This picture is of the USS Pringle DD-477 Division "A" survivors.  The Photo was taken on the USS Starlight AP-175, a transport ship that brought some of the Pringle survivors (except the wounded) back to San Francisco after the Pringle sank.  
Does anyone know the reason these guys were all together in Division "A"?     What did Division "A" mean?

Survivors identified in this picture:
Sylvester Sandelier, 2nd row down, 5th in from the left (looking up)
Hendersen Hemphill, bottom row, 2nd in from the left (wearing a white hat)  
Ambrose Whitedog, 3nd row down, 2nd in from the left (Native American Sioux) - 'plank owner' assigned to the Pringle on its commissioning
Chester Leonard Sobocinski, top row, 3rd from the right
Ralph Herbert Wendt, 3rd row from the bottom, 3rd man from the right - 'plank owner' assigned to the Pringle on its commissioning
Gene Robert Messer, bottom row, 4th from the left
William Wilson Luger, bottom row, 3rd from the right
Donald Albert Tilley, second row from the bottom, last man on the right
Woodrow Ralph Obermeier, bottom row, second from right
     Regarding Mr. Obermeier, Ralph Wendt laughed and said  "If you see Obermeier, tell him I'm looking for him. 
     He still owes me the hundred bucks I loaned to him in a poker game the night before we went down."
John Raymond Riggs, bottom row, third from left
Robert Emson Odom, top row, third from the left (blond hair)
Emery Wayne Harned, bottom row, first from the left
Robert John Guzowski, top row, third from the right
Harold Franklin McWilliams, top row, fourth from the left