Bob Drury - Halseys Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue

HALSEYS TYPHOON

The True Story of a Fighting
Admiral, an Epic Storm, and
an Untold Rescue

BOB DRURY
AND
TOM CLAVIN

Copyright 2007 by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, or the facilitation thereof, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Any members of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use, or publishers who would like to obtain permission to include the work in an anthology, should send their inquiries to Grove/Atlantic, Inc., 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

Published simultaneously in Canada

Printed in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Drury, Bob.

Halseys typhoon : the true story of a fighting admiral, an epic storm, and an untold rescue / Bob Drury & Tom Clavin.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-5558-4629-9

1. United States. Navy. Fleet, 3rdHistory. 2. World War, 19391945Naval operations, American. 3. TyphoonsHistory20th century. 4. ShipwrecksPhilippine SeaHistory. 5. Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc. 6. Halsey, William Frederick, 18821959. I. Clavin,

Thomas. II. Title.

D773.D78 2007

940.545973dc22 2006049948

Atlantic Monthly Press
an imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
841 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

Distributed by Publishers Group West
www.groveatlantic.com

To the 793 who
perished with honor, with
dignity, and with courage.

Third Fleet

Adm. William Halsey, Commander of Third Fleet

Adm. John McCain, Commander of Task Force 38

Comdr. George Kosco, Chief Aerologist of Third Fleet

Adm. Mick Carney, Halseys Chief of Staff

Capt. Jasper Acuff, Commander of Task Group 30.8

Capt. Preston Mercer, Commander of Destroyer Squadron 1

Lt. (j.g.) Jerry Ford, USS Monterey

Capt. Charles Calhoun, USS Dewey

Capt. William Rogers, USS Aylwin

Capt. Stuart Ingersoll, USS Monterey

Capt. R. W. Bockius, USS Cape Esperance

Capt. Michael Kernodle, USS San Jacinto

Capt. Raymond Toner, USS Robert F. Keller

Capt. H. P. Butterfield, USS Nehenta Bay

USS Tabberer

Capt. Henry Lee Plage

Lt. Bob Surdam, Executive Officer

Lt. (j.g.) Howard Korth, Gunnery Officer

Louis Purvis, Bosuns Mate 1st Class

Paul Cookie Phillips, Ships Cook 1st Class

William McClain, Mailman 3rd Class

Leonard Glaser, Shipfitter 3rd Class

John Cross, Signalman 3rd Class

Ralph Tucker, Chief Radioman

Tom Bellino, Gunners Mate

Lt. Frank Cleary, Medical Officer

USS Hull

Capt. James Marks

Lt. Griel Gherstly, Executive Officer

Lt. (j.g.) Lloyd Rust, CIC Officer

Archie DeRyckere, Chief Quartermaster

Pat Douhan, Petty Officer 2nd Class

Ray Schultz, Chief Bosuns Mate

Tom Stealey, Fireman

Spiz Hoffman, Ships Cook 1st Class

Nick Nagurney, Fireman 1st Class

USS Monaghan

Capt. Bruce Garrett

Keith Abbott, Radar Technician

Joe McCrane, Watertender 2nd Class

Evan Fenn, Fireman

Joe Guio, Gunners Mate

USS Spence

Capt. James Andrea

Lt. (j.g.) Alphonso Krauchunas

Bob Ayers, Gunners Mate Striker

George Johnson, Chief Watertender

Floyd Balliett, Radar Technician

Other Officers

Adm. Ernest King, Chief of U.S. Naval Operations

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Field Marshal, Combined American-Filipino Army

Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander of Pacific Naval Operations (CINCPAC)

Arleigh Burke, Commander, DesRon 23, Little Beavers

Adm. Raymond Spruance, Commander of Fifth Fleet

Rear Adm. Thomas Kinkaid, Commander of (MacArthurs) Seventh Fleet

Abaft toward the stern of a boat; behind

Abeam on a line at right angles to a ships keel

Aft (also stern) the rear part of a ship

Amidships in or toward the center

Beam the width of a ship at its widest part

Bow (also prow) the forward part of a ship

Bridge the raised platform on a ship from which it is navigated

Bulkhead a vertical partition separating compartments

CINCPAC commander in chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet (Nimitz)

Coaming a vertical piece around the edge of a cockpit, hatch, etc., to prevent water on deck from running below

Comdr. commander

CPO chief petty officer

CWO chief warrant officer

Following sea an overtaking sea that comes from astern

Helm the wheel or lever controlling the rudder of a ship

Hull the frame or body of a ship (excluding masts, yards, and rigging)

Keel the longitudinal plate extending along and projecting from the center of the bottom of a ship

Leeward away from the direction of the wind; opposite of windward

Line nautical term for a rope

Locked in Irons unable to escape the liquid gorge formed by parallel waves on either side of a ship

Pilothouse (also wheelhouse) the deckhouse for a ships helmsman containing the steering wheel and navigating equipment

Port the left side of a ship

Starboard the right side of a ship

Stern the rear of a ship

TBS talk-between-ships

Watch four-hour period when a sailor is on duty

Windward toward the direction from which the wind is coming

December 18, 1944
The Philippine Sea, 500 Miles East of Luzon

Chief Quartermaster Archie DeRyckere was more astonished than frightened. He craned his neck to stare at the massive waves, churning gouts of water, some reaching ninety feet in height. The seas were not only mammoth, but confused by a backing wind that slammed into the sheer, flint gray walls of ocean and seemed to suspend them in midair, like looming, petrified hills. The USS Hull rolled at unprecedented angles, slip-sliding nearly stern-first into the trough.

DeRyckere had sailed through weather before, none like this. The rain blew hard, horizontal, pelting the bridge like grapeshot and pocking the skin of any seaman who had the hard luck to face it. As another huge comber marbled the Hulls deck with whitewater, the chief was reminded of a set of tumblers clicking into place, locking the 2,100-ton destroyer in irons.

For the better part of the morning DeRyckere had listened with mounting disbelief from his station on the bridge as the Hulls TBS (talk-between-ships) ship-to-ship wireless flashed scratchy distress calls from across the whole upheaval of the Philippine Sea. Vessels unaccounted for. Men swept overboard. Fighter planes blown into the sea off the decks of carriers. Cruisers dead in the water. The 170-odd ships comprising Adm. William F. Halsey Jr.s Third Pacific Fleet, the United States Navys Big Blue Fleet, had been ambushed by a tropical cyclone, and the most powerful armada in the world was scattered and running for its life. This was far worse, DeRyckere thought, than anything the Japanese had thrown at them over the past three days.