Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:
On January 13, 1942, O'Brien was still in port, undergoing a refit and awaiting its transit to the Pacific which was to begin on January 15.
Ships to the Pacific
Below is a photo taken at the Norfolk base at this time. The battleship New Mexico is the focus. Although O'Brien is mentioned in the caption, it seems to be out of the frame.
The New Mexico (BB-40) at Norfolk, 31 December 1941. She is equipped with the then "state of the art" quadruple 1.1"/75 machine guns [later replaced by the Bofors 40mm gun(s)]. She has also just been fitted with 20mm Oerkilons, but still was equipped with 0.5 caliber machine guns which the 20mm ultimately replaced. She also carries two radar units; a surface search set (Mark 3) on top of her forward main battery director atop her tower bridge and an air search SC unit on her pole main mast. The tug YT-213 is pulling alongside an unidentified vessel. Across the pier from her is the new destroyer O'Brien (DD-415).
From <http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/415.htm>
As all of the battleships in the Pacific were out of action since December 7th (except Colorado, which was being refitted in Puget Sound), the battleships of the New Mexico class were to be transferred there. Although the old battleships were too slow to escort the fast carrier task forces that were becoming the backbone of the the Pacific Fleet, the Navy was not willing to be almost completely without battleships there.
O'Brien and Sims-class destroyer Mustin would travel with the New-Mexico class battleship Idaho through the Panama Canal to their initial destination, San Francisco.
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