Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"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
Review
"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
Synopsis
An epic account of the previously classified 1944 naval disaster describes how naval admiral William Halsey's Pacific Fleet was advancing on Tokyo under General MacArthur's orders only to be swept up by a category-four typhoon that capsized three destroyers and ended the lives of nearly 800 young soldiers. 100,000 first printing. $125,000 ad/promo.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
In the tradition of The Perfect Storm and Flags of Our Fathers , Halseys Typhoon chronicles the epic tale of men clashing against the ruthless forces of war and nature. In December 1944, Americas most popular and colorful naval hero, Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, unwittingly sailed his undefeated Pacific Fleet into the teeth of the most powerful storm on earth. Three destroyers were capsized sending hundreds of sailors and officers into the raging, shark infested waters. Over the next sixty hours, small bands of survivors fought seventy-foot waves, exhaustion, and dehydration to await rescue at the hands of the courageous Lt. Com. Henry Lee Plage, who, defying orders, sailed his tiny destroyer escort USS Tabberer through 150 mph winds to reach the lost men. Thanks to documents that have been declassified after sixty years and dozens of first-hand accounts from survivors—including former President Gerald Ford—one of the greatest World War II stories, and a riveting tale of survival at sea, can finally be told.
About the Author
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.