12-17-16
. . . My whole life flashed before my eyes. I was knocked out of my bunk. I couldn’t get up because the ship is sideways. So I’m holding on and I’m saying ‘Oh my God, we’re going . . .’ and it’s shaking and shaking. Finally, slowly but surely . . . voom . . . she came back up. I got off that deck and I flew up the ladder and I went topside and I didn’t go down below again until we were well out of that Typhoon. (George Pitts)
I was alone on watch at night on Quad 7 standing on the back part of the after stack as protection from the 100 foot high waves and wind. I was above the waterline at least 100 feet when I saw a destroyer off the port side in the distance. We did a maneuver and did a 40+ ° roll. I fell face down and was holding onto the cat walk steel mesh and was actually able to see the water as we rolled. I started to pray that we would be safe. The ship rolled back to the starboard side and I called Fire Control and asked where the destroyer was. I was told, ‘Joe, it sank.’ (Joseph Pulaski)
. . . I started sliding down the deck – this was on the starboard side. The water was coming over the scuppers – in other words the deck was underwater. I’m sliding down and I don’t know what the hell to do. I had my hand up in the air like this. Well, they had put up an inside lifeline before it got too rough, just for people to be able to walk down the deck. As I’m sliding down, the lifeline hit my hand and I grabbed it. If I missed, I’d gone right over the side. Once I grabbed the line and the ship rolled back to level, the guys formed a hand-line and the last guy grabbed my hand and I was able to get back up. That was just an instant thing that happened, and you don’t think about it then, but you do think about it when you get older and you realize how lucky you were to have gotten out of that one. (Bob Knight)
A few excerpts from Baked Beans Vol 2. There is much info available online and in books about the so-called “Halsey’s Typhoon” – the infamous Typhoon Cobra that sliced through the fleet in its full force on Dec. 17, 1944, damaging most ships. We lost three destroyers with all hands (800 souls perished in the storm).
USS Boston CAG 1 – CA 69
1967-1969. Side Cleaners Div.
I was the one that painted the 69 on the ship’s hull when it changed from CAG-1 to CA-69. I also painted the name BOSTON on the ship’s hull over the stern. This was done undereay to Boston comming out of the Panama cannal from a Viet Nam tour.
I served on the USS Boston CAG-1, from 1967-1969 (2 Viet Nam tours). We went through a typhoon for 3 days. There were compartments full of water, structural steel beams twisted, nobody eat for 3 long days ( just crackers). I don’t even want to remember those 3 days.
Glad you found the site. We also have a facebook group (CA69)
Enjoying browsing through your site this morning! My grandfather Edwin Swanson (FC1C) served on the USS Boston from ’43-’46 (I believe 1946 is right) and this storm is the one thing he named when I asked about the time he most feared for his life. Of course, I’d expected him to say something battle-related, but after he described the size of the waves and how long they were trapped in the storm, I understood! Thank you for your work preserving the stories of the USS Boston shipmates. It helps to come here when I am missing him. My Papa was a wonderful man.