Neptune's Inferno_ The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal - James D. Hornfischer [254]
7: The Martyring of Task Group 62.6
Nimitz “ultra secret” warnings: Nimitz to Task Force Commanders, August 6, 1942 (2336) (Hepburn Report Annex, 670). Turner’s instructions to Crutchley: Turner to Crutchley, August 8, 1942 (1920) (Hepburn Report Annex, 677). “The search radar was operating”: USS Quincy, “Preliminary Report,” 2. “The more I insisted” and “The OOD and the”: Jones, The USS Astoria (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her, 115–116. “Great display of light”: USS Vincennes, “Report of Action Between” (Hepburn Report Annex, 399–400). “I didn’t know”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 179. Explosions mistaken for depth charges: USS Astoria, “Battle of Savo Island,” 13 (Hepburn Report Annex, 488). Contact between Japanese and U.S. ships: Bates and Innis, “The Battle of Savo Island,” 152. “Action port! Load”: Statement of M. Dunkleberger, in USS Astoria, “Statements of Surviving Personnel” (Hepburn Report Annex, 581). “Fire every damn thing you got!” Statement of L. F. Hager, in USS Astoria, “Statements,” (Hepburn Report Annex, 596). “Who sounded the general alarm?”: Donald A. Yeamans, in Jones, The USS Astoria. “It was there.… I was suddenly cool”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 125. “Surprised to see”: Lt. Jack Gibson, in Jones, The USS Astoria, 131. “A stupid set up”: Eldred E. Bloodworth, in Jones, The USS Astoria, 100–101. “The Astoria was shuddering” and “One more crossing”: Lt. Jack Gibson, in Jones, The USS Astoria, 131–132. Flammable conditions on cruisers: COMINCH, “Battle Experience, September 1942,” 11–15; Bureau of Ships, “USS Quincy, USS Astoria and USS Vincennes, Report of Loss in Action,” 18; Akers interview, 1. “In a few minutes”: Custer, Through, 132–135. “An ideal torpedoman”: Tanaka, “Japan’s Losing Struggle for Guadalcanal,” part 1, 698. “There were explosions everywhere”: Ohmae, “The Battle of Savo Island,” 1275. “Times in the above narrative”: Hepburn, “Report of Informal Inquiry,” 16. “There are men” and “blown clear through” and “I sat there and listened”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 94–95. “A roar like an express train”: Ibid., 132. “An overtone of muffled sounds”: Custer, Through, 126. “A crushing explosion … Look out for my leg”: Ibid., 132–135. “In flashes of light”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 132. “Steel piercing steel”: Ibid., 103. “A shambles”: USS Quincy, “Report of the Engagement,” 8. “I found it in a shambles”: Ibid., 2 (Hepburn Annex, 442). “Gas jetted high”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 120, quoting article in The Daily Astorian from August 6, 1981. “Our ship was blazing”: Robert H. Atchinson, in Jones, The USS Astoria, 98. “All communications were shot away”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 132–133. “He could not have been more”: Ibid., 146. “We sat there while the fire roared”: Ibid., 133. “One of our crew”: Ibid., 105. Damage control on Astoria: USS Astoria, Statement of Lt. Cdr. J. R. Topper, 7 (Hepburn Report Annex, 541). “Hey, man, I just made chief”: Jones, The USS Astoria, 105–106.
8: Burning in the Rain
“Report situation.… Chicago south of Savo”: HMAS Australia, “Night Action Off Savo,” 2. “Its searing light revealed”: Soule, Shooting the Pacific War, 3. “Huge balls of red fire”: Custer, Through the Perilous Night, 166–167. “Out all lights”: HMAS Canberra, Engineer’s Preliminary Report, 3. “I was greatly impressed”: Ohmae, “The Battle of Savo Island,” 1278. “To remain in the area by sunrise”: Ibid., 1276. “We were all shocked”: Ibid., 1275. “He was everywhere”: Custer, Through, 160. “Men naturally responded”: USS Astoria, Report of Engineering