WGSC: Halsey's Typhoon

[NewFlyBoy]

Book Title:

Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue

Author:

Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

ISBN:

13-978-0-87113-948-1

Category:

History

Format:

Hardback

Summary:

In December of 1944 Admiral William "Bull" Halsey sailed the U.S. Navy Pacific fast carrier group into one of the largest recorded typhoon's in naval history, Typhoon Cobra. The result were the loss of three destroyers capsized and sunk with close to 800 naval personnel drowned, close to 30 ships seriously damaged, and over 120 planes lost to the fleet. This book tells the story of these desperate hours and the heroic rescues of the few survivors of the sunken ships. Told as both a naval history and a recounting of survivors tales, I found this book difficult to put down even though I knew how it ended. My interest in this story comes from hearing my father talk about his experiences riding out this typhoon on his ship which survived relatively unscathed except booms and cranes on his ship were "bent like pretzels" from the force of the storm. My father talked of 70 foot waves, but the book chronicles 90 foot waves at times. The three destroyers that were unable to sufficiently refuel before the storm did not have sufficient ballast and as a result capsized. Th U.S.S. Hull sank losing 202 of its 264 crew members, the U.S.S. Monaghan sank losing 256 of its 262 crew members, and the U.S.S. Spence sank losing 317 of its 340 crew members. In addition to a compelling story, the book contains many pages of photographs of the ships, the storm, and personal photos of the crew members of the ill-fated ships. As a side note, the play "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" is based on the playwright's experiences in Typhoon Cobra. I recommend this book to all who have an interest in U.S. Naval operations in the Pacific in WW II. I have added an album of U.S. Navy photographs from the typhoon on my profile page.