Pearl Harbor
Patterson was moored at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese carrier-based planes attacked 7 December 1941. Her gunners sped to battle stations, opened fire, and blasted one enemy plane out of the sky. Within an hour the destroyermen were searching for possible enemy submarines off the harbor entrance.
Patterson patrolled the Hawaiian Sea Frontier in the screen of aircraft carrier Saratoga without finding trace of the enemy. On 28 December, returning from patrol, she rescued 19 survivors of merchant ship Marimi adrift for several days after having been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.
Read more about this topic: USS Patterson (DD-392)
Famous quotes related to pearl harbor:
“Major Bagley: So they really got the Arizona.
Captain Quincannon: Yes, sir. Hickham Field was hit just as bad as Pearl Harbor, lot of fifth column work.
Major Bagley: I’ve studied all the wars in history, gentlemen, and I’ve never come across any dirty treachery like that.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)