| Moored between California and
the rest of Battleship Row, Neosho received little attention from the
Japanese. She had just finished discharging most of her cargo of
aviation fuel five minutes before the attack began, and managed to back
clear of Battleship Row at 0842. Safely berthing at Merry Point, she
escaped the oil fires of Arizona, saving Battleship Row from further
conflagration had she succumbed to this inferno or Japanese damage, as
she still carried some of her volatile cargo. Mistaken for an aircraft
carrier during the Battle of Coral Sea, she suffered seven bomb impacts
and eight near-misses. Discovered four days later by U.S. ships, her
crew was rescued and she was sent to the bottom with torpedoes.
|
