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the heavy cruiser Nachi, received several direct hits from the “outstandingly valiant” American destroyers, one of which, Bailey, received two hits that killed several men and cut all electrical power. The destroyers still had some distance to cover under the blistering enemy fire before moving into optimal range to release their torpedoes. Then there occurred “what seemed almost a miracle.” In the face of the onrushing destroyers, the Japanese force turned to a new course, breaking off the action. * Soon after, Salt Lake City had her boilers back on line, and the U.S. ships headed for the safety of Dutch Harbor, midway up the Aleutians.
    That morning’s four-hour engagement would be the last surface battle of the war between naval forces without the use of air power or submarines.
    More noteworthy to the crew of Monaghan was the beer party at Dutch Harbor hosted by Salt Lake City for the men of the three destroyers who had bravely put everything on the line to protect the damaged cruiser. It lasted all day and well into the night, providing a break in the war they would all remember. There were “no fights, nothing” like the brawls that the sailors often engaged in when they drank. “Just having a good time,” Candelaria recalled, “because we’d been goners but didn’t die.”

Three
    On August 7, 1942, the First Marine Division landed at Guadalcanal, a little-known island in the Solomons that would be in the news for the next six months as the scene of a fierce fight to keep the Japanese from building an air base that could threaten shipping between the United States and Australia.
    The early morning landings went surprisingly smoothly given that they were “the first amphibious operation undertaken by the United States since 1898.” The only opposition came from labor troops and engineers engaged in airfield construction. Although initially “surprised and overwhelmed” by the invasion, the Japanese would not take long to send in reinforcements and counterattack, beginning the long campaign for Guadalcanal that would eventually be considered one of the turning points of the war in the Pacific. *
    On D-Day of the first U.S. offensive against the Japanese, Hull was part of a protective screen of warships covering fifteen transports as they disgorged troops into landing craft. An hour into the operation, a large formation of enemy planes appeared at 10,000 feet and began bombing the invasion force. As U.S. carrier-based fighters ferociously engaged the Japanese aircraft overhead, Hull and other warships joined the fray with guns blazing. An hour and a half later, another swarm of enemy bombers attacked, hitting the destroyer Mugford (DD-389), killing eighteen men and wounding seventeen. Numerous enemy planes were shot down by fierce antiaircraft fire. At 7:15 P.M. , Hull ’s crew finally was allowed to secure from battle stations, which they had been at for a numbing eighteen hours.
    Offshore, the night passed quietly, but everyone expected an all-out enemy air strike the next day. Shortly after sunrise, Hull ’s sailors heard the amplified oooga - oooga - oooga of the general alarm reverberate throughout the ship, calling them to battle, followed by “All hands man your battle stations!” Men ran from wherever they were—in their bunks, taking showers, eating breakfast—some dressing along the way. What could have been chaotic with 200 men scrambling to different parts of the ship was made manageable by a rule to ensure they did not all run into each other: those going forward and up took the starboard side, and those heading aft and down went on the port side.
    At 10:40 A.M. , a radio dispatch warned that many aircraft were en route from Rabaul in New Guinea, the major Japanese stronghold in the region. As Hull ’s helmeted gun crews waited for targets to appear overhead, the destroyer crisscrossed the harbor at varying