Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "USS Pigeon and the Presidential Unit Citation" video.

It wasn't just the machine guns with which the Pigeon was armed. Hawes scrounged every gun he could get, including a pair of 3" antiaircraft guns removed from a damaged submarine and minesweeper, along with the fire control equipment to make the guns effective against high flying Japanese bombers. His men fashioned mounts for the larger guns, added four more machine guns to the original two, and used boiler plate salvaged from the damaged shipyard to construct splinter shields for the guns and armor the bridge. Even though his men as no experience with 3" guns, they obtained a manual for one and, after only a few days of study by those who volunteered to man the guns, put them into action on the very next air raid. They shot down at least three bombers and perhaps as many as six over the following days and damaged at least two more, while the machine gun crews shot down at least two planes foolish enough to fly within range of what had been assumed to be a fairly inoffensive ship.
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