That's General Billy Mitchell dropping a phosphorous bomb on USS Alabama, a preliminary to the sinking of SMS Ostfriesland, starting the tests that proved to an unbelieving US military that airplanes could indeed sink ships.
http://www.aerofiles.com/ostfriesland.html

And a lot of fun:
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65...ks_World-War-I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYzisqaKzjU

Cheers Steve...saved old buna searching for an answer/explanation :sunny:

Yep, happened right off of Tangier Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay. One can still see some steel poking out above the water at low tide.