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.

USS Copahee (ACV-12)

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)

Blankets cover crewmen killed when a German radio-controlled bomb hit the ship's # 3 six-inch gun turret, during the Salerno operation, 11 September 1943.