On August 8, 1942 Mr Geddes and his crew spotted and reported a Japanese attack  fleet heading towards the US Marines force that had just landed at  Guadalcanal. 
That night, the Japanese went on to rout  Allied ships off Guadalcanal, sinking four cruisers, including the HMAS  Canberra, killing more than 1,000 sailors.
The battle of Savo Island, as it became known, was the Allies' worst naval defeat of the war.
An  influential US historian, writing after the war, falsely accused Mr Geddes and his crew of failing to promptly report their sighting.
			
		
 
	
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