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

In December 1944, Admiral William Bull Halsey was America's most popular and colorful naval hero. While supporting General Douglas MacArthur's famous I Shall Return invasion of the Philippines, he unwittingly sailed his undefeated Pacific Fleet into the teeth of the most powerful storm on earth. The typhoon left a previously invincible fleet devastated, inflicting more damage and loss of life than the Battle of Midway.

Stunned Navy brass suppressed the scope of the disaster so as not to endanger the American advance on Tokyo, and Halsey never spoke about the ensuing Court of Inquiry. Only now, thanks to documents that have been declassified after sixty years and dozens of firsthand accounts from survivors — including one by former president Gerald Ford — can the tragic yet heroic story of Halsey's Typhoon finally be told. Smashed and battered by waves and wind, Halsey's Third Fleet fought desperately to stay afloat. Dozens of ships were damaged and three — the destroyers USS Hull, USS Monaghan, and USS Spence — absorbed so much punishment that they capsized. Nearly nine hundred sailors and officers were hurled into the ocean or trapped belowdecks. Most of these men, who were teenagers or in their early twenties, found themselves struggling to keep their heads above the frothing seventy-foot waves in the deepest shark-infested waters of the Pacific. Over the next sixty hours, small bands of survivors fought dehydration, exhaustion, and the elements to await rescue at the hands of the courageous Lieutenant Commander Henry Lee Plage who, defying orders, sailed his tiny destroyer escort, the USS Tabberer, through 150-mph winds to rescue drifting sailors.

Halsey's Typhoon is a gripping truestory of courage and survival against impossible odds — and one of the grestest World War II sagas of our time.

"At the height of the Second World War in 1944, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was struck by a typhoon that sank three destroyers and drowned 800 sailors. Drury (The Rescue Season) and Clavin (Dark Noon: The Final Voyage of the Fishing Boat Pelican) draw on proceedings of a navy board of inquiry and eyewitness recollections to recreate the catastrophe. On the one hand, this is an absorbing if disjointed maritime disaster saga in which shrieking winds and monstrous waves batter warships to pieces. It's also a study in judgment under pressure, as hard-charging Adm. William 'Bull' Halsey (motto: 'Kill Japs') keeps his fleet positioned in the storm's path because of faulty weather reports, accusations that he improperly left his station during the earlier Battle of Leyte Gulf and general overaggressiveness. Closer to the waterline, the authors contrast the fecklessness of Capt. James Marks of the U.S.S. Hull, which sank, to the steadiness of Capt. Henry Plage of the U.S.S. Tabberer, which braved mountainous seas to rescue survivors. The trumped-up leadership parable is perhaps unfair to Halsey and Marks. Still, the authors make their account a vivid tale of tragedy and gallantry at sea. Photos." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"At the height of the Second World War in 1944, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was struck by a typhoon that sank three destroyers and drowned 800 sailors. Drury (The Rescue Season) and Clavin (Dark Noon: The Final Voyage of the Fishing Boat Pelican) draw on proceedings of a navy board of inquiry and eyewitness recollections to recreate the catastrophe. On the one hand, this is an absorbing if disjointed maritime disaster saga in which shrieking winds and monstrous waves batter warships to pieces. It's also a study in judgment under pressure, as hard-charging Adm. William 'Bull' Halsey (motto: 'Kill Japs') keeps his fleet positioned in the storm's path because of faulty weather reports, accusations that he improperly left his station during the earlier Battle of Leyte Gulf and general overaggressiveness. Closer to the waterline, the authors contrast the fecklessness of Capt. James Marks of the U.S.S. Hull, which sank, to the steadiness of Capt. Henry Plage of the U.S.S. Tabberer, which braved mountainous seas to rescue survivors. The trumped-up leadership parable is perhaps unfair to Halsey and Marks. Still, the authors make their account a vivid tale of tragedy and gallantry at sea. Photos." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Drury and Clavin have managed to avoid the problems that so often plague books with two authors-jerky breaks in the narrative, chapters cast in radically different voices." Kirkus Reviews

"An entirely gripping account and a guaranteed hit with maritime buffs." Booklist

"Halsey's Typhoon joins a rare shelf of must-read books about the most important conflict of the twentieth century....A powerful and engrossing story of tragedy, survival, and heroism." Mark Bowden, author of Black Hawk Down and Guests of the Ayatollah

"This book is so good that I kept forgetting I was reading it to ensure accuracy instead of merely reading because it was captivating. What a terrific story. Where did we find such men?" Captain Michael J. Jacobsen, United States Navy

In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Flags of Our Fathers, this work chronicles the epic tale of men clashing against the ruthless forces of war and nature — a gripping true story of courage and survival against impossible odds and one of the greatest World War II sagas of our time.

Bob Drury is an award-winning adventure and travel writer and foreign correspondent whose work has appeared in Men's Journal, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Sports Illustrated. He is the author of The Rescue Season: The Heroic Story of Parajumpers on the Edge of the World.

Tom Clavin is the author of seven books, including the recent Dark Noon: The Final Voyage of the Fishing Boat Pelican. Clavin has been a regular New York Times contributor for fifteen years. Both authors live on Long Island.