Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "Typhoon Cobra, December 1944" video.

  1. Halsey was totally responsible for the loss of so many men and ships to Cobra. He knew that the storm was getting bigger and more intense. It could be seen on ship's radar up to 150 miles away, so it didn't just sneak up on them. Halsey was intent on getting his ships refueled to resume air operations. If he had called off the refuelling and ordered his ships to sail on a 90 degree path across the approaching storm. his should could ave escaped with very little damage or loss of life, It was only the intervention of Admiral Nimitz that saved Halsey from being court martialed. Almost unbelievably, Halsey sailed the Third Fleet right into Typhoon Connie in June, 1945, even though he had the command ship USS Ancon as part of his fleet. She had the most advanced radars of any ship off Okinawa, and her radar was able ot see Connie a75 miles away. If he had liaison officer aboard her, the flett could have turned away from the storm in time. Instead, Ancon had to send a coded radio message that took five hours to decode, and the storm was on top of them by then. Luckily, it wasn't as bad a Cobra, so no ships were lost (although many were damaged) and only six men were lost. Once again, Nimitz stepped in to save Halsey from sanction and reassignment, and he kept command of the fleet until December, 1945. Halsey had turned from the best admiral we could have in 1942 into a disaster by 1945.
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