Publisher's Weekly Review
At the height of the Second World War in 1944, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was struck by a typhoon that sank three destroyers and drowned 800 sailors. Drury (The Rescue Season) and Clavin (Dark Noon: The Final Voyage of the Fishing Boat Pelican) draw on proceedings of a navy board of inquiry and eyewitness recollections to recreate the catastrophe. On the one hand, this is an absorbing if disjointed maritime disaster saga in which shrieking winds and monstrous waves batter warships to pieces. It's also a study in judgment under pressure, as hard-charging Adm. William "Bull" Halsey (motto: "Kill Japs") keeps his fleet positioned in the storm's path because of faulty weather reports, accusations that he improperly left his station during the earlier Battle of Leyte Gulf and general overaggressiveness. Closer to the waterline, the authors contrast the fecklessness of Capt. James Marks of the U.S.S. Hull, which sank, to the steadiness of Capt. Henry Plage of the U.S.S. Tabberer, which braved mountainous seas to rescue survivors. The trumped-up leadership parable is perhaps unfair to Halsey and Marks. Still, the authors make their account a vivid tale of tragedy and gallantry at sea. Photos. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Two seasoned writers on maritime subjects offer an impressive, long-overdue account of the U.S. Third Fleet's encounter with a savage typhoon off the Philippines in the autumn of 1944. Admiral William Bull Halsey was aggressively determined to remain on station in support of General Douglas MacArthur's I Shall Return campaign, the weather-reporting network was inadequate, and a number of ships were low on fuel and, not having taken in water ballast to compensate, had become less stable. The results of the storm encounter thereby entailed the loss of three destroyers, more than 800 men, and many aircraft, and many other ships were heavily damaged. Particular emphasis in this account is laid on the exploits of the destroyer escort Tabberer, one of the smallest ships in the fleet. She not only rode out the mountainous seas with a minimum of damage but also rescued most of the survivors of the sunken destroyer Hull. An entirely gripping account and a guaranteed hit with maritime buffs. --Roland Green Copyright 2006 Booklist
Kirkus Review
A tale of natural disaster, bad judgment and heroism during World War II. In December 1944, a typhoon overtook a U.S. naval fleet that, under the leadership of Admiral William Halsey, was sailing in the Philippine Sea. The catastrophe was legendary--indeed, some believe it to be the basis for Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Caine Mutiny. All told, three ships were destroyed, and almost 800 men died. Drawing on recently declassified documents, Drury (The Rescue Season, 2001, etc.) and Clavin (Dark Noon, not reviewed, etc.) recreate the terrifying days during which the crew battled the elements. But this is not just a tale of men against nature. It's also a tale of men for, and against, other men: Lieutenant Commander Henry Lee Plage of the USS Tabberer flouted orders in a daring rescue effort. The most moving scenes come at the end of the book, as the survivors reckon with the fate of their many dead comrades. Sailors on the USS Knapp, having recovered a body so mutilated by sharks that it was unidentifiable, recited a service from the Book of Common Prayer, and committed the body back to the sea. Moments later, another body floated up from the depths--it was Lieutenant Lloyd Rust, and he, miraculously, was still alive. The authors' prose is often vivid: The typhoon created not just waves, but "vertical sheet[s] of ocean," slamming against the ships, and the sun that beat down on men struggling to stay afloat is "a red dahlia." Drury and Clavin have managed to avoid the problems that so often plague books with two authors--jerky breaks in the narrative, chapters cast in radically different voices. Still, the book is marred by weak characterization--even the heroic Plage never becomes three-dimensional. The inherent drama of the events compensates for the sometimes lackluster storytelling. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
