| USS SIMS & USS NEOSHO (May 7, 1942)
American destroyers, part of Task Force 17 proceeding to the Coral Sea to try and prevent an enemy landing against Port Morseby and Tulagi. After a refuelling operation at sea, the Sims was detached from the group and ordered to remain with the tanker Neosho. Spotted by Japanese scout planes, the destroyer and tanker were attacked by fighters and bombers from the carriers Zuikaku and Shokaku. The slow tanker received seven direct bomb hits and set on fire. The Sims, her hull plates split open by three direct hits amidships, jack-knifed and sank while her depth charges exploded. Her 14 survivors were picked up by the still blazing Neosho.
After drifting for four days the Neosho was found by the destroyer USS Henley which saved the 14 crewmembers of the Sims and 109 from the Neosho, then sank the tanker with two torpedoes. Prior to her rescue, 68 officers and men had abandoned the tanker in life rafts and were found 10 days later by the destroyer USS Helm. Only four of the 68 souls were alive. All told, the casualties from the Sims and Neosho were 179 officers and men lost.
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On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
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