Damage control
B Co On 30 October the USS Enterprise (CV-6) pulled into Nouméa after taking two hits and two near misses during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands and B Co. was tasked to help. The Big E was the only aircraft carrier remaining in the Pacific West of Pearl Harbor, but had bomb damage to the flight deck at the bow and just aft of the forward elevator. The 500 pounder that struck there split in two upon penetrating the flight deck. The smaller portion detonated on the hangar deck putting a 4' bulge in the flight deck measuring 30'x60'. The larger portion passed down to third deck blowing out bulkheads, killing the ships Repair Party Number 2 mustered below. A third bomb was a near miss, midships below the waterline, that broke ship frames 30, 31, and 34. The concussion cracked a cast iron after-bearing support on one of the ship's turbines. The jolt caused the fore-mast to rotate in its socket enough to disable all the electronics mounted on it. It also affected the midships elevator. The other 500 lb. miss was starboard below the waterline at elevator number 1. It caused rivet failure, ruptured an oil tank and flooded two more plus the machinery room for an ammunition elevator. That forced Damage control to flood additional compartments to restore trim. Upon docking in Noumea the damage assessment Officer off the repair ship USS Vestal told Adm. Halsey repairs would take 3 weeks. Halsey replied they had ten days and he would give them some Seabees to get it done. B Company put 75 Seabees aboard to effect emergency repairs with 40 men from the Vestal. On day eleven the repair crews remained aboard when Adm. Halsey ordered the Enterprise back to action for what would be the called the Battle of the Solomons. Underway to engage the enemy, the men of CB 3 focused on effecting repairs even into the battle. They had worked round-the-clock under the Enterprise's damage control officer. They even had had Nouméa harbor lit up during blackout to get the ship operational. The damage control officer wrote that on 11 November: ""She made the open sea with her decks shaking and echoing to air hammers, with welders' arcs sparking.. without watertight integrity.. leaking oil.. and with her forward elevator still jammed."