The submarine's commanding officer, Commander Fred Connaway, decided to surface and give the crew of the doomed vessel a chance for survival. With her decks still awash, Sculpins gunners manned the deck guns but were no match for the destroyer's main battery. A shell hit the conning tower and killed the bridge watch, including Connaway, and flying fragments killed the gun crew, including gunnery officer Lieutenant Joseph Defrees, the ship's sponsor's son. The ship's senior surviving officer, Lieutenant George E. Brown, ordered Sculpin abandoned and scuttled. Before he opened the vents, he informed Captain Cromwell. Fearing he might reveal the plans for the Tarawa invasion under the influence of torture or drugs, Cromwell refused to leave the stricken submarine, giving his life to escape capture. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his act of heroism and devotion to country. Sculpins diving officer, Ensign W. M. Fiedler (who failed to notice the depth gauge had stuck), along with ten others, some doubtless already dead, joined him.Blair, p. 525.
