USS Bennington Monument

{{Short description|Naval memorial at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California}}

{{about|the monument to the crew of USS Bennington (PG-4)|the memorial to the crew of the aircraft carrier Bennington|USS Bennington (CV-20)}}

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File:USS Bennington Monument dedication at Fort Rosecrans, California (USA), on 7 January 1908 (NH 82136).jpg

The USS Bennington Monument is a {{convert|60|ft|m|adj=on}} granite obelisk in the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, San Diego, California, United States. It serves as a memorial to the crew of the {{USS|Bennington|PG-4}}, a gunboat of the United States Navy, whose boiler exploded on the morning of 21 July 1905, in San Diego Bay.[https://web.archive.org/web/20060418070858/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/ev-1900s/ev-1905/bengtn.htm Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center] The explosion showered the vessel with live steam and scalding water, killing 66 men (1 officer and 65 other sailors) and burning an additional 46. It was the worst peacetime disaster for the U.S. Navy up to that time.[http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/76summer/naval.htm Journal of San Diego History, Summer 1976, Vol. 22, No. 3]

The dead were buried at Fort Rosecrans; some were later disinterred and shipped home for burial by their families. The monument at the site of the graves was dedicated three years later, on 7 January 1908.