Halsey's Typhoon

By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin

Narrated by: Eric Conger

Length: 10 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

December 1944, the Pacific Theater. General Douglas MacArthur has vowed to return to the Philippines. He will need the help of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey's Pacific Fleet. But at the height of the invasion, Halsey's ships are blindsided by a typhoon of unprecedented strength and scope. Battleships are tossed like toys, fighter planes are blown off carriers, destroyers are capsized, and hundreds of sailors are swept into the roiling, shark-infested sea.

Only now, thanks to documents that have been declassified after 60 years and scores of firsthand accounts from survivors, can the story finally be told. Informed by years of rigorous research and narrated with the immediacy of an action movie, Halsey's Typhoon is an enthralling true tale of courage and survival against impossible odds and one of the finest untold World War II sagas of our time.

©2007 Bob Drury and Tom Clavin (P)2007 HighBridge Company; 16 9

Critic reviews

"A vivid tale of tragedy and gallantry at sea." (Publishers Weekly)

Who would have known

This book was amazing. That shed light on a topic I’ve no idea even existed. My grandfather served aboard the USS Richard P. Leary a Fletcher class destroyer. I thought of him as I read this book and what all the men in the pacific went through.

What a story..!!!!

Absolutely the best narratiive of the storm I've heard or read. Narration was perfect.
I've been to sea in the military and have seen a share of hefty storms. But I can only imagine what these men went through.
Don't pass this one up.

Tore through this one in two days

Well written and well performed, this WWII take off a Typoon hitting Admiral Halsleys fleet will take you there.

A true drama on the high seas

Extremely well written book with a great narration. A little known story of world war 2 that needed to be told.

Extraordinary courage by ordinary sailors

Many sailors and career naval officers like myself often questioned the lack of detail regarding the catastrophe that was this typhoon
This extraordinary book fills that historical gap
Well done and Bravo Zulu

A solid book that engaged me throughout.

This book was well researched and well thought out. It told the story in an engaging way and the performance was unique. I listen mainly to non-fiction historical works and this is the first one I've listened to with two narrators and music fades. I found this style well suited to the particular subject matter and it added a bit of drama without being disrespectful of the events. The book gave a decent amount of technical and historical background and then got straight to the point. I only recall one instance of what could be perceived as a mispronunciation of a name, but I think some reviewers have too much time on their hands and pick too much apart with narrators. Obviously it's the narration that can make or break an audio book. The narration here was done very well and the narrator has been added to my top ten list.

Great and powerful

Great story that needs to be told of the men and the disaster. The fog of war mixed with the lack of technology we sometimes take for granted, the drive to win for Halsey possibly tempered with his failure at Battle of Leyte Gulf with corresponding need to support MacArthur's operation in Luzon. Coupled with poor battle communications that plagued the Pacific and the capricious nature of luck where when it works its a miracle and when it fails its devastating to those hopeful. The audio book is great and I do like the interview at the end with the author, producer, and narrator. Recommended heartily on a subject that is usually a very noted issue but one that is rarely fleshed out.

Great book, I really enjoyed it.

Great book, I really enjoyed it. Good in depth look at the failures and successes of commanders and men during the typhoon.

Overcome by Circumstances

Excellent book for those who aren't aware of this little footnote of WWII. Because most people aren't familiar with the US Navy's Third and Fifth Fleets, much space is dedicated to background on how "Bull" Halsey and the Third Fleet came to be in the Philippine Sea on 17 December 1944.
The book is extremely well researched and tells the story in as impartial manner as possible. I listened to the book straight through in spite of the fact that I was very cognizant of the facts. The book reads like a historical novel. The authors weave essentially 5 story lines together to tell the 2 day saga. The result is a tale of hubris, tractability, heroism, insubordination, fatalism, life and death.
My only negatives are minor. The narrator mispronounced some nautical equipments, but was consistent in his mispronouncements. The authors also had minor problems with terminology. For example, the only "ceilings" onboard US Navy ships are those made of panels that are suspended by wires, hanging from the "overhead". I only mention these small errors because they stood out in an otherwise outstandingly researched book where the authors went to great pains to use authentic Naval terminology.

Good Navy story

It's typical of the work of the US Navy in WWII. Great heroism and resourcefulness by the crews, leadership that was at times arrogant, at others incompetent and at others prescient and selflessly dedicated to serving their crews and others, risking their careers and lives on what others thought missions of a fool.

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Drury and Clavin's other work "The Last Stand of Fox Company", but it was still unbelievably gripping at times. Definitely a good listen.