In mid-December 1944, during the War in the Pacific, Admiral William Halsey’s enormous Task Force 38 encountered an enemy even more dangerous than the Japanese navy.

Following aerial operations in the Philippine Islands, the fleet was trying to refuel its many warships, especially its destroyers and destroyer escort vessels. Halsey’s task force was comprised of 13 carriers large and small, eight battleships, 15 cruisers and about 50 destroyers. Unfortunately, worsening weather conditions made it impossible to continue refueling operations even though many of them were dangerously short of fuel.

Inaccurate information provided to the admiral allowed the fleet to sail into the center of what proved one of the most violent typhoons encountered during World War II and adding to the difficulties, most weather reports were at least 12 hours old before they were received by ships in the area.

Though a search plane was turned back by a tropical disturbance at midday on Dec. 14, Commander G.F. Kosco, weatherman aboard the flagship New Jersey, was unable to provide the warning of what proved a devastating typhoon.

When escort carriers found it impossible to recover two pilots flying overhead, both were ordered to turn their planes upside down and bail out. Despite gale winds and murderous seas, making rescue extremely difficult, the two pilots survived after being plucked from the sea.

Though Halsey tried to lead his task force clear of the storm, in actuality he blundered into the center of what proved the most dangerous typhoon since 1893. Encountering winds of 100 mph, high seas and torrential rains, three destroyers — Spence, Hull, and Monaghan — capsized or were sunk, with a loss of 790 officers and men. Nine other warships were heavily damaged, during which more than 100 aircraft were wrecked or washed overboard.

Having lost its radio mast and radio antennas, the destroyer escort Taberrer was struggling to merely survive the typhoon. Ignoring orders to remain on station, its skipper, Lt. Commander Henry Lee Plage, tried the rescue of survivors from the sunken destroyers.

Unfortunately, high winds and rough seas made rescue operations nearly impossible.

Fighting enormous waves, when approaching a survivor, Plage skillfully maneuvered his ship until nearly perpendicular with the surface of the water which allowed his crew to drag a survivor on to the deck of the Taberrer. While floundering in the heavy seas, a sailor would suddenly find himself safely on the deck of the destroyer escort.

During daylight and darkness, for more than 72 hours, Plage continued battling the powerful storm continuing to locate and rescue survivors. When another U.S. warship signaled at least two ships had gone down, a fleetwide alert was issued and a full scale search was mounted for survivors.

When the weather finally abated and search operations came to an end, Taberrer had rescued 14 men from Hull and 41 from Spence. In addition, the destroyer escort USS Brown had picked up six men from the Monaghan.

An interesting sidelight was the fact that Gerald R. Ford, the future president, was a lieutenant aboard the light carrier Monterrey during that terrible typhoon of December 1944. Carrying a full load of aircraft, a series of events caused a giant fire aboard the carrier and for a brief interval the captain considered ordering abandon ship.

Although the disastrous fire was finally brought under control, Lt. Ford almost became a casualty. Trying to make his way across the deck just as the carrier took rolled than 30 degrees, Ford came close to sliding off the ship. Fortunately, the young officer was able to jam his foot against the raised metal edge of the deck, which then allowed him to drop to a catwalk a short distance below. His death aboard the carrier that wild day would have changed history.

Though wondering if he would be court-martialed for disobeying orders, upon learning the splendid work Plage had done during that terrible storm, Admiral Halsey offered his best thanks, along with the Legion of Merit.

In addition, Tabberer’s crew were awarded Navy Unit Commendation ribbon. It was, in fact, the first time it had been awarded.

Robert Underbrink is a Jacksonville writer.