Word: shellbursts
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...morning of Dec. 8, 1943. A U.S. fighter pilot had been- shot down within point-blank range of the island shore batteries, and the Boyd was bent on rescuing him. Suddenly, two 6-in. shells crashed into the forward .engine room, destroying half of the ship's power. Shellburst jets of water blossomed everywhere. The Boyd's skipper, Lieut. Commander Ulysses Simpson Grant Sharp Jr., unable to find the pilot, heeled the crippled destroyer about and began a nightmarish slow-motion escape through waters alive with explosions. "Knowing that the gunners would attempt to correct their fire after...