When the bomb hit the Rochester.......

A Note from Earl Lanning:

"At long last I found the picture of the bomb hit on our crane.  I took this picture just after the bombing.  They had lowered the crane to inspect the damage and to re-paint the damaged area. 

There was some disagreement among the people on the bridge, that day, about the bomb going off.  From their angle, it may have been out of sight because of the superstructure. 

The location of the bomb hit shows clearly that it was deflected to the port side.  This deflection may have saved the ship.  If the crane had not been trained forward or if the bomb had missed the crane, its trajectory would have directed it to near center or aft on the hangar hatch.  This would have ignited the gasoline storage which, in turn, may have blown the number 3 powder magazine.

The blast on the port side from the bomb knocked Perin (the other sentry) and me to our knees, and threw water and bomb fragments all over the fantail.  Both of us were soaking wet.  I got back to my feet quickly and ran to the starboard rail where I saw the plane coming back low.  I could see the pilot in the cockpit as he passed between the two ships.  This was it's strafing run on the H.M.S. Jamaica, who shot it down.  The Jamaica was anchored very close to us, about 275 yards."