Fighting nature["Bull" Halsey's WWII battle against a Typhoon]{Book Review}

The Washington Times ^ | 03 June 2007 | Larry Thornberry

[Tijeras_Slim]

Excellent read.

[reagan_fanatic]

I had not heard about this inicident

I have to confess I've never heard of this either.

Amazing stuff. Thanks for the post.

[carton253]

I was reading the threads to see if this was the typhoon that undid Captain Quegg. Thanks for the info.

[Ditto]

This book review caught my eye. I had not heard about this inicident, but I'm always happy to read about Heroes.

I just printed this review out. There's an old salor I know who sailed through this storm. He told me about the three miserable days he was stuck below deck riding this one out. I think I'll pick up the book for him.

[PurpleMan]

“I Know This Book. Your Conclusions Were Wrong, Ryan. Halsey Acted Foolishly.” CAPT Ramius

[r9etb]

Several surviving destroyers reported rolling 70 or more; and we can only surmise how close this was to capsizing completely for some of them.

My dad's ship was on the fringes of this storm, and he said it was pretty nasty -- hard to imagine being on a ship in the middle of it.

He said the hardest part was trying to go down stairs as the ship rolled. As the ship rolled one way the stairs would get really steep and slippery, and as it rolled the other way the low bulkheads would reach out and bash people's heads.

[Charles Martel]

a much older cousin was on the USS Essex during the typhoons. He said it was the scariest thing he’s ever been through.

My late Father-In-Law was aboard a navy patrol bomber (Martin PBM Mariner "flying boat") in late 1944. He rode out this typhoon aboard his PBM while moored to a channel marker buoy, IIRC. He said it was the worst thing he experienced during the war.

[GATOR NAVY]

The modern Navy is pretty good at keeping ships out the worst of bad weather using a system called Optimum Track Ship Routing (OTSR). Merchant vessels use the services of commercial companies that do the same thing. But sometimes you’re trapped by geography or restricted by speed or just plain have to get somewhere. Then you suck it up and take it. I’ve taken 50+ degree rolls quite a few times when I was on LSTs. I’d rather not think about 70+.

[Fiji Hill]

Admiral Halsey notified me
He had to have a berth or he couldn't get to sea...

Halsey's Flagship USS New Jersey, November, 1944

[Calvin Locke]

The History Channel has a show on Halsey and the typhoons. One damaged ship contacted the fleet, and ordered him to catch up so they can survey the damage. The captain radioed back that they were still pulling survivors out of the water, and if it was all the same to them, he'd rather stay where he was, rescuing people. Fleet agreed, and sent a couple of destroyers back to help.

One of the survivors said they thought the damaged ship was Japanese, since they didn't recognized it from the storm's reconfiguration effort.

[golas1964]

Looks like he had a bath, not a berth. Quite a photo!

[Redleg Duke]

My personal favorite Halsey-ism was what he said when the USS Enterprise entered Pearl Harbor after the sneak attack.

"When we are finished, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell!"