A ship is more than an inanimate thing of steel and fire. It has a character of its own drawn from the manifold complexities of all those men and women who made her, served her and loved her. Of all these the ship draws the best, the outstanding, the pre-eminent features, so that she is truly representative of all.

   In the heat of battle and the enduring strain and peril of arduous campaigns the strength and character of the ship and its people, past and present, is refined and brought to its peak.

   To these, our honored shipmates, who fell in action in exemplifying the highest aspects of devotion to duty, this book is humbly dedicated with the prayer that the memory of their unselfish sacrifices may be an inspiration to all who are left behind:...See "Those Who Died"