There are many little-known stories of World War II. One of the most fascinating, I believe, is the saga of the U.S. Navy oil tanker, U.S.S. Neosho (AO-23). The Neosho (pronounced "nee-OH-sho"), a Cimarron-class oiler, plied the oceans for only three years before it was sunk, but during that time it encountered some of the fiercest action in the early part of World War II, including the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 and the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. Because the Neosho was an auxiliary ship and not a combat ship, few people know about its captivating story.
The Neosho survived the attack at Pearl Harbor. Amazingly enough, despite many near-misses from bombs and torpedoes, the Neosho was not damaged during the two-hour attack. That was fortunate not only for Bill but also for everyone else at Pearl Harbor, considering the combustible fuels still in the ship's hold. If a single bomb had struck the Neosho, it could have created a fiery holocaust. Due to the quick action of Captain Phillips, though, the U.S.S. Neosho was the only ship moored on "Battleship Row" that morning which was not damaged -- in fact, it didn't lose a single man.
The Neosho, now the only functioning U.S. Navy tanker in the mid-Pacific, spent the next several months criss-crossing the ocean while refueling ships and keeping the fleet going. In the spring of 1942, it headed down to the Coral Sea near Australia where the Japanese were preparing to invade New Guinea. There, at the Battle of the Coral Sea, the U.S.S. Neosho would meet its fate.