, made sure that Apostol was prevented from taking power, rallying the Party leadership instead around longtime Gheorghiu-Dej protégé Nicolae Ceaușescu. Securitate general Ion Mihai Pacepa, who defected to the United States in 1978, wrote that Ceaușescu had allegedly told him about "ten international leaders the Kremlin killed or tried to kill"; Gheorghiu-Dej was among them.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was buried in a mausoleum in Liberty Park (now Carol Park) in Bucharest. In 1991, after the Romanian Revolution, his body was exhumed and reburied at Bellu Cemetery. The Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, renamed to Polytechnic Institute "Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej" Bucharest in his honor, is now known as the Politehnica University of Bucharest. In the early 1950s, one of the Sectors of Bucharest (roughly, the present-day Sector 6) was named after him. The city of Onești was once named "Gheorghe-Gheorghiu Dej". Also, the Russian city of Liski was, from 1965 to 1990, named "Georgiu-Dezh" in his honor.


title: Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej

text: Gheorghiu-Dej was married to Maria Alexe and they had two daughters, (1928–1987) and Constantina (1931–2000).


title: Welcome to Eden

text: Welcome to Eden () is a Spanish thriller television series created by Joaquín Górriz and Guillermo López Sánchez for Netflix. It premiered on 6 May 2022. On 25 May 2022, Netflix reported that the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Welcome to Eden

text: "Welcome to Eden" was created by Joaquín Górriz and Guillermo López. The series was produced by Brutal Media. Shooting locations in Spain included the province of Teruel, the island Lanzarote and San Sebastián. The episodes were directed by and Menna Fité.


title: Welcome to Eden

text: On 25 May 2022, Netflix reported that the series was renewed for a second season, with Carlos Torres and Nona Sobo as cast additions, and Denis Rovira and Juanma Pachón in charge of the direction of the new episodes, already shooting.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Zero Time Dilemma, also known as Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma, is an adventure video game developed by Chime, and published by Spike Chunsoft and Aksys Games. It is the third entry in the "Zero Escape" series, following "Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" (2009) and "" (2012). The game was released for Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita, and Microsoft Windows in 2016, for PlayStation 4 in 2017, and for Xbox One in 2022. As of December 2021, it is no longer available for purchase on the North American and European Nintendo eShop.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The story is set between the previous two games, and follows nine people who are kidnapped by a masked person known as Zero. They are divided into three teams, and forced to play a death game called the "Decision Game". The player takes the roles of three of the characters, and plays through the chapters the story is made up of: these consist of animated cinematics, escape-the-room puzzles, and moral decisions for the player to make. The chapters represent 90-minute periods, and can be played out of order.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The game was directed and written by series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, and features music by Shinji Hosoe and character designs by Rui Tomono. Uchikoshi had started planning the game's story in 2012, but the development was put on hiatus due to the commercial failure of the series in Japan. In 2015, development was announced to have resumed in response to high demand from the series' fan base. The game was positively received by critics.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: "Zero Time Dilemma" is an adventure game consisting of multiple chapters, representing 90-minute periods; chapters consist of narrative sections and escape-the-room puzzle sections. The chapters, referred to as "fragments", are chosen through the Floating Fragment system, in which the player gets to choose a fragment to play based on an image and a vague description. The fragments can be played out of order; the characters lose their memory after each 90-minute period, and do not know where they are in the timeline. When the player completes a fragment, they are returned to the Floating Fragment screen, and the completed fragment is placed in a narrative flowchart, indicating where it takes place in the story.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Narrative sections are presented as three-dimensional animated cinematics, with camera movements and full voice acting in Japanese and English. The Escape sections, which include thirteen different rooms, involve the player searching the room for tools and clues through a point-and-click interface in a first-person perspective and solving puzzles. The puzzles are mostly self-contained, and test the player's problem-solving skills and memory; among these are puzzles where the player has to decipher messages, and ones where they have to align the sides of a three-dimensional object correctly.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: After completing an Escape section, the player needs to take a stance in a moral decision; one such decision involves one character being locked into a chair with a gun next to it and another character inside an incinerator. To stop the incinerator, the player needs to choose to pull the trigger, which has a 50% possibility of firing a live bullet, killing the character in the chair. The way the decisions are made varies: some involve choosing between options, and some have the player input their own answer.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: "Zero Time Dilemma" is set between the events of "Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" and "". The game follows nine characters who have been locked up in an underground nuclear bomb shelter and are forced to play a death game called the Decision Game, which is led by a masked person known as Zero. The shelter is divided into three wards, with three people placed in each section, making up three teams: C-Team, Q-Team, and D-Team. To get to the central elevator hall and escape, the characters need six passwords; one password is revealed each time one of them dies. The characters are all wearing watches that inject them with a drug every 90 minutes, inducing memory loss. Heavily involved in the game's lore is the many-worlds theory, where every decision made creates alternate universes where the opposite was chosen; these timelines make up the game's multiple routes.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: C-Team includes Carlos, a firefighter with a strong sense of justice; Akane, a member of a secret society working for a peaceful future, and who pretends to be a "neat and clean, ideal Japanese woman"; and Junpei, a childhood friend of Akane's, who has joined a detective agency to find her after she has not been heard from. Q-Team includes a naive amnesiac boy wearing a spherical helmet; Eric, an ice cream shop clerk who easily cracks under pressure; and Mira, who does not show much emotion and is in a relationship with Eric. D-Team includes Diana, a pacifist nurse who dislikes fighting; Phi, an intelligent woman who participated in the Dcom (Dwelling for Experimental Cohabitation of Mars) experiment together with Akane and Sigma to save the world from the Radical-6 virus; and Sigma, a 67-year-old man in the body of a 22-year-old. Additionally, there is a dog named Gab who is able to pass through vents between the sections to deliver messages between the teams.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The nine participants of the Dcom experiment are kidnapped by a masked individual known as Zero, who makes them play a coin toss; if they win, they are set free with no memory of what happened, and if they lose they awake in a facility separated into three wards, with one team in each. After losing, they are forced to play the "Decision Game", and submit a vote for one of the teams; the one with the most votes gets executed. At this point, the story starts branching into different timelines depending on player choices.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In one timeline, Phi is killed, and Diana and Sigma are trapped in the facility. They discover a transporter device, which they use to send copies of themselves to another timeline; their original selves remain, however, and the transporter takes ten months to recharge. They begin a relationship, and Diana later gives birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl whom they name Delta and Phi. Using the recharged transporter, they send the babies to the past, to keep them safe from Zero. In another timeline, Akane realizes that Carlos can send his consciousness between timelines in times of danger, which she calls "Spacetime Human Internal Fluctuating Transfer", or "shifting". Through the resonance from Carlos's ability, C-Team shifts between timelines to collect passwords, but Zero sends the boy in the helmet – revealed to be a humanoid robot named Sean – to attack them for violating the rules.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Carlos flees by shifting to the timeline that the copies of Diana and Sigma had been transported to. Diana and Sigma reach a room with sleeping pods, where they find and wake up Eric and Sean, and find the dead bodies of the remaining participants. Armed with a shotgun, Eric demands to know who killed Mira; Carlos says that he must be innocent as he was in the C Ward, but Diana realizes that the wards are not separate: there is only one lounge, which changes its appearance using projection mapping. They realize that only one team is active at a time, while the rest are kept asleep in the pods. Sean reveals Zero's true identity: he is Delta, an elderly man thought to be wheelchair-bound, deaf, blind and mute, who had been with Q-Team the entire time, but off-camera from the player's perspective. He admits that he killed Mira, who is revealed to be a serial killer called the Heart Ripper, and prevents the participants from escaping by using his esper abilities to make Eric shoot everyone but Diana.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In the timeline leading to the events of "Virtue's Last Reward", Phi is infected with Radical-6, which has a 75% possibility of causing suicidal intention. Junpei and Akane learn that Zero caused a Radical-6 outbreak in the hopes that it would kill a religious fanatic who would cause the complete extinction of humanity; Radical-6 was seen as the lesser evil, as it would allow two billion people to survive. In the timeline where no teams were executed, the participants who are able to shift recall their memories from previous timelines. Delta says that he ran the Decision Game to ensure his and Phi's birth, and to cause epigenetic changes in Diana and Sigma, giving Phi the ability to shift and Delta the ability to read minds and briefly control others' bodies.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The participants activate the "force quit box" in the lounge, starting the facility's self-destruct sequence. Akane realizes that the impending danger and the resonance of the gathered shifters would allow the participants to shift to the timeline where they won the coin toss and were freed. After shifting, they threaten to call the police on Delta, but he points out that he has not committed any crimes in the current timeline. He says that there will be no Radical-6 outbreak in this timeline, meaning that mankind will go extinct, but that the participants now are determined to change the future; he says that one of his goals was to get them into this frame of mind. He gives Carlos a handgun with the choice of killing Delta or letting him live, saying that the fate of humanity is on the line. The game ends with Carlos aiming the gun.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In the epilogues, Carlos' sister recovers from an illness and also gains the ability to jump between timelines. Carlos has become a brother figure to Akane and Junpei, who are to be married, and the three of them vow to stop the religious extremist. Mira has turned herself in for her killings and married Eric, but Sean breaks her out of prison so that they can use the transporter to stop Mira from committing her murders in the past. The Phi of 1904 is speculated to have become a researcher who studied the transporter well into her 100s.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: "Zero Time Dilemma" was developed by Chime, and directed and written by Kotaro Uchikoshi, with music composed by Shinji Hosoe. Uchikoshi first mentioned details of a third "Zero Escape" game in 2012, stating that it would be the last entry in the series; by 2013, he said that he had finished planning the story, but that development had not yet begun. In February 2014, the project was put on hold indefinitely in response to the series' poor commercial reception in Japan.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Uchikoshi examined the possibility of financing the development through the use of crowdfunding on a website like Kickstarter, but felt that the idea would not be persuasive enough for it to meet the goal; he also sought out opportunities with executives and investors. The series' fandom created Operation Bluebird, an online campaign to raise awareness of the series and support the game's development, in response to its hiatus. When delivering the pitch for the game, Uchikoshi opened with a fan-made vocal rendition of the series theme song, "Morphogenetic Sorrow"; he considered this a major point in getting the project approved. At the 2015 Anime Expo in July, Aksys Games announced that development of the third game had been resumed, citing the high demand and awareness for the game as key factors for its reevaluation. By March 2016, development was 80% finished. The porting of the game to Microsoft Windows was handled by Chime, with consultation from Abstraction Games, who had previously worked on Microsoft Windows ports for the "Danganronpa" series.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: For the music, Uchikoshi wrote down directions about the mood and concept of the game, describing it as "sad and lonely, like a worn-out record", and "dark and visceral". Hosoe described the music as generally less melodic: because they could not make the music hit on cue like in film, they decided during the planning stage to include silence in the soundtrack, so Hosoe created atmospheric tracks to be used as background noise. Because the "Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" characters Junpei and Akane and the "Virtue's Last Reward" characters Sigma and Phi appear in the game, Uchikoshi decided to have arrangements of songs from those two games included in the soundtrack. He also had the songs "Digital Root" and "Trepidation", which had been used in both previous games, be included, as he saw them as a sort of theme songs that tie the games together as a series, similarly to "The Imperial March" from the "Star Wars" films. Hosoe received a list of what songs were to be rearranged and how they were to be used within the game, and was asked to compose a total of 45 songs; he did however end up composing nearly 70 songs, ensuring that they had something that fit every situation in the game. For the ending theme, Hosoe incorporated several callbacks to songs from the previous games as "a sendoff for the series", leading into "Morphogenetic Sorrow".


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Two puzzle creators were enlisted with designing the escape-the-room scenarios; Uchikoshi described one of them as creating "orthodox" puzzles, and the other, "Strider" creator Kouichi Yotsui, as creating "unique and out-of-the-box" types of puzzles. He gave them a rough idea of what he wanted each puzzle to convey and how he wanted them to resolve. The puzzle designers would come up with a draft, which he would finalize together with them.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The game was originally planned to be developed simultaneously with the previous "Zero Escape" game, "Virtue's Last Reward", with the two games being "paired as a set", and with "Virtue's Last Reward" having a cliffhanger ending. With "Zero Time Dilemma", Uchikoshi intended to resolve all mysteries left from the previous game, as well as all introduced in the third, while also attempting to make the story enjoyable for first-time players. This was used as a "basic framework" to write the story within. In addition to figuring out how to explain the mysteries while avoiding contradictions with "Virtue's Last Reward", they added side stories to the narrative to give it "a little extra punch". They also took the time-travel ability some characters in "Virtue's Last Reward" have into consideration, as it opened up for more narrative possibilities. Uchikoshi worked with two other writers; the three helped each other come up with ideas and figure out the best ways to make the story work. When coming up with the story, he knew from the start that he wanted Sigma, Phi and Diana to be on one team, and Akane on another; this left open slots in the teams, which were filled with other characters as story development progressed. The script took one year to write. While Uchikoshi had already had an idea for the setting and events of "Zero Time Dilemma" when writing "Virtue's Last Reward", the game structure changed when the time came to implement it. One reason was that characters "take on a life of their own and make their own decisions" when he writes from their point of view, and that characters might pull the story in a different direction than he had originally planned; most of the time, he would let the story go where the characters want to go rather than forcing it to follow his original plans, leading to changes in story and structure. The budget partly dictated the game's setting in an enclosed space as it required few art assets to develop.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The game's main theme is morality, and it is the game in the series with the largest focus on philosophy; Uchikoshi intends to have the player's "way of thinking, values, [and] virtues" shaken intensely while they play the game. The "dilemma" in the game's title reflects this, as the game asks the player whether choices they make are the right thing to do. Another main theme is identity, and how people try to figure out who they are. This came from Uchikoshi's personal struggles with identity issues: he said that he is "always thinking about who [he is]" and that he thinks he might have a multifaceted personality; his characters, like him, deal with this issue. Among other major themes are "multiple-probability histories", with the player being able to move between different equally probable histories depending on the choices they have made; and the big effects small coincidences can have, which was reflected in the use of randomizing events. The idea to include randomization came from how Uchikoshi wanted to "spoiler-proof" the game, and felt that FAQ websites that tell players how to beat the game make playthroughs uninteresting. He had always been fascinated by the concept of coincidences, and how actions done in the past lead up "where we are today", so he did a lot of research and reading on the topic to prepare writing the story. The theme of no absolute good or evil came from Buddhist literature Uchikoshi had read, particularly the Zen Buddhist idea of "shiki soku zeku", which he described as "matter is void and form is emptiness". Because of this idea, Uchikoshi tried to give each character "their own sense of personal justice that they believe to be true", resulting in characters with different philosophies who play off each other.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: While previous "Zero Escape" titles tell their narratives through visual novel segments, "Zero Time Dilemma" replaces them with cinema scenes, intended to feel familiar for Western players and "emulate the feel of a big-budget American TV show". To further this effect, the option to turn off the subtitles was included. Due to this more cinematic approach, Uchikoshi was able to make use of his experience with writing the anime series "Punch Line" (2015). The inspirations for the change in format were Telltale Games' adventure game series "The Walking Dead" (2012–2019) and Level-5's adventure game "Time Travelers" (2012). Uchikoshi said that this would make for a lower barrier of entry for people not necessarily interested in visual novels, and that mass appeal is important to Spike Chunsoft, as just a Japanese audience is not enough for the production of adventure games. The non-linear and episodic nature of the game's chapters was done to appeal to more casual players and people new to the series, as they can uncover the story at their own pace without being "railroaded into doing one storyline from start to finish". The use of fragments added some challenge to writing the story: Uchikoshi had to be careful when planning the progression of the story, as changes to one fragment would also affect the fragments surrounding it. When breaking the story up into fragments, he considered what would be the most entertaining for players.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In response to feedback from players, "Zero Time Dilemma" was intended to be more suspenseful than "Virtue's Last Reward": Uchikoshi and the game's producer decided that, as "Zero Time Dilemma" is the final "Zero Escape" game, they should no longer hold back and instead do what they had always wanted to do. Because of the life-and-death theme, they felt that there would be less of an impact if they had held back, and that they instead should make the violence in the game "extreme" to make the player's choices hit home. According to Uchikoshi, the development team wanted the player to feel worried, and that the game would be done as he wants it without any changes done for the sake of age ratings: they had originally considered aiming for a CERO D age rating – 17 years or older – but decided to aim for a Z age rating instead, which is the highest age rating in Japan, as they felt they could not get the visual and emotional impact they wanted within a D rating. Despite this, CERO ended up assigning the game a D rating.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The game's characters were designed by Rui Tomono; Uchikoshi had considered asking Kinu Nishimura, the character designer for the previous two games in the series, to return, but wanted to show that the series had changed significantly. He also felt that, as the production had moved from backgrounds and drawn characters to 3D cinematics, "more impressive design" was needed, and that Tomono's designs were likely to be accepted internationally while still feeling Japanese. Some character designs had to be changed due to technical difficulties with the 3D models: the baggy sleeves of Akane's dress were made tighter; Junpei's jacket was removed; and asymmetrical aspects of Eric's design were removed.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Zero's character design was changed to suit the story's focus on a virus; the character wears a plague doctor mask as opposed to the gas mask worn in the previous games. Carlos was designed to clearly communicate his occupation as a firefighter: he was given scars on his arms, a tight t-shirt and shirt to help show off his muscular build and silhouette, and an axe embroidery on his shirt pocket. Because Akane is Japanese, her design incorporated Japanese elements such as the use of straight lines on her top and a belt to emulate the look of a kimono and a kimono sash. The black color of the belt was meant to represent her hidden dark side, while the belt chains represented things that constrict her. The top halves of her sleeves were initially going to be pastel purple to make sure that the design was not too dark and that it contrasted against Junpei's more monochromatic design; this was changed for the final model, however, with Tomono noting that the use of purple might be better for a mentally unstable character. Similarly, Akane was given blue accents to contrast against Junpei's reds. Junpei was redesigned to fit his jaded personality in "Zero Time Dilemma" as his previous design in "Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors" felt "childish" and clashing. His design process was difficult, with the development team going through many design proposals.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Sean was originally meant to wear a cubic helmet, but Tomono presented a spherical design instead, which Uchikoshi described as "everything I didn't know I wanted". Mira was designed to continue the series tradition of having a "sexy femme fatale" character in each game: she was given an open track jacket and a bikini-like top to show off her cleavage, and a jiggle effect was added to her 3D model. Eric's design and 3D modelling went smoothly, with Chime saying that some faces are easier to model than others. Tomono wanted him to specifically have a Caucasian chin and brow, but noted that they had to be careful to not go too far with it, to avoid a too realistic look. Diana's design was difficult to recreate in 3D, with the initial model having "really chubby chipmunk cheeks", but was worked on until it matched the design. She was also difficult to animate, due to her long skirt. Phi was originally shorter and had bigger eyes, but after she was given glasses, it was decided that she should look more like a model to match the stylish look of her short hair and glasses. Parts of Sigma's design from "Virtue's Last Reward" were incorporated into his new one, in the form of embroidery on his polo shirt.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In March 2015, Aksys Games launched the website 4infinity.co, which consisted of a countdown timer; the countdown ended in July, coinciding with the game's announcement at Anime Expo. The game's title and logo were revealed in October, and in December, a teaser Twitter account was launched, revealing artwork of characters from the game. The game was unveiled during a presentation in March 2016. The Japanese release uses the English series title, "Zero Escape", instead of the title used for previous Japanese releases, as the developers wanted to renew the series' image and bring over the Western title to Japan.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Unlike previous "Zero Escape" games, the game was localized alongside the production of the Japanese version: it was published by Aksys Games for the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita in North America and Europe on June 28, 2016, with a Japanese release following on June 30. A Microsoft Windows version was released worldwide by Spike Chunsoft on June 30. The game was released digitally and physically on the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation Vita in North America, and digitally only in Europe. The PlayStation Vita version is compatible with the PlayStation TV. The Nintendo 3DS version does not support the system's stereoscopic 3D effect. A PlayStation 4 version with improved lighting and shading was released in Japan on August 17, 2017 and in North America the following day. It was released in Europe on September 8, with Rising Star Games assisting Aksys Games by distributing the retail copies. An Xbox One version was released on August 30, 2022.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: In North America, a limited edition that includes a wristwatch was released. Because the watches were damaged in transit, they were delayed and sent separately from the game. Japanese pre-ordered copies came bundled with the 48-page "Zero Escape: Premium Booklet", which includes production material, illustrations by Tomono, summaries of the previous two "Zero Escape" games, and a prequel written by Uchikoshi; a digital edition of the booklet was bundled with the Microsoft Windows release, together with a portion of the game's soundtrack. Aksys plans to release the booklet separately from the game, and is also considering releasing other merchandise based on the game. According to Hosoe, his company, Supersweep, which published the soundtrack albums for the previous games, is considering publishing an album for "Zero Time Dilemma" too.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: "Zero Time Dilemma" was well received by critics on all platforms, and was the second-best reviewed PlayStation Vita game of 2016 on Metacritic, after "Steins;Gate 0". During its opening week in Japan, it sold 5,375 copies on the PlayStation Vita and 3,916 copies on the Nintendo 3DS, for a total of 9,291 copies sold. It was the third best selling digital PlayStation Vita game of June 2016 in Europe, despite being released three days before the end of the month. The Steam release had an estimated total of 38,000 players by July 2018.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: "Famitsu" four reviewers enjoyed the game's setup of three different teams and non-chronological plot progression, with the player getting a greater understanding of the story as they play; one of them said that learning what was going on in the fragments was "fantastic", and that they liked the emphasis on "interpersonal human drama". Another of them commented that the "light banter" dialogue is helpful in motivating the player. One of them said that the game would be enjoyable even for players who have not played previous entries in the series.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The reviewers at "Famitsu" noted that the puzzle rooms were challenging and fun, but wished that the game had included a hint function for people who primarily play the game for the story; one of the reviewers also commented that the way the player uses items is difficult at some points. They appreciated how the puzzle rooms, unlike many other escape-the-room games, do not feel artificial. IGN praised the "inventive" puzzles, "stellar" storytelling, darker tone, decisions and consequences, "beautiful character moments", and "mind-bending plot".


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: Destructoid called the game a "hallmark of excellence" ruined only by the "abysmal presentation" of the cut scenes. One reviewer at "Famitsu" liked how the game allows the player to skip past already viewed cutscenes, while another commented that the cutscenes are not perfectly lip-synched to the Japanese voice acting.


title: Zero Time Dilemma

text: The game has won or been nominated for some awards: it won Destructoid's award for the best PlayStation Vita game of 2016, "Game Informer" award for the best ending in an adventure game of 2016, and RPGFan's Reader's Choice award in the adventure games and visual novels category. It was a runner-up for "Hardcore Gamer" Best Story, Best Voice Acting and Best PlayStation Vita Game of 2016 awards, and was nominated for IGN's Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita games of the year awards. It was selected for two of RPGFan's Editors' Awards: Peter Triezenberg ranked it as the fifth best game of the year, while Robert Fenner selected it for his Most Disappointing category; and Mira was included on Destructoid's list of their favorite new video game characters of 2016.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: Edmund Norwood Bacon (May 2, 1910October 14, 2005) was an American urban planner, architect, educator, and author. During his tenure as the executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission from 1949 to 1970, his visions shaped today's Philadelphia, the city in which he was born, to the extent that he is sometimes described as "The Father of Modern Philadelphia". Among other works, he authored the seminal urban planning book "Design of Cities".


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: Bacon was born in West Philadelphia, the son of Helen Atkinson (née Comly) and Ellis Williams Bacon. He grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and graduated from Swarthmore High School in 1928. He was educated in architecture at Cornell University, where his senior thesis for a new civic center for Philadelphia included an urban park at the position where Philadelphia's famous LOVE Park was later built. After college, while traveling the world on a small inheritance, Bacon found work as an architect in Shanghai, China in Henry Murphy's office. He was responsible for designing the Nanking airport. With Murphy, he visited Beijing, a city that exerted a deep influence on his thinking. After a year in China, he returned to Philadelphia where he worked for architect William Pope Barney.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: He soon was awarded a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, with Finnish architect/planner Eliel Saarinen, whom Bacon revered and whose theories about the city as a living organism as expressed in Saarinen's book "The City" were a basis for Bacon's later work. Saarinen sent Bacon to Flint, Michigan to guide a WPA traffic survey. This project transformed into a permanent position for Bacon at the Flint Institute for Planning and Research. Bacon became very active in civic life in Flint, helping to establish the Flint Housing Association and reforming the city's Planning Commission. During his time in Flint, Bacon witnessed the 1936-37 Flint Sit-Down Strike, and felt empathetic to the workers. Bacon gained close contacts with individuals who were active in establishing the Federal Housing Authority, such as Catherine Bauer and Lewis Mumford. Through these contacts he helped secure federal housing dollars for Flint. However, the local real-estate industry came to see this Federal funding for public housing as a threat to their business (as was the case in several cities early in the history of the FHA). The funding was turned down, and Bacon was effectively run out of Flint in 1939.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: From Flint, Bacon returned to Philadelphia to serve as managing director of the Philadelphia Housing Association. He served in the United States Navy aboard the "USS Shoshone" in the Pacific in World War II. In 1947, he joined the staff of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission under then-Executive Director Robert Mitchell (not the Canadian politician), and served as co-designer to the 1947 Better Philadelphia Exhibition in collaboration with Oscar Stonorov and Louis Kahn. Bacon was also an early member of the City Policy Committee, a grassroots movement of young Philadelphians, established by future civic leader Walter M. Phillips, that was instrumental in Philadelphia's political reform movement. Members of the Committee went on to become leaders in Philadelphia government after 1952, when the reform Democrat (and later U.S. Senator) Joseph Sill Clark was elected Mayor, Richardson Dilworth became District Attorney, and a new Home Rule Charter was instituted.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: In 1949, Bacon succeeded Mitchell as executive director of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission. Serving under Mayors Samuel, Clark, Dilworth, and Tate, his work brought him national repute along with his counterparts Edward J. Logue in Boston and Robert Moses in New York City during the mid-century era of urban renewal. His face appeared on the cover of "Time" magazine in 1964, and in 1965, "Life" magazine devoted its cover story to his work.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: That same year, Bacon was appointed by President Johnson to serve as a member of the White House's Conference on Recreation and Natural Beauty. In 1967, he wrote "Design of Cities", still considered an important architectural text. It is a seminal work on urban design that illustrates the relationship between historical and modern principles, as well as practices of urban planning, applied particularly to Philadelphia.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: It was during his tenure at the City Planning Commission that Bacon and his staff conceived and implemented numerous large- and small-scale design ideas that shaped today's Philadelphia. These design concepts became Penn Center, Market East, Penn's Landing, Society Hill, Independence Mall, and the Far Northeast. The Center City Commuter Connection, a seemingly radical idea at the time, was conceived during the 1950s by Planning Commission staff member, R. Damon Childs, who succeeded Bacon as executive director.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: Not all of the concepts that Bacon supported materialized. One proposal that he inherited from Robert Mitchell was to encircle Center City with a series of expressways, including the so-called "Crosstown Expressway" (I-695) and the Vine Street Expressway (I-676) linking the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) with the Delaware Expressway (I-95) via South Street. Three of the four expressways were built; however, the Crosstown Expressway faced significant local opposition and was never built, while a scaled-down expressway was built at Vine Street.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: As an unintended consequence, the Crosstown Expressway proposal depressed property values and rents in the South Street corridor, leading to a turnover of the neighborhood's character from largely Jewish-owned garment shops to the thriving commercial and nightlife center that it is today. Other concepts conceived during Bacon's tenure, such as Schuylkill River Park, included in the 1963 Center City Plan, came into being many years later.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: After Bacon's retirement from the Planning Commission in 1970, he served as vice president for the private planning firm Mondev U.S.A., was an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the University of Pennsylvania, from 1950 to 1987, and narrated "Understanding Cities", an award-winning series of documentary films describing the history and development of Rome under Pope Sixtus V, Paris under Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Regency London under John Nash, American cities, and cities in the future post-oil era. He vociferously but unsuccessfully opposed the development of skyscrapers in Center City Philadelphia taller than Philadelphia City Hall, which until 1984 set the informal height limit for downtown at the hat of the statue of William Penn. That custom, known as the "Gentlemen's agreement", was broken by developer Willard G. Rouse III's One Liberty Place. "The New York Times" correctly noted Bacon's opposition to the project, but it was incorrect in saying that "in opposing the skyscraper One Liberty Place, Mr. Bacon refused to attend the tower's 1986 groundbreaking and stopped speaking to his friend Willard G. Rouse III, who built it. 'I think it's very, very destructive that he and he alone has chosen to destroy a historical tradition that set a very fine and disciplined form for the city,' Mr. Bacon said at the time." Bacon was present at the groundbreaking, which took place in May 1985. Of course, Rouse was not capable of single-handedly changing the custom, even if it was not formally legal. Rouse's enormous project had the support of Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Philadelphia City Council, and the City Planning Commission, which was forced by the announcement of Rouse's plan to admit that it had no up-to-date plan of its own for the future of Philadelphia's downtown.


title: Edmund Bacon (architect)

text: Bacon won numerous honors including the Frank P. Brown Medal in 1962, the American Institute of Planners Distinguished Service Award, the Philadelphia Award, and an honorary doctorate from Penn. In 1983, Bacon was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member, and became a full member in 1994. From 2004 until his death at the age of 95 the following year, Bacon helped found and served as an honorary director of a foundation that bears his name, The Ed Bacon Foundation, whose programs are now managed by the Edmund N. Bacon Memorial Committee at the Philadelphia Center for Architecture.