They Gave Their All : The Sullivan Brothers and Tragic Sinking of the USS Juneau
Diagram of night cruiser action on November 12-13 1942 . Source : Author ’ s Personal Collection .
nate !” 32 The misnamed “ Lucky A ” was soon a smoking hulk , being smothered with Japanese shells fired from a scant 1600 yards . 33
The San Francisco was next into the melee , coming face to face with the 14-inch guns of Abe ’ s flagship . With Japanese ships all around him , Uncle Dan issued a series of orders , which sounded quite heroic , but only added to the confusion . “ Odd ships commence firing to starboard , even ships to port !” 34 “ Give her hell !” 35 “ We want the big ones ! Get the big ones first !” 36 Chaos reigned . This situation became so chaotic that one participant summed the action perfectly : “ A barroom brawl with the lights turned out .” 37
Atlanta , now dead in the water , began drifting backward into the San Francisco ’ s line of fire , just as Hiei came into San Francisco ’ s gun sights . The heavy-cruiser fired every 8-inch gun whose muzzle would bear , and her secondary 5-inch battery targeted the Hiei ’ s pagoda superstructure . Callaghan realized Atlanta ’ s peril a salvo too late . A horrified Callaghan watched as San Francisco ’ s fire destroyed Atlanta ’ s bridge . He immediately ordered , “ Cease firing , own ships ,” but it was too late . Scott and all his staff were all dead . 38
Callaghan ’ s directives ceased suddenly when a salvo from Hiei wrecked San Francisco ’ s superstructure , mortally wounding her captain and killing Cal-
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