The explosion from the Japanese dive bomber's bomb started a fire that spread quickly across the ship. Oeseterle and the other crew members scrambled to fight the fires as other American ships came to assist. The USS Birmingham (CL-62) a light cruiser, pulled alongside the stricken Princeton.
The Birmingham's crew used high pressure hoses to pour water on the burning ship, but the fire reached stored munitions and a massive explosion rocked the Princeton.
The explosion shot out a storm of fire and debris. On the Princeton, 108 men were killed. On the Birmingham, where many of the crew were on deck or superstructure fighting the fire and assisting in rescuing, 233 men were killed and another 426 wounded (out of 1255 crew).
Oesterle, who was standing on the deck of the Princeton next to Captain John Hopkins at the time of the explosion, suffered light burns on his neck, but otherwise was not harmed. Captain Hoskins lost the lower part of a leg.
--GreGen
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