Wow! My dad was also on the USS Phoenix during the attack. He spent most of the war with her. He said they just sat there for the first 30 minutes waiting for the boilers to develope enough steam so they could get underway. Fortunately as a cruiser, they were not targeted by the Japs.
“USS Phoenix”
They started making steam early as they had to sail out for target practice. Very lucky as they were able to get to open sea.
The japs turned right above the Phoenix to make their runs, that slowed them down and allowed the Phoenix gunners to shoot three down.
They were so low, when one of the cooks came up to see the action, he started throwing potatoes at them, LOL.