The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Typhoon Cobra - Disaster at Sea - Dec. 18th, 2002

PatriotWatch ^

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Fascinating account. Thanks for the ping!

[spald]

Hubby and I appreciate your posts, SAMWolf. Nice to see history presented from a WWII vet point of view. We may not respond to each and every post, but be assured the posts are read in their entirety. God Bless you, SAMWolf.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks spald.

We appreciate the feed back and the knowing that you read and appreciate the Foxhole.

[comwatch]

Jeff... you wrote about your father: "He and my great uncle used to talk about that typhoon as much if not more than they did their other wartime experiences. Dad served as the navigation officer for a flotilla of LCI's."

One look at this rare photo says it all.  Consider how tall a carriers rides in the sea (freeboard) and what the power of 110 knott winds and 70 foot seas can do to a ship her size. If you connect the # 5 dots in the chart below and imagine human beings thrust into that sea, only God's hand could have spared those few brave men.

 

USS Langley (CVL -28) on a roll to starboard. "Even the largest and most seaworthy vessels become virtually unmanageable and may sustain heavy damage."

The green dots are where Weather Central said the storm was and the purple dots are where Halsey's aerologist said it was. The red dots represent the storm's actual center at those times and the red and black dots numbered 5 mark the position of the storm and of the Third Fleet respectively at 0900 on 18 December.

 

The actual time of Monaghan's loss has never been determined, nor is the exact location of her sinking known. She was last heard from at 1007 on the 18th. Watertender Second Class Joseph C. McCrane spoke of sounding the fuel tanks at sometime between 1000 and 1030, in preparation for ballasting The ship was rolling too heavily to continue that operation so he sought shelter in the after five-inch gun-mount, which he found crowded.  I suspect my dad, a Chief Gunner's mate, was among them.

"We must have taken at least seven or eight heavy rolls to starboard when the ship finally rolled over on her side," McCrane said The weight of the gun mount door and the wind blowing against it made it difficult to open "But eventually, we did get it open and managed to crawl out. Thankfully, none of the men had panicked, nor was there any confusion among them. They did the best they could to help their shipmates." They were all thrown into the sea and eventually McCrane found himself on a life raft with nine others.

One, Gunner's Mate Joe Guio, who had stood outside the gun mount hatch pulling sailors out, died from exhaustion. During the next three days, two more died from exposure. Another thought he saw land and houses and swam off into the night. On the third day, the raft was spotted by search planes and, within an hour, USS Brown (DD-546) came to their rescue.

There were six of them - all that was left of Monaghan and her crew. Evan Fenn, is likely the last living survivor of the U.S.S. Monaghan.

 

[comwatch]

MistyCA.... thank you for all your kind thoughts and comments.

Whether in war or peace, those who have seen death's face share one thing in common. God is there with you and his will be done. The terror leaves you... calm overtakes you. Either way you know, you will be okay. If there is any grief to be had, it is for those who cannot fathom that personal relationship with their heavenly Father.

[comwatch]

Thanks Bud... it came at a good time.

[Darksheare]

Hmm. Good read.
Those guys were/are tough.
and the "We're a destroyer escort. What type of ship are you?" puts it about right.

As far as is known, my family didn't have anyone out in the Pacific. They were all fighting the Germans. (Small irony there, my family is of 'German descent'... garnered quite a few chuckles over the years here. My Great Grandfatehr stated during WWII that if he could find the vein that had the german blood in it, he'd cut it and drain it.)

[Darksheare]

I just re-proofread my spelling.
How is it that on a once-through it looks fine.
Then on the eighth pass....
Grandfatehr=Grandfather
I neeeeeeeeed my coffee.

[Denver Ditdat]

Great post. Thanks for the ping!

BTW, this typhoon is also immortalized in fiction as the pivotal moment when Maryk relieves Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny".

[MistyCA]

Thanks for sharing that. I have a friend who is a member of an organization of people who have experienced near-death visits to the "other side". She was telling me that the other day she was in the store and saw a kid stealing an earring and putting it in his ear. She walked up to him and said, you know, I pray that you will do the things in your life that will bring you to the day when you can experience the glory of heaven. Once you are there you will share in beauty and light like you have never imagined! The brightness and brillance of heaven is so much more then anything you can put in your ear.

She said that after she said that to the kid she turned and walked away, but noticed that he took the earring out of his ear and put it back on the card, returning it to the rack.

[MistyCA]

LOL...don't worry about your spelling. We all do it around here, I think! The other thing I find myself doing is replacing one word with another...the instead of and, for instance! Then you look after it is posted and it sticks out like a sore thumb! I also tend to use the wrong word entirely......effect instead of affect, etc. Even with a spell checker (which I don't use) some of those errors are left for all of history! LOL!

[Light Speed]

Typhoons would damage the U.S. Fleet again in 1945

[Darksheare]

Something I do when reading, I skip half of the sentence I'm on and read the last half of a sentence one or two lines down. Sick part is, it makes an understandable and correct sentence.

Needless to say, many strange sentences have ben made in this fashion....

[MistyCA]

USS Cowpens - The Mighty Moo

[Darksheare]

Hmm.. what's that song? "Vertigo..."

That is a neat list there. A picture below would be neat from that time. But the camera guy was probably tied in place.....

My 24 pound holstien cat would be offended by the "Mighty Moo."
I think I'll bust on her with it.

[Darksheare]

I meant belowdecks. Cripes, I'm batting a thousand today...

[MistyCA]

LOL!

[MistyCA]

I have to leave for a while. See you later on! :) Take care of the thread and post some good pictures for me!!! :)

[Darksheare]

And in other news today..
A man walking down the street was accosted by a postal inspector's man biting dog, corporate analysts fear market downturn.

[Darksheare]

Okay.
I'll behave.];-)