In December 1944, a strong typhoon called "Cobra" hit Task Force 38th under the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet. In the accident, three destroyers of the US military sank, 146 aircraft were destroyed or blown into the sea, more than 20 ships were severely damaged, and more than 800 people were killed, the losses were second only to the " Pearl Harbor Incident".
For a long time, typhoons have been a monster that people are afraid of talking about, and sometimes it will affect or even change the situation of the war. The most well-known of this is the famous battle example that Japanese historians call the "Hong'an Battle". In 1281, Kublai Khan dispatched a large army to attack Japan, but was swallowed by a typhoon in the Sea of Japan and his entire army was wiped out. The US Navy also suffered such a catastrophe during World War II. US Navy veteran Thomson Weber is a witness to this incident.
On December 18, 1944, about 300 miles east of Luzon Island, the Pacific Ocean, a more terrifying enemy than the Japanese army, a tropical typhoon known as the "Cobra", hit the 38th American Task Force led by Admiral William Frederick Halsey, nicknamed "Bull".
17 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on the 17th, the Naihanta Bay "is a small aircraft carrier smaller than a light aircraft carrier. It mainly undertakes daily patrols, vanguards and anti-submarine escorts in the transport fleet. This time, its mission is to escort the supply ships (mainly oil tankers) that support General Halsey.
At that time, Luzon was still in the hands of the Japanese, and MacArthur commanded the US Army just southwest of Luzon. Mindolo Island landed. In order to restrain and attack the Japanese aviation forces, from the 14th to the 16th, Halsey commanded the 38th Task Force, the main force of the 3rd Fleet, launched a three-day attack on the Japanese aviation base in Luzon. The continuous combat almost ran out of fuel from each ship. On the 17th, the fleet sailed to the waters east of the Philippines, preparing to replenish seas and refuel at sea. Just after noon, the huge 38th Task Force appeared from sea level, and battleships . Cruisers and aircraft carriers are surrounded by countless destroyers, covering the entire sea. They slowly sail towards us, and countless carrier-based aircraft flew up and disappeared quickly in the direction of Luzon.
oil tankers unfolded in sequence on the sea surface on both sides of us, forming two long queues, and the huge 38th fleet docked beside them, waiting patiently for refueling. One side of the oil transport fleet is various heavy ships, and the other side is smaller destroyers. After the destroyer is refueled , just replace the destroyers responsible for guarding the surrounding sea. After refueling those heavy ships, they will retreat to the back to allow those ships with smaller tonnage to continue refueling.
Normally, warships and oil tankers can easily refuel, but today they need to constantly control the rudder to barely maintain the docking between the two sides. Within a minute, the helmsman first swung five degrees to the right, and then seven degrees to the left.
The wind on the sea gradually increased to 30 knots (1 knot = 1.852 km/h), the ship began to become uncontrollable. No one expected that a strong typhoon would come. At this time, the ocean became more and more irritable. A large amount of gray-white sea water was stirred into bubbles by the strong wind, swaying towards us. The "Nehanta Bay" was shaking violently in the ever-growing huge waves. The huge wave suddenly lifted the flight deck at the front of the ship, and the ship turned to the port side; the helm turned quickly again, and the port side was controlled, and the starboard side entered the next wave again, and the bow turned to the starboard side again... The steering wheel could no longer balance the hull!
However, this was just the beginning. The weather was still getting worse, and the barometer showed that the sea surface pressure was from 29.81 (inch mercury, 1 inch mercury = 3386 Pascal), down to 29.67 now. The wind is also increasing, and the wind speed reaches 35 to 40 knots. News from other ships is constantly coming from the radio. A ship reported that someone broke his leg and several people were injured by a suddenly pulled pipe when approaching the oil pipeline. Then there is news that someone fell into the water on a destroyer and that people could not rescue him at all.
Finally, the commander of the fleet ordered the stop of refueling, and the oil tanker and the warship began to separate. escort aircraft carrier and the oil tanker, follow behind other ships in , enter the night navigation sequence, and sail to another meeting point.
The warships were sailing in front, and the planes returning from the battle also began to look for the warships to land. Some aircraft stop whenever they see the aircraft carrier. Others are not so lucky. A guy parachuted after the plane ran out of gasoline, and despite a destroyer staring at his whereabouts, he finally lost his trace on the storm-like sea. Many aircraft failed to find aircraft carriers that could land due to bad weather, and eventually disappeared into this vast ocean.
