The 2nd photo you posted is of the USS Shaw that had its bow blown off after being struck by a Japanese bomb. I remember when, on a Dec 7, in the early 1960’s, Mr. Murphy, one of our high school history teachers, talked about being in the Navy at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. He was a young sailor who was at the end of his enlistment and had signed off the USS Shaw the previous week and was in the transient barracks waiting to sail back to the west coast and receive his discharge. He noted that he was not discharged until after the end of the war. The reason that his story has stuck in my mind is that he said that he was bunked in the bow of the Shaw and, if he had not been signed off the ship due to being discharged, he would have been killed with all of his shipmates who were in the bow berths.
Spine chilling. So glad he was safe.
Thanks for your post 58. Mr. Murphy was a lucky man!