Thaddeus Janeczko

On 19 Jun 1942, USS Quincy arrived at San Diego and became the flagship of Rear Admiral Norman Scott of Task Force 18. From there she departed for the South Pacific in Jul to support the invasion of Guadalcanal. She arrived in the area in the first week of Aug, and participated in preliminary shelling of the Japanese-held island on 7 Aug; in the shelling she destroyed several Japanese installations and an oil depot at Lunga Point. When the American Marines made the landing, she also provided gun support. During the early hours of 9 Aug 1942, while on patrol off Savo Island north of Guadalcanal, her force was surprise attacked by Admiral Gunichi Mikawa's force. When the attacking Japanese cruisers trained their searchlights on Quincy, Quincy's guns were still trained. She was caught between two columns of Japanese cruisers and received a pounding. "We're going down between them - give them hell!" said Captain Moore of Quincy. She fought valiantly, but was not able to overcome the heavy firing from the Japanese cruisers. She capsized and sank at about 0235 that day, becoming one of the first ships that eventually nicknamed that area of the water "Ironbottom Sound". 370 lives were lost aboard Quincy during the Battle of Savo Island, and 167 were wounded. The Quincy was sunk along with the USS Vincennes, Astoria and the HMAS Canberra during the Japanese attempt to interdict the invasion force at Guadalcanal. The Quincy fought bravely, firing even as she slipped beneath the waves with a good portion of her crew including her Captain Samuel Moore.