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The United States Navy Memorial

Navy Memorial Honoring the Men & Women of the Sea Services

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West Virginia

Ship Designation: 
BB-48
Date Lost: 
Sunday, December 7, 1941
Torpedo Attacks - Pearl Harbor
During the Pearl Harbor attack West Virginia took five 18-inch aircraft torpedoes ( it was later revised after inspection of damage that seven torpedoes had actually struck the ship ) in her port side and two bomb hits The first bomb penetrated the superstructure deck, wrecking the port casemates and causing that deck to collapse to the galley deck level. Four casemates and the galley caught fire, with the subsequent detonation of the ready-service projectiles stowed in the casemates. ... The second bomb hit wrecked the floatplane atop the high catapult on Turret III. The projectile penetrated the turret, wrecking one gun. Although the bomb proved a dud, burning gasoline from the damaged aircraft caused damage. The torpedo hits ripped into the ship's port side but the heroic damage control efforts saved the ship from capsizing in the manner that befell Oklahoma. ... Instances of heroic conduct on the battleship proliferated in the heat of battle. The ship's commanding officer, Capt. M. S. Bennion, on the bridge early in the battle was struck down by a bomb fragment when a 15-inch bomb hit the center gun in Tennessee's Turret II, spraying both ships with fragments. Bennion, hit in the abdomen, and mortally wounded, clung tenaciously to life until just before the ship was abandoned, directing the ship's defense up to his dying moment. For his conspicuous devotion to duty Capt. Bennion was awarded a Medal of Honor, posthumously.

Lost At Sea Log

Number of sailors in this log: 106

Namesort descending Service Branch
F 2c Donald Drum USN
Sea 2c George Dunn USN
CMM Edward Durkee USN
Sea 1c Clement Durr USN
F 1c Tommy Dye USN
F 2c Roland Edwards USN
F 3c Ronald Endicott USN
MM 2c Richard England USN
GM 3c Woodrow Evans USN
Matt 2c Jose Flores USN
EM 1c Jack Foth USN
F 1c Gilbert Fox USN
Matt 3c Neil Frye USN
F 1c Angelo Gabriele USN
SF 2c Claude Garcia USN
Sea 1c Bibian Gonzales USN
Sea 2c Myron Goodwin USN
F 1c Albert Goore USN
RM 3c Arthur Gould USN
F 1c Harry Halvorsen USN

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Prepared by CAPT R.O. Strange USN (Ret.)