Chief Watertender Oscar V. Peterson spent 21 years at sea earlier than Could 7, 1942, when Japanese bombs turned the USS Neosho right into a burning wreck throughout the Battle of the Coral Sea. Already wounded from the assault, the 42-year-old sailor crawled alone into a number of superheated compartments to manually shut 4 huge steam line valves.
Working via searing ache as third-degree burns lined his face, legs and arms, Peterson remoted the engine room steam techniques and prevented a catastrophic boiler explosion that will have killed everybody aboard the ship. His actions purchased the crippled oiler 4 extra days of life, sufficient time for rescuers to avoid wasting 123 males as Japanese planes and submarines prowled the realm. Peterson died of his burns six days later and posthumously acquired the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life to avoid wasting his shipmates.
The USS Neosho
The Neosho was a 553-foot Cimarron-class fleet oiler commissioned in August 1939. The ship displaced 7,470 tons and will carry practically 150,000 barrels of gasoline, making it a vital a part of the Pacific Fleet’s abroad operations. The crew started referring to her as “The Fats Girl.”
Commander John S. Phillips took command after conversion work on the ship was accomplished at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in the summertime of 1941.
The Neosho quickly discovered itself in its first main battle. On Dec. 7, 1941, the ship was moored at Pearl Harbor’s gasoline dock when Japanese plane attacked the fleet. Phillips bought his vessel underway with out tugs whereas his crew chopped mooring strains with fireplace axes. He maneuvered previous the capsized Oklahoma whereas his males fired anti-aircraft weapons on the attacking planes.
In accordance with some studies, his males managed to down one Japanese airplane. The Neosho was one of many few ships to get underway that morning. Phillips acquired the Navy Cross for the motion.
A Veteran Chief and the Pacific Battle
Oscar Verner Peterson was born Aug. 27, 1899, in Prentice, Wisconsin. He enlisted within the Navy on Dec. 8, 1920, and spent greater than 20 years at sea, rising via the ranks by mastering the advanced steam propulsion techniques that powered the fleet. By April 1941, when he reported to the Neosho, Peterson had already earned the rank of chief watertender, a senior petty officer accountable for the ship’s boilers and steam strains.
At 42, Peterson was older than many of the Neosho’s crew. He had a spouse, Lola, and two sons in Richfield, Idaho. He was precisely the kind of skilled, regular hand a ship wanted in fight, a veteran who knew his gear and may very well be counted on when issues went incorrect.
By spring 1942, Japanese forces threatened Australia. Their subsequent goal was Port Moresby on New Guinea, which might put plane inside hanging distance of northern Australia. American code breakers deciphered the Japanese plans. Admiral Chester Nimitz ordered Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher’s Job Pressure 17, constructed across the carriers Yorktown and Lexington, to cease the invasion.
On Could 7, the Neosho entered the battle space and refueled the Yorktown roughly 225 miles southeast of New Guinea. The provider was in dire want of gasoline because it participated within the first naval engagement in historical past the place neither fleet truly noticed one another. Airplanes launched from carriers on either side, searching for any enemy vessels within the space.
After finishing the mission, Phillips acquired orders to maneuver to Level Rye, greater than 100 miles from the battle. Solely the destroyer USS Sims accompanied the oiler as different escorts had been urgently wanted for the carriers. At 7:20 a.m., two Japanese search planes noticed the ships and erroneously radioed they’d discovered a provider and escort. Roughly 78 Japanese plane launched to assault.
The Assault Towards the Neosho
The Japanese plane arrived round 10 a.m. and circled for practically two hours, observing via the clouds earlier than realizing their error. Whereas some planes returned to their ships, a number of dozen pilots determined to sink each American ships somewhat than return empty-handed. The assault started simply after midday.
The Sims fought heroically, unleashing what anti-aircraft munitions it had, nevertheless it stood no probability. Three 500-pound bombs struck in fast succession, detonating the destroyer’s boilers and magazines. The explosion broke the ship in two. It sank inside minutes, taking 237 males down with it. Solely 15 sailors survived the sinking and had been rescued by the Neosho.
With the Sims gone, the Japanese dive bombers focused on the oiler. Phillips maneuvered desperately whereas his gunners fought again with one 5-inch gun, 4 3-inch antiaircraft weapons, and several other 20mm machine weapons. The Japanese attacked from a number of instructions, overwhelming the defenses.
Seven 550-pound bombs scored direct hits on the principle deck, stack deck, fireroom, and gasoline tanks. Eight close to misses practically broke the hull plates. A burning Val dive bomber, hit by anti-aircraft fireplace, crashed into gun station No. 4, killing the complete gun crew and spreading fires throughout the deck.
Phillips later reported his gunners shot down three plane and broken 4 extra. However the harm to the ship was catastrophic. The seven direct hits ignited fires in gasoline compartments. Flooding poured into the engine room. The ship misplaced all propulsion and listed 30 levels to port. At the least 20 males died instantly. Many extra had been wounded.
Even worse, the ship was in peril of exploding at any second.
At 12:18 p.m., the assault ended. Phillips surveyed the harm and gave orders to arrange for an evacuation. However many crew members, having simply watched the Sims sink in minutes and understanding the oiler may explode, panicked and deserted ship instantly. Inside minutes, 68 males had already deserted ship and drifted away. Phillips regained management and made the choice to maintain his remaining crew of 16 officers and 91 enlisted males aboard the ship to struggle for survival.
Peterson’s Heroic Acts
Throughout the assault, Peterson commanded a restore celebration within the crew’s mess compartment adjoining to the fireroom. His project was to shut 4 major steam line bulkhead cease valves if battle harm required isolating the engine room. These huge valves managed steam circulation all through the ship’s propulsion system.
He knew that if the boilers had been broken and fires had been spreading, the valves wanted to be closed instantly.
When a bomb exploded within the fireroom, the blast tore open the iron door between the fireroom and mess compartment. The explosion knocked Peterson down and burned his face and palms. Each member of his restore celebration was wounded or killed by the blast, both by shrapnel or escaping steam that poured via the ruptured door.
Peterson knew what needed to be achieved. The steam strains carried strain sizzling sufficient to strip flesh from bone. If left open, uncontrolled steam would construct all through the system with no technique to launch it safely. Fires may attain the steam strains beneath strain, inflicting catastrophic ruptures. Worst of all, these fires would attain the gasoline tanks whereas steam-powered pumps saved techniques lively, main to an enormous explosion that will kill everybody aboard.
Working alone, Peterson made his manner into the fireroom trunk over the ahead boilers. He waited for the escaping steam to dissipate sufficient to achieve the valves with out being immediately killed. The warmth was virtually insufferable. Metallic surfaces had been too sizzling to the touch. The air itself burned his lungs.
Every valve, warped by intense warmth, required large effort to close manually. Peterson pressured the primary valve closed regardless of the searing ache. Then he closed the second as his palms blistered and bled. The third valve was broken within the explosion. He threw his full weight towards it to shut it.
The fourth valve was hardest one to achieve, positioned deep inside the compartment. Peterson suffered much more extreme burns to his head, legs and arms as he struggled to shut it. However he succeeded, stopping the explosion that will have despatched the Neosho and her crew to the underside of the ocean.
Different Heroes on the Ship
Peterson was not alone in saving the ship. Government officer Lieutenant Commander Francis J. Firth coordinated harm management all through the ship. He organized groups to struggle fires, pump out flooded areas, and shore up broken bulkheads. Firth labored tirelessly for 4 days, transferring from compartment to compartment to direct repairs.
Engineering officer Lieutenant Louis Verbrugge additionally helped hold the ship afloat. The ship was itemizing 30 levels and was in peril of capsizing. Verbrugge recognized which tanks to flood to counteract the checklist. His counterflooding operations introduced the ship to a extra secure angle, stopping capsizing whereas additionally holding the ship from breaking up additional.
Machinist’s Mate First Class Harold Bratt and Machinist’s Mate Second Class Wayne Simmons fought quite a few fires and prevented flooding within the engine areas for hours in smoke-filled compartments beneath the fixed hazard of an explosion. Each males confirmed distinctive braveness working beneath decks, the place escape could be unimaginable if the ship sank.
All of those males acquired Silver Stars for his or her management and braveness.
With the ship’s medical officer useless, Pharmacist’s Mate First Class William J. Ward took over medical duties. Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Robert W. Hoag assisted him. Collectively, they tended to dozens of wounded males with restricted provides, performing surgical procedures and treating extreme burns for males injured within the assault or by fires, in addition to the surviving crewmembers from the Sims.
Ward acquired the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
4 Days Adrift at Sea
Phillips confronted a nightmare situation. His ship was useless within the water, itemizing closely, on fireplace and loaded with hundreds of barrels of risky gasoline. The crew had radioed their place however by accident transmitted coordinates 30 miles off. Search plane regarded within the incorrect space whereas many of the American fleet remained engaged towards the Japanese
The crew labored via the evening and following days battling fires in a number of compartments. Groups used transportable pumps and buckets when the principle techniques failed. They steadily managed the blazes via exhausting bodily effort.
The lads labored in rotating shifts to pump out flooding, shore up broken bulkheads, and monitor for structural failure. The broken hull creaked and groaned continually, threatening to interrupt in two.
The crew solely stopped to commit fallen shipmates to the ocean in fast funeral ceremonies earlier than returning to their duties.
In the meantime, 120 miles away, the principle provider battle raged. American plane sank the Japanese provider Shoho on Could 7. The following day, Japanese plane sank the provider Lexington and broken the Yorktown.
The crippled Neosho drifted helplessly via waters patrolled by Japanese submarines and plane. Discovery after surviving the earlier engagement would imply sure demise, the crew may do nothing to defend themselves or maneuver away. Each hour elevated the prospect of being noticed and hit by one other enemy assault. But the crew by no means stopped preventing to maintain their ship afloat.
On Could 11, a Royal Australian Air Pressure airplane noticed the vessel, adopted by an American PBY. At 1 p.m., the destroyer USS Henley arrived and evacuated 123 survivors, together with 109 from the Neosho and 14 from the Sims. Six crew members had died ready for rescue.
Phillips requested that the Henley scuttle his ship. After two torpedoes and 146 rounds of 5-inch gunfire, the Neosho lastly went beneath at 3:22 p.m. on Could 11.
The Final Sacrifice
Peterson was barely alive when he was evacuated. The burns overlaying his head, arms, and legs had been extreme. He died on Could 13, 1942, and was buried at sea. Two different Neosho sailors died aboard the Henley from their accidents.
The ordeal wasn’t over for everybody. The 68 males who drifted away on rafts floated for 9 days with out meals or water. On Could 16, the destroyer USS Helm discovered 4 males clinging to a raft. Two died shortly after rescue. The opposite 64 had been by no means discovered.
Peterson acquired the Medal of Honor posthumously on Dec. 7, 1942. Due to the continuing depth of the warfare, his widow acquired the medal within the mail with no ceremony. In 1943, the Navy commissioned the destroyer escort USS Peterson in his honor.
In April 2010, the Navy lastly held a correct ceremony. Rear Admiral James A. Symonds offered the Medal and a 48-star flag to Peterson’s son, Fred, in Richfield, Idaho. Greater than 800 individuals attended.
Phillips acquired the Silver Star and retired as a rear admiral after the warfare. The opposite embellished crew members, together with Firth, Verbrugge, Bratt, Simmons, Ward, and Hoag, all survived the battle. The Neosho acquired two battle stars for its brief WWII service. A brand new Neosho-class oiler was commissioned in 1954, sponsored by Mrs. John S. Phillips.
With out Peterson closing these valves, the Neosho would have exploded earlier than rescue arrived. His sacrifice gave 123 males 4 extra days of survival and an opportunity to return dwelling.
