"World War II produced so many compelling stories that even students
of that momentous conflict are apt to discover we've missed whole vital
episodes. Down to the Sea, about a devastating 1944 Pacific typhoon
that sank three destroyers and cost 756 American sailors their lives, is
just such an eye-opener." -- New York Post
From the New York Times bestselling author of Sons and Soldiers,
an epic story opening at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on
December 7, 1941, and following four U.S. Navy ships and their crews in
the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far
different enemy: a deadly typhoon.
In December 1944, while supporting General MacArthur's invasion of the
Philippines, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey neglected the Law of
Storms--the unofficial bible of all seamen since the days of
sail--placing the mighty U.S. Third Fleet in harm's way. One of the most
powerful fighting fleets ever assembled under any flag, the Third Fleet
sailed directly into the largest storm the U.S. Navy had ever
encountered--a maelstrom of 90-foot seas and 160-mph winds. More men
were lost and ships sunk and damaged than in most combat engagements in
the Pacific. The final toll: 3 ships sunk, 28 ships damaged, 146
aircraft destroyed, and 756 men lost at sea.
In all, 92 survivors from the three sunken ships (each carrying a crew
of about 300) were rescued, some after spending up to 80 hours in the
water. Scores more had made it off their sinking ships only to perish in
the monstrous seas; some from injuries and exhaustion, others snatched
away by circling sharks before their horrified shipmates. In the
farflung rescue operations Bruce Henderson finds some of the story's
truest heroes, exhibiting selflessness, courage, and even defiance. One
badly damaged ship, whose Naval Reserve skipper disobeyed an admiral's
orders to abandon the search, singlehandedly saved 55 lives.
Drawing on extensive interviews with nearly every living survivor and
rescuer, many families of lost sailors, transcripts and other records
from two naval courts of inquiry, ships' logs and action reports,
personal letters, and diaries, Bruce Henderson offers the most thorough
and riveting account to date of one of the greatest naval dramas of
World War II.
