Status - John Skinner - USS O'Brien:
O'Brien had arrived on the 16th at Espiritu Santo (code name BUTTON) and remained until the 21st. Curtiss would do the temporary repairs. Below are excerpts from War Damage Report No. 28 regarding the damage and repairs:
Photos 2 and 3 portray the small amount of local structural damage at the bow. Center of impact appears to have been just abaft the forefoot and possibly 10 feet below the waterline. The draft forward prior to damage was 11'-7". As shown on plate I, the bow structure below the main deck and aft to frame 10 was blown away. Framing and plating back to frame 14 were twisted and distorted. Free flooding occurred below the first platform between frames 10 and 22. Draft forward increased to 12'-2". A-202-L, on the first platform, flooded slowly to a depth of about two feet, the water entering through ruptures in the deck and bulkhead 14 as the bow plunged into the seas. Bulkhead 22 remained tight but was bulged aft. Bulkhead 25 was undamaged.
Photos 2 and 3: Structural Damage at the Bow. Quite a bit of the bow was shot away. but as noted above, the structure is holding.
Severe vertical flexural vibration of the hull occurred. Although some buckling of hull plating and longitudinals occurred in the vicinity of frames 37, 78 and 123, some of which is shown in photos 4 and 5, the most serious failures were centralized across the bottom structure in the vicinity of frame 104. Here, as will be noted on plate II, the vertical keel, No. 2 deep longitudinals, No. 6 deep longitudinals, several smaller longitudinals and bottom plating all failed to some degree. The Commanding Officer reported that wrinkling and buckling of the shell and longitudinals, including the vertical keel, extended from frame 104 on the starboard side across to frame 108 port. The entire bottom flange of the ship girder was thus seriously damaged. In addition, many rivets in this area were loosened or sheared. Considerable leakage into the forward engine room resulted through seams and rivet holes. The Commanding Officer reported that planes of the roller paths of the after 5" guns were depressed about one degree to port indicating that the after portion of the hull was twisted slightly to port.
Photos 4 and 5: Topside damage accompanying damage to the bottom structure amidships.
Other damage is also described in the War Damage Report. Below excerpt describes the temporary repairs done at Espiritu Santo:
O'BRIEN remained at BUTTON until 21 September. During this period O'BRIEN, CURTISS and the Seventh Naval Construction Battalion effected temporary repairs. Bulkhead 6 above the main deck, the main deck, the deck of A-202-L and bulkhead 14 between the first platform and main deck were all made tight by patching holes. Bulkheads 6 and 14 were reinforced with concrete. The deck of A-202-L and bulkhead 14 were also strongly shored. In addition, divers installed plug bolts and patches in the bottom plating of the forward engine room. All except two 600-pound depth charges were removed as were 150 rounds of 5" A.A. common. Finally, anchors and anchor chains were removed from the bow and stowed aft.
O'Brien left Espiritu Santo on the 21st en route to Noumea (code name WHITE POPPY), which is about 460 miles SSE from Espiritu Santo.
U. S. Navy Task Forces:
- Task Force
16 (Enterprise) was at Pearl Harbor, for repairs to Enterprise.
- Saratoga was at Pearl Harbor for repairs.
- Combined
Task Force 61 remained on patrol in the Coral Sea near Guadalcanal.
- Task Force 17 (Hornet) -> TF 61
More Information:
- Official Navy Chronology, pp. 253-254.
- The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, John B. Lundstrom, pp 229-232.
- The Struggle for Guadalcanal, Samuel Eliot Morison, pp. 130-138.
- Neptune's Inferno, The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, James D. Hornfischer, pp. 118-131.
NEXT POST: SEPTEMBER 26TH
No comments:
Post a Comment