[central_va]

DD’s Meredith and O’Brian sunk. We lost 90 DD’s and DE’s during WWII.

[Stonewall Jackson]

The USS O'Brien had actually been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine back on September 15, during the same attack that sank the carrier Wasp and damaged the battleship North Carolina. She was given temporary repairs and was limping back to the West Coast when her keel suddenly split, resulting in severe flooding. The crew abandoned ship and she ripped in half and went down a short time later.

The USS Meredith was attempting to escort a fuel convoy to Guadalcanal when she was caught in open water by a full strike force from the Japanese carrier Zuikaku. Hit by at least fourteen bombs and seven torpedoes, she went down in minutes. Only seventy-three men survived the sinking and the ensuing shark attacks.