USS Lexington's Capt. Frederick Sherman orders "Abandon ship" at 5:01 in the afternoon of May 8, 1943 during the Battle of the Coral Sea. The destroyer at right (just visible through the smoke) is taking on the wounded. Other crewmembers slide down ropes to the water to be picked up by small boats. Not a man was lost in abandoning the ship. Photo courtesy of U.S. Navy, from The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players that Won the War by William B. Hopkins.
