Battle of Tassafaronga
A climactic moment for the New Orleans came on November 30, 1942, in the midnight hour of an ink-black night, the Battle of Tassafaronga, when as part of a Navy task force, we fought off a Japanese attempt to smuggle supplies to troops at Guadalcanal. ... During the fight New Orleans sustained a torpedo hit in a forward magazine that tore away 125-feet of its bow, more than one-fifth of its 588-foot length. Miraculously the ship remained afloat. I narrowly escaped death as I was below deck at my Plotting Room battle station in the last forward compartment to remain watertight. Also miraculously, New Orleans sailed 1,200 miles to Australia for repairs. All with no bow and much of it moving astern.
