BB 55 during World War II

In the Atlantic Ocean they're called hurricanes, in the Pacific Ocean they're called typhoons. But in either case, proximity to this severe weather phenomenon is potentially risky. As part of Admiral Halsey's Task Force 38, the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA faced the challenges of two typhoons in late 1944.

The first was in early November. On 7 November 1944, the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA, having just returned from her overhaul in Bremerton, Washington, was proceeding to join TG38.3 under the command of RADM Forrest Sherman off the coast of Luzon, Philippines where they were supporting the troops on the ground on Leyte. The typhoon was about 450 nautical miles to the south southeast. Fortunately, the task group which included aircraft carriers ESSEX (CV 9), TICONDEROGA (CV 14), and LANGLEY (CVL 27); battleships NORTH CAROLINA (BB 55), WASHINGTON (BB 56), and SOUTH DAKOTA (BB 57); cruisers SANTA FE (CL 60), MOBILE (CL 63), and BILOXI (CL 80); and fifteen screening destroyers had just completed refueling. By late afternoon the seas were growing steadily and continued to grow through the next morning. Despite a northeasterly course in an attempt to escape the wrath of the storm, the typhoon center's closest point of approach to the task group on 8 November was 200 degrees at 45 nautical miles. Heavy seas breaking over the Battleship's main deck flooded an air supply vent to #3 and #4 diesel turbo-generators, damaging the generators and the associated electrical switchboard. Even a ship the size of the 45,000 ton Battleship was required to reduce speed to minimize damage topside. Imagine what it must have been like for 2,000 ton destroyers.

While the center of the typhoon had passed and winds had somewhat abated, the seas remained heavy as the task group slowly proceeded back westerly to the vicinity of Leyte on 9 November. On the 10th seas were still so heavy that it carried away one of the gun shields on Turret I, partially flooding inside the turret. The battleship WASHINGTON developed leaks in her bow area due to the pounding into the heavy seas and was required to slow her speed. NORTH CAROLINA's #3 main condenser started leaking which caused the ship to have to slow with WASHINGTON. Several destroyers had to slow down as well.

The second typhoon occurred while three task groups of Task Force 38 were conducting air strikes in support of landings on Mindoro that occurred on 15 December 1944. Again, the Battleship was operating as part of TG38.3 under the command of RADM Forrest Sherman. Task group units were: the aircraft carriers ESSEX (CV 9), TICONDEROGA (CV 14), LANGLEY (CVL 27), and SAN JACINTO (CVL 30); battleships NORTH CAROLINA (BB 55), WASHINGTON (BB 56), and SOUTH DAKOTA (BB 57); plus four cruisers and seventeen destroyers. Air strikes continued on the 16th but with weather deteriorating, on the 17th the task force withdrew to the east to refuel. The worsening weather forced the refueling to be discontinued in the early afternoon so not all ships were able to refuel. This proved to be catastrophic for some of the small destroyers who were down to 15% of fuel capacity, making them extremely top heavy. Seas continued to build overnight. At 3:50pm on 18 December the typhoon center passed 30 nautical miles to the northeast of the Battleship. Winds exceeded 100 knots; seas were 70 feet; and visibility at times was almost zero due to torrential rain combined with wind-swept spray. Destroyers SPENCE, MONAGHAN and HULL were lost during the typhoon and seven other ships heavily damaged. 186 airplanes were jettisoned, blown overboard or damaged on deck aboard the task force's aircraft carriers. Seas continued heavy through the 19th which impeded attempts to recover sailors lost from the destroyers. By the 20th the weather had abated sufficiently to allow a more organized search. Nonetheless, nearly 800 sailors were lost from the task force.