US Navy

USS Downes, Cassin and Pennsylvania, Pearl Harbour

US Navy/US National Archives

Another view of the aftermath of the attack on destroyers USS Downes and USS Cassin, Pearl Harbour, 7 December, 1941. These ships, along with the 1914-vintage "super-Dreadnaught" battleship, USS Pennsylvania, were in dry dock in the Navy Yard, across the strait from "Battleship Row". The target of the Japanese dive bomber was, actually, most probably the USS Pennsylvania; however, his bomb fell between the two destroyers, causing a huge fire, with obvious results. Both destroyers suffered serious damage, and their hulls were destroyed. However (almost incredibly) sufficient of the equipment and fittings of the Cassin and the Downes was salvaged to allow the destroyers to be recommissioned (incorporating the remains of the original ships) later in the war. An interesting feature here is that the USS Pennsylvania is flying its starry blue banner on the prow - not evident in the previous photo which I posted of this scene. Raised in defiance, after the attack ? Probably. At any rate, the USS Pennsylvania was entitled to be defiant; she was virtually undamaged, and went on to serve as a bombardment platform in the Pacific to the end of the war. Best regards, JR.