After taking off the surviving crew and passengers (Whipple rescued 308 men and Edsall 177 survivors) at 13:58, the escorting destroyers stood off and began firing nine 4 inches shells and two torpedoes into Langley'''s hull at 14:29 to prevent her from falling into enemy hands, scuttling her at approximately 8°51'04.2"S 109°02'02.6"E After being transferred to the oiler USS Pecos AO-6 6 , many of Langley's crew were lost when Pecos'' was sunk en route to Australia by Japanese carrier aircraft. [