trysail
Catch Me Who Can
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2005
- Posts
- 25,593
I'm ploughing into Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of A Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm and an Untold Rescue by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin ( New York, 2007 ).
During McArthur's invasion of the Philipines in December, 1944, "Bull" Halsey's covering Third Fleet ran smack into a deadly typhoon. Several 300' destroyers displacing 160 tons were lost and it cost the lives of 700-odd sailors.
A tropical cyclone is a cyclone originating in the tropics or sub-tropics. Although it generally resembles the extratropical cyclone of higher latitudes, there are important differences, the principal one being the concentration of a large amount of energy into a relatively small area. Tropical cyclones are infrequent in comparison to middle and high latitude storms, but they have a record of destruction far exceeding that of any other storm. Because of their fury, and because they are primarily oceanic, they merit special attention by mariners. A tropical storm may have a deceptively small size, and beautiful weather may be experienced only a few hundred miles from the center. The rapidity with which the weather can deteriorate with the approach of the storm, and the violence of the fully developed tropical cyclone, are difficult to imagine if they have not been experienced.
-Nathaniel Bowditch
The American Practical Navigator
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