"My stepfather was a BT [Boiler Tech] Chief on California in Pearl, WW II. Shaving Sunday morning to go to church. Over the MC came the word “battle stations battle stations, this is no shit”, as told to me by him.

"The CA had 4 boiler rooms, if I have my facts right, and he was a chief at age 23 I think. So he hauled ass to the BR, to startup, a 1 hour process approximately. About 1 hour later The word came to abandon ship. He did not know both the BR ahead and behind him had taken torpedoes. So he sent all but one of his crew topside, shutdown the BR, and then proceeded up the ladders.

"He got several decks up, realized he forgot something, left his friend, and went back down. When he returned the spot where he left his friend had taken an aerial bomb, nothing was left.

"He got topside and remembered none of the gun stations had their normal assignees. Many guns manned by novices, and shooting without effectiveness everywhere, as I recall.

"On the deck, and here is some doubt, I thought he said he could see guys climbing up bottom of Arizona. But I checked his anchorage against Arizona, cannot see how he could have seen them.

"Anyway, later in the battle of the slot, Solomon’s, he was sunk again.

"Died ~ 4 years ago. Could not look at Japanese in grocery store to the end."