21 days at Ulithi

During much of February and March 1945, my dad, Frank Dolan, serving aboard repair ship, USS Hector in San Pedro Harbor in the Leyte Gulf, assisted in repairing ships for ongoing naval operations in the campaign for the Liberation of the Philippines. Hector remained there on duty until March 27th, when she was ordered back to Ulithi. Escorted by the Australian frigate, HMAS Gascoyne,* Hector arrived at the atoll on today's date, 1945. The next morning the ship was assigned to anchorage in the northern part of the lagoon.

For 21 days in April, Hector's crews performed various repairs to ships assigned to Service Squadron 10. Hector's services next were required for supporting the naval forces in the Okinawa Campaign. So on April 21st, she was ordered to Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

* The HMAS Gascoyne was one of the ships honored to be present in Tokyo Bay for the formal Japanese surrender ceremony on September 2, 1945. She also received 5 battle honours for her WWII service.

Sources: USS Hector War Diary, March & April 1945

Taking Iwo Jima, 1945

On the same day that my dad's ship, USS Hector, arrived in San Pedro Bay in the Leyte Gulf, northwest across the Philippine Sea U.S. Marines began their renowned amphibious invasion of the small island of Iwo Jima. That assault began on this date, 70 years ago.

Both Japan and the United States placed high strategic value on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. For the Japanese, Iwo Jima, only 575 miles from the main Japanese coast, was part of its Empire. For the U.S., Iwo was vitally important for its location midway between the Japanese home islands and American bomber bases in the Marianas.

Since the summer of 1944, the Japanese homeland had been reeling from strikes by the new, long-range B-29’s. The problem for the U.S. was that its protective fighters did not have the range to escort the big super fortresses, and many of these bombers fell prey to Japanese interceptors. Iwo Jima, with its airfields, was ideally located as a base for fighter escorts. It was also an ideal sanctuary for crippled bombers returning from Japan. But before the U.S. could use those airfields, it had to take control of the island.

The Japanese Commander of Iwo Jima, Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi, had thoroughly prepared the island for an invasion. Correctly understanding that he could not hold Iwo against the overwhelming military forces of the United States, Kuribayashi planned a protracted battle of attrition in the hope of delaying the inevitable loss of the island and the bombing of Japan.

Already, by November 1944, the U.S. Navy had been bombing Iwo Jima and continued it into the longest sustained aerial offensive of the war. But the ingenious Japanese had engineered an 11-mile tunnel network under the solid rock, connecting 1,500 dugouts and installations below ground. The American bombing had little effect.

The 23,000 Japanese defenders had no thought of surviving an invasion. Rather, they intended to annihilate the American invaders before they themselves were killed.

Anticipating a serious struggle to wrench the island from the enemy, America sent 110,000 Marines as an invasion force, more than any other battle. The Navy committed 880 ships to convey them from Hawaii in the largest armada invasion to date in the Pacific.

Shortly before 2 AM on today's date in 1945, Navy ships began bombarding Iwo Jima, signaling the beginning of the invasion. After an hour of punishing bombardment by the Navy's big guns, 110 bombers were sent to add to the devastation. After the planes had dropped their payloads, the big guns on the ships opened up again.

At 8:30 AM, the first wave of Marines was ordered toward the deadly shores. Eventually, 3 Marine divisions would make the landing. On the beach, however, the invaders were incredibly vulnerable to hidden Japanese gunners. Heavy fire by the enemy made it impossible for the Marines to land in an orderly manner, so confusion reigned on the beaches.

Mt Suribachi is visible in the background as waves of U.S. Marines
are delivered to the beaches in landing craft by the U.S. Navy landing craft

Mount Suribachi was the prominent geographical feature on the island. Its 550-foot volcanic cone towered above the southern tip of the island. From that position, Japanese gunners zeroed in on every inch of the shore. On the beach, fortified pillboxes with heavy weapons flanked the landing areas. Machine guns also had been prepositioned to crisscross the beaches with deadly fire. Rockets, anti-boat, and anti-tank guns were also trained on the beaches. With Japanese defenders fighting from below ground, the Americans rarely saw a living enemy soldier. However, the Marines were rarely out of their enemy's line of sight.

Experiencing initial success on shore, the Marines got bogged down in costly fighting. The underground tunnel system had to be destroyed by flamethrowers and hand grenades before the island could be rid of the enemy. After a month of grim and determined fighting, victory on Iwo Jima, was finally won on March 26. Americans lost 5,900 dead and 17,400 wounded, a staggering casualty rate of 1 in 3.¹  The enemy, unwilling to surrender, lost essentially all of its 23,000-man force with fewer than 2,000 survivors.

Photographer Joe Rosenthal, who followed the victorious Marines up the mountain, took one of the most iconic photographs of the war when he captured the raising the flag over Mount Suribachi. This enduring image was actually the second flag raised. Late in the morning on February 23rd, after Marines had managed to secure Mount Suribachi, they initially raised a smaller flag. One of the Marines was sent to the beaches below to find a larger flag to replace it.² Regardless, the dramatic image that Rosenthal captured galvanized war-weary Americans into rededicating themselves to the cause for which the Marines and Navy had fought and sacrificed so much.

Iwo Jima proved a costly victory for America. However, it did provide a vital link in the chain of bomber bases needed to defeat Japan. Not only did Iwo Jima shorten the war, but also by war’s end, it had provided a haven for 2,400 stricken B-29 bombers and 27,000 crewman who made emergency landings there.

¹ Twenty-seven U.S. servicemen were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the 2-month-long battle (14 posthumously). Of the 27 medals awarded, 22 were presented to Marines and 5 were presented to Navy sailors, 4 of whom were Pharmacist's Mates (Hospital Corpsman).

² The second flag to fly on Mount Suribachi was procured from one of the landing ships, LST-779. A couple of months later in Tanapag Harbor on Saipan, Dad's ship, Hector, did repair work on the LST-779 along with numerous other vessels.

Sources: Flags of our Fathers, James Bradley; The Two-Ocean War, Samuel Eliot Morrison; Historynet.com; History of LST-481

USS Hector arrives in the Philippines, 1945

For several months in 1944-1945, my dad, Frank Dolan, was stationed on his repair ship, USS Hector, at Ulithi in the Western Caroline Islands. As part of Service Squadron 10, which had converted the lagoon there into a major naval facility, Dad's ship next was ordered to the Philippines. The progress of American forces closer toward victory throughout the Philippine Islands required advancing support elements, like repair ships, into closer proximity to the fighting afloat and ashore.

Hector sailed from Ulithi on February 16th, as part of Task Unit 50.9.6, escorted by the destroyers Bancroft and Bailey. Also joining this task unit were the attack cargo ship Fomalhaut, destroyer tenders Dixie and Markab, and repair ship Prometheus.¹ The task unit was the vanguard of Service Squadron 10, of which the main force would follow in May.

On today's date in 1945, Hector arrived with Task Unit 50.9.6 at her new location in San Pedro Harbor, off Tarragona, in the northwest end of Leyte Gulf near where the Leyte Landings occurred the previous October. While the Battle for Manila raged nearby to the north, Hector's crews began repairing ships and readying other craft for continued operations against the Japanese occupiers.²

Hector remained on duty in Leyte Gulf until the end of March, when she returned to Ulithi for 21 days. Then in late April, Hector was shifted to Saipan in the Mariana Islands, while the main body of Service Squadron 10 was moved to San Pedro Harbor.

For his role in the Philippines Campaign from February through March, Dad received the Philippine Liberation Campaign Ribbon.



¹Prometheus was the sister ship to Dad's previous repair ship, USS Vestal.
²Also on today's date in 1945, American Marines began their assault on Iwo Jima, preceded by 5 days of naval and air bombardment. Dreadful fighting there will last for 5 weeks.

Sources: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships; USS Hector and USS Prometheus War Diaries, February & March 1945

Repairs to battle damaged USS Langley

On today's date in 1945, my dad's ship, the USS Hector, stationed at Ulithi Atoll, received the carrier USS Langley alongside for battle damage repairs. The ship had been participating in the 3rd Fleet's daring raid into the South China Sea when off Formosa it was bombed by a Japanese fighter.

Part of the fleet's Task Force 38 (TF 38), Langley was helping to provide cover and support for the Philippine Campaign through air strikes over Formosa, Luzon, and the Visayas. She was also assisting TF 38 in destroying Japanese vessels which might threaten the landings on Luzon. From January 10-20, TF 38 went out in search of an enemy fleet that could menace the ongoing Battle of Luzon.

While TF 38 did not encounter any enemy warships, planes from its force sank 44 enemy ships, mostly merchant marine, with very few of its own planes lost. On January 21st, the carrier planes attacked Formosa, but here the Japanese used their kamikazes in striking back. USS Langley was hit, the bomb penetrating the forward flight deck and exploding in officers' staterooms. Furniture, bulkheads, piping, and deck were damaged or destroyed.*

USS Langley, March 1945, shortly after receiving repairs from USS Hector
Source: Navy Historical Center

In addition to the Langley, the carrier USS Ticonderoga and the destroyer USS Maddox were also damaged, along with 201 aircraft destroyed. In terms of human loss to the fleet, 167 pilots and air crewmen and 205 sailors were killed in the kamikaze attacks.

Langley remained alongside Hector for repairs through February 5th when she was returned to service with the Third Fleet continuing its carrier operations in the South China Sea against the Japanese Home Islands and the invasion of Iwo Jima. More combat activity followed in March through May, as Langley's planes again hit targets in Japan and supported the Okinawa operation. Back to the U.S. for overhaul and modernization in June and July, the carrier was returning to the Pacific combat zone when the war ended in August.

For a couple of months, Langley transported home veterans of the war in the Pacific. Then the ship sailed to the Atlantic where she carried out similar missions from November 1945 through January 1946. Following months of inactivity, Langley was decommissioned in Philadelphia in February 1947. In early 1951, the ship was refurbished and transferred to France under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program. After more than a decade of French Navy service under the name La Fayette, the valiant warship was returned to the United States in 1963, and sold for scrap a year later.

The USS Langley received 9 battle stars for her World War II service.

USS Langley leads a very impressive force returning to Ulithi in
December 1944, from strikes on targets in the Philippines.
Source: Naval Historical Center

*The Japanese plane from Formosa that hit the Langley likely carried a 200-pound bomb. The plane narrowly missed the flight deck and crashed into the sea. The pilot may have intended a suicide attack and just missed the deck; or it is possible that he tried to escape after releasing his bombs but ended up crashing after his plane was hit. In either case, the bomb killed 3 of Langley's crew and seriously wounded 11 others.

Sources: The Two-Ocean War, Samuel Eliot Morrison; USS Hector War Diary, January 1945; USS Hector AR7- Ship's Log (WWII); USS Langley War Diary, January & February 1945 and Action Report January 1945: Naval Historical Center

Second kaiten attack at Ulithi

Throughout the first couple of weeks of January 1945, my dad's repair ship, USS Hector, brought the subchaser, USS PC-1130, alongside for emergency repairs. The patrol craft's sonar equipment had been damaged and required Hector's attention. Even while receiving repairs, however, the ship still carried on patrol duties as required. One of the big concerns was the ever-present danger of another attack like the one on November 20, 1944. In that attack, Japanese submarines launched human torpedoes, or "kaitens," toward the anchored fleet, destroying USS Mississinewa and killing 60 of her crewmen.

Nearby, on today's date, the ammunition ship, USS Mazama, which had only days before arrived at Ulithi with a full load of cargo, sighted a suspicious moving object off its starboard side. Moments later, around 7:00 AM, an explosion rocked the ship, causing severe flooding. It had been attacked by a kaiten.

Around 9:00 AM, the PC-1130 was ordered underway from the Hector to patrol for enemy midget subs within the harbor. At 10:15, the subchaser witnessed an explosion about 200 yards away. Although its sonar was temporarily knocked out in the explosion, nevertheless the subchaser immediately altered course to intercept and ram the sub if it surfaced. As it passed over the spot, it dropped 3 depth charges for good measure. Leaving follow-up work for an arriving destroyer, the PC-1130 proceeded on outside the lagoon to continue its patrol.

Meanwhile, the damage and flooding on the Mazama had caused the ship to list. Immediately, pumping was started to handle the flooding. For a while, the crew thought the ship may have to be beached to avoid sinking, so it got underway for land. However, tugboats and other fleet vessels came to assist the struggling ship. A diving crew from Hector also arrived to inspect the damage and effect temporary repairs. Hector's divers confirmed that the explosion had indented a significant section of the ship, and its seams had separated. The next day, a repair party from Hector caulked and plugged the open seams enough to pump out the water.

The Japanese submarine that had launched the attack against the Mazama was the I-36, the same ship that launched its manned torpedoes against Ulithi the previous November. This time, a Navy PBM patrol bomber spotted one of the attacking kaitens in the lagoon and destroyed it by dropping 4 depth charges. But the other 3 managed to attack targets within the harbor. In addition to damaging the Mazama, killing 1 and seriously injuring 7, another of the kaitens sank the infantry landing craft, LCI-600, killing 3.

Temporary repairs to the Mazama were completed by March 6 when the ship steamed for San Francisco for permanent repairs. By June, she was back in the Philippines with 5,000 tons of ammunition. In July, she entered San Pedro Bay where she remained through the end of the war. After participating in the American Occupational Force of the Japanese Home Islands, she enjoyed a long period of service until her permanent decommissioning in 1970. The USS Mazama received 5 battle stars for her WWII service.

PC-1130 also survived the war, and after spending some time in reserve, was transferred to France and then to South Vietnam. She was struck from the Naval Register in 1965.

The I-36 continued to see service in the Japanese fleet, surviving until the surrender in September 1945. On April 1, 1946, as part of "Operation Roads End," the I-36 was towed to sea and scuttled.

Sources: USS PC-1130 War Diary, January 1945; USS Mazama War Diary, January 1945

The Invasion of Lingayen Gulf & The Battle of Luzon, 1945

The Liberation of the Philippines began on October 20, 1944, with the landing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's troops on the beaches at Leyte. Next was Mindoro, a major steppingstone to a successful land invasion of Luzon, the largest of the Philippine Islands. But to take its objective the U.S. 6th Army needed to land in Lingayen Gulf, the same area where 3 years before the Japanese successfully invaded and defeated the American and Filipino forces.

The goal was to take this area from which the Americans could then strike at the heart of the enemy defenses in the Philippines. A successful invasion at Lingayen would provide bases to support further operations against the Japanese, as well as deny them shipping lanes in the South China Sea. The U.S. landing force was scheduled to be put ashore on Luzon on S-Day, January 9th.

Source: The Stamford Historical Society

As a prelude to the scheduled landing on this date in 1945, ships of the U.S. Seventh Fleet began a devastating ship and air bombardment of suspected Japanese defenses at Lingayen as well as the invasion sites on Luzon. But the fleet paid a heavy price for the role it played. By January 12th, a total of 24 ships were sunk and another 67 were damaged by Japanese kamikazes.

As planned, on the 9th, about 68,000 soldiers of MacArthur's army under Gen. Walter Krueger landed on the Luzon coast without opposition. Over the next few days, upwards of 203,000 troops were brought ashore, securing a 20-mile beachhead, capturing the coastal towns, as well as penetrating up to 5 miles inland.

The successful invasion at Lingayen Gulf allowed for a vast supply depot for supporting other major landings¹ in the Battle of Luzon. By March, the Americans controlled all strategically and economically important locations on the island,²  although small groups of Japanese held out in the mountains until Japan’s surrender in August. In all, 10 U.S. divisions and 5 independent regiments fought on Luzon, making it the largest campaign of the Pacific war.

¹Two more major landings followed: One to cut off the Bataan Peninsula (captured February 16th) and another that included paratroopers and amphibious units to capture Corregidor at the entrance of Manila Bay on March 2nd. Fighting in Manila was harsh, and it took until March 3rd to clear the capital city of Japanese troops.

²In February, the U.S. Navy began shifting its mobile service force, Service Squadron Ten, from Ulithi in the Western Carolines, to Leyte Gulf in order to provide closer support to the fleet in the naval operations against the Japanese. My father's repair ship, USS Hector, arrived in Leyte Gulf on February 19th, and remained there until the end of March.

Sources: The Two-Ocean War, Samuel Eliot Morrison; Naval Operations in the Pacific from March 1944 to October 1945

The Christmas Truce of 1914

It was an amazing spectacle and must arouse bitter thought concerning those high-born conspirators against the peace of the world, who in their mad ambition had hounded such men on to take each other by the throat rather than by the hand. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's quote refers to an event that took place a century ago on this date in 1914. A remarkable "Christmas Truce" was unofficially observed between opposing soldiers of the Great War. It was a profoundly symbolic and poignant moment of peace in what was to become one of the worst conflicts in history.

In the fall of 1914, German armies invaded France through neutral Belgium. Britain was immediately drawn into the war to halt the German invaders. By that winter, both sides reached a stalemate and constructed 450 miles of trenches stretching from the English Channel to Switzerland. At points along the line, the 2 sides were as close as 100 feet or less, separated by a "No Man's Land" in between. At this point, World War I had been underway for less than 5 months, but already it had claimed a million lives. 

Exactly when and where the spontaneous cease-fire started is lost to history. But apparently, German troops started it. British soldiers noticed their German enemies decorating the tops of their trenches with candles and Christmas trees. Then followed the singing of "Stille Nacht." When British soldiers responded with "O Come, All Ye Faithful," the Germans joined in with the Latin words. And then, somewhere on Christmas Eve 1914, it began. A few at first, then 100,000 soldiers along the Western Front laid aside their arms, ignored orders, and met their counterparts in No Man's Land. The soldiers told jokes, exchanged food, and in one area even played a game of soccer. It was, as Doyle wrote, “one human episode amid all the atrocities which have stained the memory of the war.”

Nowhere was there an officially organized truce that Christmas, but many similar and spontaneous events took place along other fronts. The remarkable truce lasted through Christmas Day and even a few days longer in some sections. Men from both sides were reluctant to return to the business of war and had to be spurred to return to hostilities by firing artillery overhead.

Sadly, this amazing act of peace on Christmas 1914 was not to be repeated for the remainder of the war. In April 1917, America finally was pulled into the war in Europe, and, suffering over 100,000 of her own killed, was able to help tilt the balance in favor of the Allies. By the time the Great War ended in 1918, more than 7 million soldiers died. Overall, 16 million people perished, and another 20 million were injured.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, like countless other parents, lost a son in the "war to end all wars." In a generation before, American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, also had a son who served (was severely wounded) on another battlefield during the American Civil War. Longfellow reflected on war in his well-known poem, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." Later set to music as a beloved Christmas carol of the same title, the words describe the narrator's despair at hearing Christmas bells, reminding him that "hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men." But he also sees beyond the despair to hope and comfort. The carol concludes with the bells ringing even more loudly with renewed hope in ultimate peace found in God's righteousness and justice:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Repair work on the San Jacinto

In 1944, during operations against Japanese air bases on Luzon, the Third Fleet's Task Force 38 encountered a devastating typhoon on December 18, resulting in 3 ships lost and many others damaged. On today's date in 1944, those damaged ships, which were sent ahead, began reaching their base at Ulithi for repairs. The remainder of the fleet arrived a few days later. Fleet repair ships and other auxiliaries began work immediately.*

One of those injured ships, the light carrier USS San Jacinto, came alongside the repair ship Hector, on which my dad, Frank Dolan, was stationed. Hector's crews began major repairs immediately for damage received from the typhoon. Much of the damage resulted from planes in the hanger deck breaking loose and destroying air intakes, vent ducts, and the sprinkling system. There also was widespread flooding and water damage to electrical, ventilation and power systems, and 2 doors had to be made watertight. Carriers were essential to the ongoing operation in the Philippines, and Hector labored to complete its work by December 29th.

USS San Jacinto, 1944
Source: NavSource

Launched in September 1943, San Jacinto arrived in the Pacific war zone in June 1944 to take part in the Marianas Campaign and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Throughout that summer, her planes struck targets in the Palaus, Bonins, and the Caroline Islands. During October, she participated in raids on Okinawa, Formosa, and the Philippines, and the famous Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was then part of the task group that continued the Western Pacific offensive against Japanese targets in the Philippines, Formosa, and throughout the South China Sea.

In the early months of 1945, San Jacinto's planes raided the Japanese home islands and assisted with the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Remaining off Okinawa, she battled suicide planes and helped destroy the final Japanese surface warship attack in the Pacific. She again struck targets in Japan during July and operated in the area through the final days of the war.

Lt. (j.g.) George H. W. Bush

One of the more famous men to serve on the San Jacinto was future President George H.W. Bush. Bush's first assignment after finishing flight training was with a torpedo squadron based on the San Jacinto in 1944. San Jacinto was part of Task Force 58 that participated in operations against Marcus and Wake Islands in May, and then in the Marianas during June. On June 19th, the task force triumphed in one of the largest air battles of the war, the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Three months later, Bush piloted one of the aircraft that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichi Jima. His plane was hit, although he was able to complete the attack. The crew was forced to bail out several miles from the island, although, sadly, his other 2 crewmen were killed. After 30 days on his rescue sub, USS Finback, Bush was returned to San Jacinto. He saw action in the Philippines before returning to Guam, where his squadron, which had suffered heavy losses, was replaced. Bush flew 58 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the Chichi Jima raid. He also earned 3 Air Medals.

After Japan's surrender, San Jacinto returned to the U.S. She was decommissioned 1947. In 1959, while still in the Reserve Fleet, she was reclassified as an aircraft transport. Finally in 1971, the ship was sold for scrap. The USS San Jacinto earned a Presidential Unit Citation, 5 battle stars, and other medals for her WWII service.

*While the Hector was repairing the San Jacinto, the repair ship Ajax worked on the escort carrier Altamaha and the fleet tug Jicarilla. The destroyer Dewey was tied up to the destroyer tender Prairie for repairs. The destroyer tender Cascade had the destroyer Buchanan alongside, and the destroyer tender Dixie was repairing the destroyer Dyson.

Sources: USS Hector War Diary, December 1944; Short History of the USS San Jacinto, 3 May 1944 15 August 1945; USS Hector AR7- Ship's Log (WWII); Naval History and Heritage: Biographies in Naval History; Military Wiki Encyclopedia

Halsey's Typhoon Cobra

On today's date in 1944, the Third Fleet, commanded by naval hero Admiral William Halsey, encountered the full force of Typhoon Cobra northeast of Samar in the central Philippines. Disaster soon followed for many of the ships in its path.

A few days earlier on the 11th, Task Force 38 of the Third Fleet had departed the U.S. Navy base at Ulithi Atoll for the Philippines to provide carrier air cover for the army's Mindoro Invasion. The fleet sailed from the harbor in clear weather, little knowing that a typhoon was beginning to form about 175 miles northeast.¹ On the 16th, the center of the storm passed north of the atoll, heading west toward the Philippines in the direction of the fleet.

Halsey's Task Force was comprised of 7 fleet carriers, 6 light carriers, 8 battleships, 15 cruisers, and around 50 destroyers. The carrier aircraft had been successful in conducting raids against Japanese airfields on Luzon, and now planes and ships now were trying to refuel about 300 miles east of Luzon. It was there that the worst of the storm hit. In spite of earlier warnings of severe weather, the admiral had led his force into the center of a severe typhoon, the worst of which hit the fleet on this date.

The damage was severe. One hundred mile per hour winds, high seas, and torrential rain battered the fleet. Three destroyers—Hull, Monaghan, and Spence—capsized and sank with almost all hands.

Twenty-one other ships were damaged. Fires broke out on 3 carriers² when planes broke loose in their hangars. Some 146 aircraft were lost or damaged by fires, destroyed by impact, or were simply swept overboard. Even more tragically for the fleet, 793 officers and men were lost in the storm, and at least 80 more were injured.

USS Cowpens experiencing the effects of Typhoon Cobra, December 18, 1944.
Some ships experienced even greater rolls, while 3 capsized and sank.

Concerning the typhoon's destructive impact Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz remarked that it "represented a more crippling blow to the 3rd Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action."

Destroyer escort USS Tabberer, December 1944

Tabberer lost her mast and radio antennas in the typhoon. Although damaged and unable to

radio for help, she remained on the scene to rescue 55 of the 93 survivors of the 3 sunken ships.

By Christmas Eve, most of the returning fleet had arrived at Ulithi, the most crippled arriving first. The USS San Jacinto was one of the carriers damaged in the storm. Hangar deck planes broke loose and destroyed air intakes, vent ducts, and sprinkling system, which caused widespread flooding. The injured carrier was taken alongside my dad's repair ship, Hector, whose crews worked until December 27th repairing the ship.

The Navy soon convened an 8-day court of inquiry at Ulithi and found Halsey had committed an error in judgment in heading into the storm, the "preponderance of responsibility" resting on him. However, it stopped short of recommending discipline. It cited "errors of judgment committed under stress of war operations" rather than "offenses." Admiral Nimitz was satisfied that any mistakes Halsey may have committed were done so "under stress of war operations and stemming from a commendable desire to meet military requirements." Therefore, no action was taken against him.

Amazingly, only 6 months later, Halsey again sailed the fleet into the path of a typhoon. While ships again sustained crippling damage from Typhoon Viper, none of them were lost. Six men were killed and 75 planes were lost or destroyed, with almost 70 badly damaged. Another court of inquiry was convened, and it suggested that Halsey be reassigned. However, Admiral Nimitz again chose not to take action against Halsey.

¹ The Mighty90 webpage, the Official Website of USS Astoria CL-90, provides a very helpful chart and description of the path of Typhoon Cobra.

LCDR Gerald Ford

38th U.S. President

² One of the light aircraft carriers to be damaged was the USS Monterey. The carrier suffered a hangar deck fire as aircraft broke loose, crashed into each other and the ship’s structure, and ignited aviation fuel. On board was future President, Lieut. Gerald Ford, who assumed responsibility to go below to assess the conflagration and report back to the captain. Although the fire killed 3 sailors and injured nearly 40, and the ship went dead in the water for more than an hour because of smoke being sucked into the engineering spaces, the crew extinguished the fire and got the damaged ship underway to Ulithi, and then on to the West Coast.

At one point or another during the war in the Pacific, my dad's path crossed with those of 3 future U.S. presidents: Ford, Bush, and Kennedy.

Sources: Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue, Bob Drury & Tom Calvin; Sea Cobra: Admiral Halsey's Task Force and the Great Pacific Typhoon, Buckner F. Melton, Jr.; Naval Historical Foundation: "Lieutenant Gerald Ford and Typhoon Cobra"

Mindoro Campaign, 1944

Having begun his invasion of the Philippines with the landing on Leyte, October 20, 1944, Gen. Douglas MacArthur now set his sights on the main Philippine island of Luzon. But first he needed a closer base of operations, a stepping stone to a successful land invasion. For that he chose the smaller island of Mindoro, directly south of Luzon.

Task Force 38 of Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet sailed from Ulithi on December 11th. Sailors, like my father, Frank Dolan, on the repair ship Hector, cheered as the 90-ship flotilla steamed out of the harbor, west toward the Philippines. Halsey's fleet will hit enemy air bases on Luzon, thus providing additional protection for Vice Admiral Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet's amphibious invasion on Mindoro.

On December 13, the Japanese detected the Seventh Fleet convoy, and their fighters attacked. The light cruiser Nashville was badly damaged by a kamikaze, with 133 killed and over 150 wounded. In another attack wave, a kamikaze hit the destroyer Harden, killing 14 and wounding 24. On the 14th, Japanese aircraft made a full-blown attempt to destroy the invasion force, but suffered heavy casualties instead, losing 46 aircraft.

Crewmen cleaning up the port side gun battery after a kamikaze hit on
December 13, 1944, while en route to the Mindoro invasion
Source: NavSource.org

As the amphibious forces sailed toward Mindoro, Task Force 38 arrived in the Philippine Sea, east of Luzon. From its position, carrier aircraft covered enemy air bases in Luzon. By continuously patrolling the air over these airfields the Japanese were prevented from launching any serious sorties toward the invasion force. American carrier planes continued to control the air corridors over Luzon, destroying per 270 enemy aircraft, sinking 18 ships, and damaging 37 more.*

On today's date in 1944, the Allied land invasion of Mindoro began. Completely surprising the Japanese defenders there, the invasion force quickly overcame the weak resistance without the loss of a single Allied soldier. Engineers soon began construction of an airfield, which was operational within a couple of weeks.

By the 16th, Task Force 38 was low on fuel. Halsey ordered it 400 miles east into the Philippine Sea to refuel so it could return to guard the skies over Luzon. However, on the 18th a violent typhoon struck the Task Force while it was attempting to refuel. The fleet experienced devastating damage and loss, and was forced to return to Ulithi.

In the days ahead, the Japanese responded to the invasion with air and sea attacks. While American carrier aircraft flew above, a few kamikaze pilots slipped their planes through and attacked Allied forces en route to the Mindoro beachhead. Many of these suicide pilots tried hitting the escort carriers but were shot down or otherwise missed their targets. Others got through to the invasion force and destroyed 2 LSTs (tank landing ships).

Several days later on the evening of December 26th, a Japanese naval task force attempted an ambitious bombardment of Allied shore installations. However, during its approach to the beachhead, the enemy force lost a destroyer and received damage to other ships by the Allied response. The Japanese also made several attempted torpedo strikes against American ships at anchor, but they were not effective. This was the last time that major units of the Japanese fleet tried to interfere with Allied shore operations in the Philippines.

USS LST-738 burning after she was hit by a kamikaze off the Mindoro landing beaches,
December 15, 1944. Smoke in the left distance may be from LST-472, which was also
hit by the kamikaze attack
Source: Naval Historical Center

The Mindoro Campaign continued through January 1945, when MacArthur's forces invaded the main Philippine island of Luzon, and then began their advance on Manila.

*Tragically, unknown to Halsey's pilots, one of the Japanese ships struck by navy bombers was the cargo ship, Oryoku Maru, in whose hold were crammed 1,620 POWs, survivors of the Bataan Death March, awaiting shipment to Japan as slave laborers. Around 270 men died, either from the appalling conditions, or were killed in the bombing or shot in the water as they tried to escape. Experiencing even greater deprivations and death in the months ahead, only 403 of the original 1,620 POWs survived to be liberated from camps at the war's end 9 months later.

Sources: The Two-Ocean War, Samuel Eliot Morrison; Halsey's Typhoon: The True Story of a Fighting Admiral, an Epic Storm, and an Untold Rescue, Bob Drury & Tom Calvin; The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia; Reports of General MacArthur: The Campaigns of MacArthur in the Pacific