 
Location of USS Meredith sinking, off Solomon Islands, Pacific Ocean
Departing Espiritu Santo on 12 October 1942, USS Meredith, now commanded by Commander Harry E. Hubbard, was underway as part of a convoy with Alchiba, Bellatrix, Jamestown, Nicholas, and Vireo, each pulling a barge carrying barrels of aviation gasoline and 500-pound bombs to the United States forces on Guadalcanal. Two days later it was learned that a Japanese carrier task force was in the vicinity and all ships except USS Meredith and Vireo turned back. Despite the fact that USS Meredith was equipped only with surface-search and not air-search radar, Commander Hubbard decided to press on to deliver the critically needed aviation gas.
USS Meredith was sighted by a Japanese patrol plane on the morning of 15 October, and shortly after midday, took aboard the 68-man crew of Vireo to depart the area at high speed. However, while preparing to torpedo Vireo to keep her out of Japanese hands, USS Meredith was attacked by a force of 38 bombers, torpedo planes, and escort fighters from Zuikaku. In the first three minutes of the attack, USS Meredith was struck by a bomb that exploded beneath her bridge, destroying all communications, steering control, and gun direction. A second bomb struck the forward port side, and a torpedo exploded below the ready ammunition locker, igniting the ship's pyrotechnics and setting fire to fuel oil leaking from her bunkers.
USS Meredith fought fiercely and brought down three of her attackers, but she was struck by an estimated 14 bombs and seven torpedoes. USS Meredith rolled over and sank in 10 minutes at 11°53'S 163°20'E. Of the crew of 273 on board that day, only eight officers and 73 enlisted men survived the attack and the three ensuing days of exposure to the open sea and sharks until they were rescued by Grayson, Seminole and Gwin. Six members of USS Meredith's crew managed to swim to Vireo and were rescued by a naval PBY Catalina flying boat on 19 October.
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