Trying to decide what the most harrowing experience that I was forced to endure throughout the war and in fact my entire life has been for me to date, one of my greatest endeavors. However, it is quite easy for me to rank one event in the top five : TYPHOON COBRA. When my mind dwells on this small incident, it's as if it just happened. I can still hear the sounds, smell the smells and taste the fear. I didn't even know the name of the typoon until I located it on the INTERNET just recently.
In order for me to paint enough of a picture that would enable you to see and feel the effects of this incident, I must burden you with some historical facts. It involves three separate components that came together which resulted in one of the Navy's greatest disasters.
The first component was Task Force 38 commanded by Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. Task Force 38 consisted of seven ESSEX class carriers, six light carriers, eight battleships, four heavy and eleven light cruisers and fifty destroyers.
The second component was a fueling group of the Third fleet commanded by Captain Jasper T. Acuff. This group consisted of twelve fleet oilers, three fleet tugs, five destroyers, ten destroyer escorts and five escort carriers with replacement aircraft.
The third component was of course: TYPHOON COBRA. She was a small typhoon by most accounts. However, when all three components came together the result was.....three destroyers were sunk, numerous ships suffered significant damage with a loss of over 800 officers and men.
Admiral Nimitz was quoted as saying : "This was the greatest uncompensated loss that the Navy had taken since the Battle of Savo Island."
This disaster occured as a result of a number of things. A number of ships comprising Task Force 38 were dangerously low on fuel after their three days of strikes on Luzon. Refueling had been ordered and numerous destroyers had been deballasted in preparation for taking on fuel. At this time, we didn't have sophisticated equipment to track storms as we have today. It was known that there was a strong storm out there but nobody knew or could accurately predict where it was at any given moment. Decisions were being made strictly on guesswork. Refueling was canceled numerous times because of constantly deteriorating weather conditions. With each cancellation, a new set of coordinates were given for the next attempt at refueling. The Fleet was becoming more and more spread out. The last and most dangerous element was the TYPHOON and Mother Nature. Whoever said: "Don't mess with Mother Nature" was probably assigned to Task Force 38. During the worse, seas were recorded to be 40 to 60 feet high. Hurricane force winds of 73 knots plus higher gusts were recorded. At one point zig zagging was ordered halted and it was basically every ship had to fend for herself.
This is where our role in this incident began. As I previously stated, we were ordered to join with Task Force 38. We had heard rumors that there was a pretty healthy storm in the Pacific but we had no idea where it was and the Pacific was a pretty sizable body of water. What we didn't know at the time but would realize rather quickly was that our course was taking us directly into the path of the TYPHOON.
It wasn't long after we headed out to find Task Force 38, which we had only a vague idea where she was, when the seas and weather conditions started getting bad. I had been in some serious seas before but there was something about these that I didn't like and couldn't figure out why. But I knew I was growing more and more concerned as the hours passed. I did what I could to prepare for the worse by pumping our precious fuel into the center tanks, filling them to the maximum capacity and flooding all the empty ones. One thing I had learned on that little bucket was the importance of trimming her down...so I didn't wait for the order. I just did it. And a wise decision it turned out to be. Conditions continued to worsen. We hadn't see a star in days so it was extremely difficult to tell where we were. The wind and the sea continued to grow with no let up in sight. Winds were gusting over 30 knots and sea were climbing to ten feet....then twenty feet.....then thirty feet..........
The skipper decided to sound General Quarters, dog her down and secure all water tight doors. So, wherever you were, when all hatches were secure, was where you stayed for the duration of the storm. To open a hatch was flirting with disaster as all hatches were awash and opening one could cause dangerous flooding. So, my crewand I were stuck in a noisy, hot engine room for a couple of days. We had to work diligently to keep both engines running but, you could only work with one hand...the other hand, was used to hold on because we were constantly being thrown about the engine room. And conditions continued to worsen.....
Please bear in mind that from this point on, our only source of information came from topside. For instance, we knew that the beginning of the worse was upon us when we heard the skipper holler, "Oh my God boys!! HANG ON!! We are in for a rough one." With no place to run and no where to hide, the skipper decided to hit the wave head on to keep this 40-50 foot wall of water from rolling us. So, straight at her we went at 1/3 speed. The chatter on the phones was constant and causing a near panic. Then the final word came....HANG ON. A moment later, it was as if a giant hand had grabbed our bow and totally stopped us. Everything not strapped down went flying forward. Wrenches, nuts, bolts, engine parts, mops and men were slammed into the bulkhead....then came a weird rolling sensation which overtook us and just as suddenly, everything that just flew forward was shot to the rear bulkhead. We had just plowed through the surge wave of TYPHOON COBRA. We were told later that the wave that hit us was 40-50 ft high. We plowed right into it and it up ended us. We literally stood on end....bow up. Fortunately, we didn't roll. We popped to the surface and all hell broke loose.
For over 48 hours....we endured. We did have access to fresh water and we did have some C-rations stored. But, I don't recall anyone eating. Nobody slept and no one got seasick. It was to rough and we were too busy to get sick. Dying crossed my mind several times because I didn't really know how much of a beating we could take. I was tormented by thoughts of my sweetie and my son because on occasion I felt I would never get to see them again. Every man on board went through their own form of living hell. The good thing is, I couldn't spend too much time dwelling on any one thing. I were either busy making repairs or it was so rough that all I could do was hold on for dear life. Someone was once quoted as saying : "There is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole". Well, the same thing can be said for an engine room during a typhoon. God and Jesus' name were mentioned numerous times. One particular phrase stuck with me all these years. Not for any religious reasons, but rather I couldn't figure it out. It didn't make much sense. During the crashing, rumbling, banging and clanging, I heard someone say: "God? If You get me out of this one...I promise to get myself out of the next one." I never heard of cutting a deal with God but I guess it happens.
Mother Nature's fury finally abted enough for us to venture topside and survey our damage. It was indeed a shocking sight. Everything topside was torn away and lost. Our radar was lying beside the stack. The yardarm was twisted and the mast was bent straight back. The topside fire hose and racks were gone. The mooring line and reel were missing. The K gun depth charges were missing on all 4. The hedgehog was torn loose and bent back like the lid on a sardine can. Down below, we had one hell of a serious leak in the forward engine room. The bilge pumps couldn't keep pace, so I decided to cool the main engines from the water in the bilges. We were able to stem the flooding ....but ...not stop it.
Finally, the sun burst through. What a wonderful sight, it was! We found out just where we were and in short order, we were directed to make for Majuro Island. When we arrived, we found the bulk of the fleet that we had been looking for, before the TYPHOON. It was an absolutely sickening sight to behold.
The damage and devastation to the fleet was almost incomprehensible. As bad as we were tore up, there were numerous ships that suffered much more than we had. I saw several light carriers that had exposed second levels where the flight deck had collapsed, destroying numerous aircraft. I remember standing on the bow looking at all the damage and carnage surrounding me, thinking to myself, "My God, if this had been the result of a battle at sea, we would have lost in a big way." The fleet looked as if it had been in a major battle and sustained major damage to ALL her ships. It was around this time that we found out how fortunate we were, despite the damage suffered...we were advised that numerous of our brother ships and crews didn't survive and were listed as....missing.
Being one of the numerous ships that were determined to be seriously damaged to be of any further use to the Task Force, we were ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. When we arrived in port, there were a number of big wigs on hand to see for themselves just how bad it was. By the expressions I observed on a number of their faces, I could tell that what they saw put them in a state of shock.
Once we were docked and tied up, we couldn't secure one of our engines because we were still flooding and the engine was still serving as a bilge pump. We needed a dry dock immediately and our Captain let them know. We were one of the first to be drydocked.
Once we were dry docked, I could finally secure the engine and for the first time since sailing into that typhoon, relax...because my ship was safe. My home was secure, so to speak. Repairs began immediately. While all this controlled mayham was going on, word came down that a Chief Motor Machinist was needed stateside for a new construction. Being as there had been some snafu in my paperwork sometime back and I was being carried as a Chief Motor Machinist instead of a Chief Engineman, I jumped at the chance and submitted a chit for transfer. Well, my luck was holding because my orders came through and I would be heading to the States in two weeks. I was one happy sailor and I worked my ass off so the two weeks would pass quickly. I was going to get a chance to see my sweety and my son. During war time, you just couldn't pass up an opportunity like this.
© 1997 ervd@hotmail.com
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