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By Root 1917 0

measure them”: Mustin interview, 590–591. “I continued to try our phones”: McKinney, CL-51, 40. “The smoke was so thick”: Ibid., 41. “Cease firing own ships”: USS Portland, “Night Action,” 4. “What is the dope”: Ibid., 3. One naval historian has claimed that Callaghan “gave the [cease fire] order deliberately to conceal the approach of his cruisers” and “hoped to use the extreme darkness of that particular night to his advantage.” See Hone, “Give Them Hell,” 190. I have found no evidence of this. “We fired at so many targets”: Harrison interview. “I watched, almost transfixed”: Casten, Our Ship: The Helena, 60.

30: Death in the Machine Age

“I drank coffee by the gallon”: Halsey manuscript, 386–387; Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, 126. “The concussion could be felt”: William Marshal Chaney, 1st Battalion, 147th Infantry RCT, quoted in Parrent, Third Savo, 24. “The star shells rose, terrible and red”: Leckie, A Helmet for My Pillow, 116–118. “All you could see”: Melhorn interview, 95. “Consciously or unconsciously”: Jones, WWII, 54. “Can we open fire”: USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast of Guadalcanal,” Encl. B, TBS log, 1500 GMT (0200 GMT –11), 3. “The duel about to begin” and “Two four-gun salvos hit”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 41. “We just put a nine-gun”: Hamilton interview. Hits claimed: USS San Francisco, “Action Report—Night Action—Nov. 12–13, 1942,” 2. “With a pagoda-like superstructure”: Spencer, The War Years, 76. “Just like a barroom brawl”: Trumbull, “Mortally Wounded U.S. Destroyer Torpedoed Japanese Battleship,” 5. “From bow to stern” and “Attempting to locate”: USS O’Bannon, “Report of Engagement with Japanese Units on Morning of November 13, 1942,” 3. “Seemingly everywhere”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 49. “The smell of burning flesh”: Bennett interview. “That failure kept me alive”: Arison, “A Battle to Remember.” “One instant I was fine”: Spencer, The War Years: Hellfire and Glory, 77. “I’ve lost steering control, sir!” McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 41–42. Schonland’s damage-control efforts: Schonland interview 1, 28–37. “This locker is too thin”: Spencer, email to author, February 4, 2009. “Mangled red meat” and “Get off of me”: Spencer, The War Years, 77. “Leaving Higdon” and “Against a midnight-blue”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 42–43. “Fighting by departments” and “We had good interior communications”: Ibid., 44–46.

31: Point Blank

Portland’s torpedo hit and exchange with Hiei: USS Portland, “Night Action Between Task Force 67.4 and Japanese Forces, November 13, 1942,” 4, 7, 8; Encl. B, gunnery officer’s report, 3. “Other ships, blazing”: Morris, The Fightin’est Ship, 87. “Wallowing there”: Hartney, “The Story of the USS Juneau,” 3. “A weird, unforgettable pageantry”: Ibid., 4–5. “Chief, just get me going”: Barham, The 228 Days of the United States Destroyer Laffey (DD-459), 90. “My first reaction”: Ibid., 95. “That these disasters”: McCandless, “The San Francisco Story,” 42. “Like a huge apartment building”: Cook interview. “Don’t cheer, men”: Maclay, The Life and Adventures of Jack Philip, Admiral, USN, 254 n. Damage to Hiei: Tully, “Death of Battleship Hiei.” Kirishima’s withdrawal: Tokuno, USSBS interrogation, 2. “In the confused picture”: USS Portland, “Night Action,” 4. “Shell drunk” and “I hunched my back”: Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 149, 158. Damage to Helena: USS Helena, “Action Off North Coast of Guadalcanal,” 17; Luehman interview. “We’re going to take water”: Schonland interview 1, 32. “Rogers couldn’t see”: Bennett interview. “We were the only game” and “You move like”: Tarrant interview. “I am reluctant to compare”: Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die, 9. “Exploded and simply disappeared”: USS Fletcher, “Report of Action,” 4. “The ship, broken in two”: Hara, Japanese, 146. Damage to Aaron Ward: USS Aaron Ward, “Report of Action,” 6; Hagen, Nimitz Museum interview, 20; author interview. “Hey Joe, aren’t you glad”: Wylie, NWC interview, 72.

32: Among the Shadows

“Form 18. Course 092” and “Unable raise other big boys”: USS Helena,