If a quarter of the crew had been killed you never would have hid it. Nobody but nobody talks like sailors talk. I am truly glad to hear that. I wou;ld hate to think that the government would cover something that up.
Munoz was adamant; said he was on shark watch and he counted over 100 bodies himself.
I still have pictures I took of Belknap. The bridge was also ripped completely open; you can look through the port side and see daylight on the far side.
Walt
Oh I've seen the pictures, too. They were widely published in a variety of official reports. There was also an in depth article in Proceedings written by the skipper of the Charles F. Adams, on of the escorts which fought the fire on the Belknap. One of their neater tricks was that they lashed a couple of fire hoses to the barrel of their 5"/54 gun mount. Then they cut in the water and used the mount to train the water on the fire. Worked real well.
Anyway, I'm sure your Sgt. Munoz was very adament. Next time you see him you'll have to ask him why they had him standing shark watch in the middle of a pitch dark night. What was he supposed to see?