The crew signatures on the mat of Vallejo artist I.R. Lloyd’s of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands by were collected by my uncle Coy Vandiver S1c after the BAILEY made her first visit to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, City of Vallejo California. Although reports of early Pacific battles were predominately routed through moderated channels the details of the battle reached the United States West Coast well before the battle damaged USS BAILEY DD-492 and heavy cruiser USS SALT LAKE CITY CA-25 made port at Mare Island to undergo repairs and refitting.  This victory for American navel forces was and an obvious public morale booster, this is demonstrated by rapidly published articles about the battle in popular magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Look and others as well as many of the nation’s newspapers.
Ostensibly before the last shot of the battle had been fired artist I.R. Lloyd was commissioned to commemorate the USS BAILEY in the midst of Japanese heavy cruisers surrounded by shell splashes and making smoke after delivering her torpedo attack.  Positive news from the Pacific Theater was still rare during this period of the war so getting the word about this naval victory to the public was obviously expedited. The painting was finished, prints were made, and copies were ready to sell to crew members when the BAILEY and SALT LAKE CITY arrived at Mare Island just eight days after the battle.
Copies of the painting sold for $1.00 and there appears to have been two color variations, blue and brown. In Coy's memorabilia there are one blue and two brown copies. The brown prints have a greater aesthetic appeal and to date his blue print is the only one I have seen.
American navel forces that made up Task Group 16.6 at The Battle of the Komandorski Islands included destroyers USS BAILEY DD-492, USS COGHLAN DD-606, USS DALE DD-353, USS MONAGHAN DD-354, heavy cruiser USS SALT LAKE CITY CA-25, and light cruiser USS RICHMOND CL-9.