Typhoon, the Other Enemy: The Third Fleet and the Pacific Storm of December 1944 Hardcover – January 1, 1981

This book came out in 1981 when I was Commanding Officer of the Fleet Weather Central, Norfolk, VA. My experience included Hurricane Forecaster, Fleet Hurricane Forecast Facility, Miami; Flight Meteorologist, Navy Hurricane Hunter Squadron; Deputy Director, Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Guam; Commanding Officer, Fleet Weather Facility, Yokosuka, Japan (alternate JTWC); ship and staff meteorologist, USS America (CV-66) -- including deployments in the Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Indian, Pacific Oceans/Seas, etc. While CO of FWC Norfolk, I got a copy of Typhoon, the Other Enemy and made it required reading for all of my officers. It should be required reading for all meteorologists/oceanographers as well as line officers in the Navy. After retiring from the Navy (32+ years), I went to the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva for six years and, while there, I loaned my copy of Typhoon, the Other Enemy to a colleague there and it was lost! I was delighted to find the book available from Amazon, so ordered another copy recently and have just finished re-reading it. LOTS of lessons to be learned from this book. Computers, satellite data, modern scientific technology (which were not available in 1944) help a lot today -- but basic seamanship should NEVER be ignored.

My grandfather was the Dewey's surgeon until right before the typhoon, he transferred off ship 7 days before Dewey was in the storm. My only complaint is that the author shielded Lt. Cmdr James A. Marks somewhat from criticism, when in other publications he has been dragged for his inaction for the USS Hull during the typhoon. Otherwise very detailed and well written.

The book arrived a week early and was in pristine condition. My sincere thanks as I had a copy of this a long time ago and it stuck in my memory. Completely satisfied.

War is the worst but, a December 1944 typhoon in the western Pacific took 778+ men and a few ships....Weather knowledge and technology available at the time was not available to some. Terrible losses despite magnificent fortitude makes for a great story. The author, was a destroyer captain who later became one of Minnesota's higher education executives serving 1000's of college students in all of our colleges and universities that veterans of WW2 [and subsequent wars]. He wrote another book about his navy experiences.+

I had heard of the Typhoon from friends of my Dad. I never realized how really bad it was. I could not put the book down. I felt for those men as they struggled to keep their ships from sinking. Book very well written and does keep the reader feeling as if they too were fighting the storm/ Thank God that we now have better weather reports. The book is a keeper.

Having been a Naval officer at sea, as well as a meteorologist, this book was FASCINATING. They really ought to make a movie out of this book. It would be a great action / adventure story. It is spellbinding reading. You can get a sense of dangerous it was! And it the context of WWII and fighting the Japanese makes it even more of a page-turner.

Good reads

Good book written by a destroyer skipper. Several other books referring to Halsey's typhoon business held my interest better. I shouldn't compare as it's a big accomplishment to write a book as the skipper. Salute to Cal.

but the disciplined approach to every aspect of naval decision making - 'the superior had evaluated carefully'.... - in the olden days. But what if he did not? This book tells subtly and respectfully of Naval Goof, be it by the revered Adm Halsey or scientific minded Met office boys or the BuShips or the TGCommander. And reveals that even in wartime the 'old boy club' would never fail and contribute to unnecessary loss of life and ships - a parallel to the US Submarine torpedo disaster of 1941.