Alongside a cruiser (either Salt Lake City or Pensacola) with survivors of USS Wasp (CV-7) on board, probably at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides.
Wasp had been sunk by a Japanese submarine on 15 September 1942.
Note Laffey's smokestacks, Searchlight, mainmast, depth charges, and fully outfitted liferaft.

USS Laffey (DD-459)

"A Shot for Posterity -- The USS Ward's number three gun and its crew-cited for firing the first shot the day of Japan's raid on Hawaii. Operating as part of the inshore patrol early in the morning of December 7, 1941, this destroyer group spotted a submarine outside Pearl Harbor, opened fire and sank her. This gun is a 4"/50 type, mounted atop the ship's midships deckhouse, starboard side.

USS Ward (DD-139)

Mess Attendants manning a 20mm machine gun, in a gun tub beside the flight deck, 9 September 1942. The carrier was then en route from Alameda, California, to the southwest Pacific.