World War II Database

1.  David Stubblebine says:
27 Mar 2018 10:20:05 PM

The official US Navy caption for this photo says the USS Laffey is maneuvering alongside either the cruiser USS Pensacola or the cruiser USS Salt Lake City but the War Diaries are very clear about where those ships were. USS Pensacola was at sea when this photo was taken and USS Salt Lake City was in port at Espiritu Santo. Specifically, the Salt Lake City War Diary lists taking aboard Wasp survivors from Laffey. Since the photo clearly shows Laffey’s decks covered with Wasp survivors, it is clear that this photo was taken as Laffey was approaching Salt Lake City, or about 1530 hours local time.

The Salt Lake City War Diary goes on to say that when Laffey cast off at 1635, Laffey rammed Salt Lake City’s starboard anchor tearing a hole in Laffey’s forecastle about 3 feet above the waterline. Then, after Laffey had cleared the side, the destroyer USS Lardner came alongside to transfer more Wasp survivors and accidentally dropped a 300-pound depth charge overboard. The depth charge was on ‘Safe’ so it did not explode.

Anyway, this photo shows a piece of the Salt Lake City, not the Pensacola, no matter what the Navy says.