View source for Typhoon Cobra

{{short description|Pacific typhoon in 1944}}
{{Infobox weather event
| image = Typhoon Cobra, 18 December 1944 east of Luzon.jpg
| caption = Eye structure captured on radar
| formed = December 14, 1944
| dissipated = December 19, 1944
}}{{Infobox weather event/JTWC
| winds = 140
| pressure = 924
| basin = WPac
}}{{Infobox weather event/Effects
| year = 1944
| fatalities = 790 U.S., unknown elsewhere
| damage = 
| areas = [[Philippine Sea]]
| refs = <ref name=map>US Dept of Commerce map (1944)</ref><ref name="Baldwin" />
}}{{Infobox weather event/Footer
| season = [[1944 Pacific typhoon season]]
}}

'''Typhoon Cobra''', also known as the '''Typhoon of 1944''' or '''Halsey's Typhoon''' (named after Admiral [[William Halsey Jr.]]), was the [[United States Navy]] designation for a powerful [[tropical cyclone]] that struck the [[United States Pacific Fleet]] in December 1944, during [[World War II]]. The storm sank three destroyers, killed 790 sailors, damaged 9 other warships, and swept dozens of aircraft overboard off their aircraft carriers.

[[Fast Carrier Task Force|Task Force 38]] (TF&nbsp;38) had been operating about {{convert|300|mi|nmi km|lk=on|abbr=on}} east of [[Luzon]] in the [[Philippine Sea]], conducting air raids against Japanese airfields in the [[Philippines]] and had been trying to refuel their ships. Information given to Halsey about the typhoon was incorrect, and despite warning signs of worsening conditions, the ships remained on station until December 17 when Halsey ordered the [[United States Third Fleet|Third Fleet]] into the center of the typhoon.

With currently available data,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atms.unca.edu/ibtracs/ibtracs_v04r00/index.php?name=YearBasin-1944|title=IBTrACS - International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship|website=www.atms.unca.edu}}</ref> it was the 23rd and last known Western [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] tropical cyclone formed during the [[1944 Pacific typhoon season|1944 season]].

==Meteorological history==
{{storm path|Cobra 1944 track.png|colors=new}}

On December 17, 1944, the [[typhoon]] was first observed when [[United States Third Fleet]] was refueling.<ref name="bryson">{{cite journal |last1=Bryson |first1=Reid A. |title=Typhoon Forecasting, 1944, or, The Making of a Cynic |journal=  Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|date=2000 |volume=81 |issue=10 |pages=2393–2397|doi=10.1175/1520-0477-81.10.2393 |bibcode=2000BAMS...81.2393B |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="halsey67">{{cite book |last1=Adamson |first1=Hans Christian |last2=Kosco |first2=George F. |author-link2=George F. Kosco|title=Halsey's Typhoons |date=1967 |publisher=Crown Publishers |location=New York |page=206}}</ref> [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Force]] forecast center on [[Saipan]] sent a reconnaissance flight and found the storm heading towards the fleet, with the estimated winds of {{convert|140|kn|mph m/s km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref name="bryson" /><ref name="halsey67" /> As it was headed towards the fleet, barometric pressures as low as 27.3&nbsp;[[Inch of mercury|inHg]] (924&nbsp;[[Bar (unit)|mbar]]) were reported by [[USS Dewey (DD-349)|USS ''Dewey'']].<ref name="Baldwin" /> The storm dissipated on December 19.

==Damage to Task Force 38==
TF&nbsp;38 consisted of 7 [[aircraft carrier|fleet carriers]], 6 [[Light aircraft carrier|light carriers]], 8 [[battleship]]s, 15 [[cruiser]]s, and about 50 [[destroyer]]s. The carriers had been conducting raids against Japanese airfields in the Philippines, and ships were being refueled, especially many destroyers, which were running low on fuel. When the storm hit, the procedure had to be aborted.

Damage to the fleet was severe. Some ships rolled more than 70 degrees. Three destroyers, {{USS|Spence|DD-512|2}}, {{USS|Hickox|DD-673|2}}, and {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|2}}, had nearly empty fuel stores (10–15% of capacity) and so lacked the stabilizing effect of the extra weight, making them relatively unstable. Additionally, several other destroyers, including {{USS|Hull|DD-350|2}} and {{USS|Monaghan|DD-354|2}}, were of the older [[Farragut-class destroyer (1934)|''Farragut''-class]] and had been refitted with over {{convert|500|LT|t|abbr=on}} of extra equipment and armament, which made them top-heavy.

''Spence'', ''Hull'', and ''Monaghan'' either capsized or were sunk after water flooded down their smokestacks and disabled their engines. Without power, they were unable to control their heading and were at the mercy of the wind and seas. ''Hickox'' and ''Maddox'' pumped seawater into their empty fuel tanks, adding enough stability to ride out the storm with relatively minor damage.

Many other ships of TF&nbsp;38 suffered various degrees of damage, especially to radar and radio equipment, which crippled communications within the fleet. Several carriers suffered fires in their hangars, and 146 aircraft were wrecked or blown overboard. Nine ships—including one [[light cruiser]], three light carriers, and two [[escort carrier]]s—suffered enough damage to be sent for repairs.

The carrier {{USS|Monterey|CVL-26|2}} was nearly taken down in flames by its own airplanes as they crashed into bulkheads and exploded during violent rolls. One of those fighting the fires aboard ''Monterey'' was Lieutenant [[Gerald Ford]], later [[President of the United States]]. Ford later recalled nearly going overboard when 20° and greater rolling caused aircraft below decks to careen into each other, igniting a fire. Ford, serving as General Quarters Officer of the Deck, was ordered to go below to assess the raging fire. He did so safely and reported his findings back to the ship's commanding officer, Captain [[Stuart H. Ingersoll|Stuart Ingersoll]]. The ship's crew was able to contain the fire, and the ship got underway again.<ref name=naval>[[Naval Historical Foundation]] (2013)</ref>

{{blockquote|Planes went adrift, collided, and burst into flames. [[USS Monterey (CVL-26)|''Monterey'']] caught fire at 0911 (18 December) and lost steerageway a few minutes later. The fire was brought under control at 0945 and the [[commanding officer|C.O.]], Captain Stuart H. Ingersoll, decided to let his ship lie dead in the water until temporary repairs could be effected. She lost 18 aircraft burned in the hangar deck or blown overboard and 16 seriously damaged, together with three 20-mm guns, and suffered extensive rupturing of her ventilation system. [[USS Cowpens (CVL-25)|''Cowpens'']] lost 7 planes overboard and caught fire from one that broke loose at 1051, but the fire was brought under control promptly; [[USS Langley (CVL-27)|''Langley'']] rolled through 70 degrees; [[USS San Jacinto (CVL-30)|''San Jacinto'']] reported a fighter plane adrift on the hangar deck which wrecked seven other aircraft. She also suffered damage from salt water that entered through punctures in the ventilating ducts.

Captain [Jasper T.] Acuff's replenishment escort carriers did pretty well. Flames broke out on the flight deck of [[USS Cape Esperance|''Cape Esperance'']] at 1228 but were overcome; [[USS Kwajalein|''Kwajalein'']] made a maximum roll of 39 degrees to port when hove-to with wind abeam. Her port catwalks scooped up green water, but she lost only three planes which were jettisoned from the flight deck; it took one hour to get them over the side. Three other escort carriers lost in all 86 aircraft but came through without much material damage."<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines—Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas 1944–1945'', Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1959, 1989, Library of Congress card number 47-1571, pages 70–71.</ref>}}

In the words of Admiral [[Chester W. Nimitz|Chester Nimitz]], the typhoon's impact "...represented a more crippling blow to the Third Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action." The events surrounding Typhoon Cobra were similar to those the Japanese navy faced some nine years earlier in what they termed the "[[4th Fleet (Imperial Japanese Navy)#The Fourth Fleet incident|Fourth Fleet Incident]]".

===Ships lost or damaged===
[[File:USS Cowpens (CVL-25) during Typhoon Cobra.jpg|thumb|{{USS|Cowpens|CVL-25|6}} during Typhoon Cobra, 18 December 1944.]]
[[File:USS Langley (CVL-27) and battleship in typhoon 1944.jpeg|thumb|{{USS|Langley|CVL-27}} rolling heavily during Typhoon Cobra, 18 December 1944.]]

* [[USS Hull (DD-350) |USS ''Hull'']]: capsized and sank with 202 men drowned (62 survivors) and 70% fuel aboard<ref name="Baldwin">Baldwin (1955)</ref>
* [[USS Monaghan (DD-354) |USS ''Monaghan'']]: capsized and sank with 256 men drowned (6 survivors) <ref name= "Baldwin"/>
* [[USS Spence (DD-512)|USS ''Spence'']]: rudder jammed hard to starboard, capsized, and sank with 317 men drowned (23 survivors) after hoses parted while attempting to refuel from ''New Jersey'' because they had also disobeyed orders directly from Admiral Halsey to ballast down.<ref name="Baldwin" /> The fuel tanks had to be deballasted (emptied of sea water) to accept needed fuel. The ship had insufficient fuel to weather the storm. This was the common problem shared by the destroyers and destroyer escorts.
* [[USS Altamaha (CVE-18)|USS ''Altamaha'']]: hangar deck crane and aircraft broke loose and broke fire mains<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Anzio (CVE-57)|USS ''Anzio'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Aylwin (DD-355)|USS ''Aylwin'']]: required major repair. Two men drowned when they were swept overboard.<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Baltimore (CA-68)|USS ''Baltimore'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Benham (DD-796)|USS ''Benham'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Buchanan (DD-484)|USS ''Buchanan'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Cabot (CVL-28)|USS ''Cabot'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman">Cressman (2000), p. 282</ref>
* [[USS Cape Esperance (CVE-88)|USS ''Cape Esperance'']]: flight deck fire required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Cowpens (CVL-25)|USS ''Cowpens'']]: hangar door torn open and radar, 20mm gun sponson, whaleboat, jeeps, tractors, kerry crane, and eight aircraft lost overboard. One sailor (ship's air officer Robert Price) lost.<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Dewey (DD-349)|USS ''Dewey'']]: lost steering control, radar, the forward stack, and all power when salt water shorted main electrical switchboard<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Donaldson (DE-44)|USS ''Donaldson'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Dyson (DD-572)|USS ''Dyson'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Hickox|USS ''Hickox'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Iowa (BB-61)|USS ''Iowa'']]: propeller shaft bent and lost a seaplane
* [[USS Jicarilla (ATF-104)|USS ''Jicarilla'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman"/>
* [[USS Kwajalein (CVE-98)|USS ''Kwajalein'']]: lost steering control<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Langley (CVL-27)|USS ''Langley'']]: damaged<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Maddox (DD-731)|USS ''Maddox'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman"/>
* [[USS Melvin R. Nawman|USS ''Melvin R. Nawman'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Miami (CL-89)|USS ''Miami'']]: required major repair<ref name="Baldwin" />
* [[USS Monterey (CVL-26)|USS ''Monterey'']]: hangar deck fire killed three men and caused evacuation of boiler rooms requiring repairs.<ref name="Baldwin" /><ref name=MontereyDamange>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/opinion/28drury.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title=How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last1=Drury |first1=Robert |last2=Clavin |first2=Tom |date=December 28, 2006 |access-date=February 3, 2020}}</ref>
* [[USS Nantahala (AO-60)|USS ''Nantahala'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman"/>
* [[USS Nehenta Bay (CVE-74)|USS ''Nehenta Bay'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman"/>
* [[USS San Jacinto (CVL-30)|USS ''San Jacinto'']]: hangar deck planes broke loose and destroyed air intakes, vent ducts and sprinkling system causing widespread flooding.<ref name="Baldwin" /> Damage repaired by {{USS|Hector|AR-7|6}}<ref name=flat>Pawlowski (1971) p.233</ref>
* [[USS Shasta (AE-6)|USS ''Shasta'']]: damaged—"one deck collapsed, aircraft engines damaged, depth charges broke loose, damaged"
* [[USS Tabberer (DE-418)|USS ''Tabberer'']]: lost foremast<ref>Brown (1990) p.134</ref>
* [[USS Waterman (DE-740)|USS ''Waterman'']]: damaged<ref name="cressman"/>

===Rescue efforts===
The fleet was scattered by the storm. One ship, the [[destroyer escort]] {{USS|Tabberer|DE-418|2}}, encountered and rescued a survivor from the ''Hull'' in the midst of the typhoon. This was the first survivor from any of the capsized destroyers to be picked up. Shortly thereafter, many more survivors were picked up, in groups or in isolation. ''Tabberer''{{'}}s skipper, Lieutenant Commander [[Henry Lee Plage]], directed that the ship, despite its own dire condition, begin boxed searches to look for more survivors. ''Tabberer'' rescued 55 survivors in a 51-hour search, despite repeated orders from Halsey to return all ships to port in [[Ulithi]]. She picked up 41 men from ''Hull'' and 14 from ''Spence'' before finally returning to Ulithi after being directly relieved from the search by two destroyer escorts.

After the fleet had regrouped (without ''Tabberer''), ships and aircraft conducted search-and-rescue missions. The destroyer {{USS|Brown|DD-546|2}} rescued the only survivors from ''Monaghan'', six in total. She additionally rescued 13 sailors from ''Hull''. Eighteen other survivors from ''Hull'' and ''Spence'' were rescued over the three days following Typhoon Cobra by other ships of the 3rd Fleet. The destroyer {{USS|The Sullivans|DD-537}} emerged from the storm undamaged and began looking for survivors before returning to Ulithi on Christmas Eve.<ref>{{USS|The Sullivans|DD-537}}</ref> In all, 93 men were rescued of the over 800 men presumed missing in the three ships, and two others who had been swept overboard from the escort carrier {{USS|Anzio|CVE-57|2}}.

Despite disobeying fleet orders, Plage was awarded the [[Legion of Merit]] by Halsey, and ''Tabberer'''s crew was awarded [[Navy Unit Commendation]] ribbons (the first ever awarded).

==Aftermath==
While conducting refueling operations off the Philippines, the Third Fleet remained on station rather than breaking up and seeking shelter from the storm. This led to a severe loss of men, ships, and aircraft. A [[Naval Board of Inquiry|Court of Inquiry]] was convened on board the [[USS Cascade|USS'' Cascade'']] at the naval base at Ulithi, with Admiral Nimitz, [[United States Pacific Command#Establishment of Unified Commands in the Pacific|CINCPAC]], in attendance at the court.<ref name=melton>Melton Jr. (2007)</ref> Captain Herbert K. Gates was the [[Judge Advocate General's Corps|judge advocate]] for the court.<ref name=drury>Drury (2007)</ref> The court found that though Halsey had committed an "error of judgement" in sailing the Third Fleet into the heart of the typhoon, it stopped short of unambiguously recommending sanction. In January 1945, Halsey passed command of the Third Fleet to Admiral [[Raymond A. Spruance]].

This typhoon prompted the U.S. Navy to establish weather monitoring infrastructure, which eventually became the [[Joint Typhoon Warning Center]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=92887|title=Joint Typhoon Warning Center: Keeping the Fleet Safe|last=Affairs|first=This story was written by Lt Christopher Machado, Joint Typhoon Warning Center Public|website=www.navy.mil|language=en|access-date=2019-09-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.public.navy.mil/fltfor/infodomain/ArticleLibrary/art00388_JTWC-60anniv.aspx|title=art00388_JTWC-60anniv|website=www.public.navy.mil|access-date=2019-09-05|archive-date=2019-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905051756/https://www.public.navy.mil/fltfor/infodomain/ArticleLibrary/art00388_JTWC-60anniv.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Oil tanker trying to move into refueling position during Typhoon Cobra.jpg|thumb|An oiler struggles to maintain position, 17 December 1944]]

The typhoon plays a central part in [[Herman Wouk]]'s ''[[The Caine Mutiny]]''.

==See also==
* [[Pacific typhoon climatology|List of Pacific typhoon seasons]]
* [[Typhoon Connie (1945)]], which hit the same fleet in June 1945, leading to immediate formation of Fleet Warning Center in [[Guam]].
* [[Typhoon Louise (1945)]], which hit the U.S. fleet off [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] in October 1945.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* [[Hans Christian Adamson|Adamson, Hans Christian]], [[George Francis Kosco]]. ''Halsey's Typhoons: A Firsthand Account of How Two Typhoons, More Powerful than the Japanese, Dealt Death and Destruction to Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet''; New York: Crown Publishers; 1967
* Baldwin, Hanson W. ''Sea Fights and Shipwrecks''; Hanover House; 1955
* Brown, David. ''Warship Losses of World War II''; Naval Institute Press; 1990; {{ISBN|1-55750-914-X}}
* Calhoun, C. Raymond. ''Typhoon, the Other Enemy: The Third Fleet and the Pacific Storm of December 1944 ''; Naval Institute Press; September 1981; {{ISBN|978-0870215100}}
* Cressman, Robert J. ''The Official Chronology of the U. S. Navy in World War II''; Naval Institute Press; 2000; {{ISBN|1-55750-149-1}}
* Drury, Bob and Tom Clavin. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/28/opinion/28drury.html "How Lieutenant Ford Saved His Ship"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 28, 2006
* Drury, Bob and Tom Clavin. ''Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue''; Grove/Atlantic, Inc.; 2007; {{ISBN|0-87113-948-0}}; {{ISBN|978-0-87113-948-1}}
* Henderson, Bruce. ''Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in World War II '';  Collins; 2007; {{ISBN|0-06-117316-9}}
* Melton, Buckner F., Jr. ''Sea Cobra, Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon''; Lyons Press; 2007; {{ISBN|1592289789}}
* Pawlowski, Gareth L. ''Flat-Tops and Fledglings''; Gazelle Book Services Ltd, March 20, 1972; {{ISBN|978-0498076411}}
* US Department of Commerce. "[http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/swm/1944/ Northern Hemisphere Synoptic Weather Map index]" for 1944
* US [[Naval Historical Foundation]]. "[http://www.navyhistory.org/2013/02/lieutenant-gerald-ford-and-typhoon-cobra/ Lieutenant Gerald Ford and Typhoon Cobra] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106102243/http://www.navyhistory.org/2013/02/lieutenant-gerald-ford-and-typhoon-cobra/ |date=2017-11-06 }}", February 7, 2013

==External links==
{{Commons category|Typhoon Cobra (1944)}}
* [http://www.desausa.org/typhoon_of_1944.htm DESA webpage describing the disaster]
* "[https://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/history/typhoons-ww2-navy.htm World War II Pacific typhoons battered U.S. Navy]", ''[[USA Today]]'' weather history, 2008
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-4.htm Naval Historical Center FAQ]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Typhoon Cobra (1944)}}
[[Category:1940s Pacific typhoon seasons|Cobra]]
[[Category:Pacific Ocean theater of World War II]]
[[Category:1944 meteorology]]
[[Category:1944 natural disasters]]
[[Category:1944 in Asia]]
[[Category:1944 in Oceania]]
[[Category:1944 in the Philippines]]