USS Boston CA-69 in WWII

1944: The New Year finds the men still in Pearl Harbor.  Week-day at-sea exercises give way to weekend liberty for the men in Honolulu. Task Force 58 is not yet operational; for all practical purposes it does not exist until the ships debouch Pearl Harbor and form into Task Groups on January 19^th.

1945: The Boston has been in combat for a year now, first as a unit of Task Force 58 under the command of Raymond Spruance (aboard the USS Indianapolis), then (as of August 1,)  as a unit of Task Force 38 under the command of William Halsey (aboard the New Jersey).  On December 30, 1944, the Boston weighed anchor and started a new operation to support the Luzon Landing. They rang in the New Year steaming toward Formosa as part of TG38.1. The next several days were spent bobbing in heavy seas, the carriers launching fighters against targets on Formosa.  The invasion fleet off Luzon was under heavy kamikaze attack, so for three more days, carrier planes concentrated on targets on Luzon.  On Jan. 9, the task groups headed north again toward Formosa, then turned to the southwest into the South China Sea on Jan 10.  After refueling on the 11^th, Task Group 38.1 is joined by TG 38.2 and begins Operation Gratitude – attacking Hong Kong, Saigon, and other targets.

1946: The Boston remained on Occupation Duty off Japan.

1943: The men spend their first Christmas aboard the Boston anchored in Pearl Harbor.

1944: The ships of Task Force 38 spent the 19^th and 20^th of December searching for survivors of the terrible typhoon that claimed three destroyers and 800 men off the eastern shores of Luzon and Samar (Philippines).  Search planes launched from all the  ships continued searching for survivors as the ships reorganized into their task groups for more strikes against Luzon.  Because the ships were still being plagued by the typhoon, the airstrikes were cancelled that night.  The task groups then turned south and east and headed for the anchorage at Ulithi, where they would stay until Dec 30.  After arriving on the 22^nd, the men celebrated Christmas in Ulithi Lagoon. While the ships were in anchorage, the Navy convened a Court of Inquiry to ascertain the facts surrounding Typhoon Cobra.

1945: The men still aboard the Boston on Occupation Duty spent their last Christmas together aboard the ship.

The ships of Task Force 38 were east of the Northern Philippines by December 13 to begin support of the Mindoro Landing. The strategy was to blanket Luzon with round-the-clock fighter coverage over the airfields of Luzon – squashing kamikaze attacks before they could materialize against the US Invasion Fleet off Mindoro.

Admiral Halsey ordered the ships to a refueling rendezvous starting early Sunday morning, December 17.  After three days of raids and attacks against Luzon, the ships were low on fuel  -  especially the destroyers.  TF38 ships met up with the Service Group – oilers, escort carriers and their destroyers, but the wind and seas were kicking up and refueling had to be called off.  over the next twenty four hours, three more refueling rendezvous were scheduled, but none could be exercised.  The men and ships were seasoned by several typhoons since heading to Pearl Harbor a year earlier.  They had endured many days of foul weather.  No one on the ship was prepared for the monstrous storm that was now heading their way, however.

A fierce, tight, fast moving storm had began developing days earlier a thousand miles away and went undetected by traditional weather observations in place at the time.  Despite each aircraft carrier having aboard a meteorologist, the storm eluded detection until it was too late.  By nightfall on the 17^th, the ships were struggling against giant waves and fierce winds, and were scattered across sixty miles of ocean. Mighty aircraft carriers were bobbing down so low that they scooped sea water across their decks. Planes broke free and crashed into each other or were swept into the sea. The destroyers, most dangerously low on fuel and de-ballasted, were at the mercy of waves taller than their ships and at times, winds that gusted past 100 mph.

This is what the men of the Boston endured on that awful night between Dec 17 and December 18.  The ship recorded side-to-side rolls that went way beyond the danger-point.

Halsey had continually ordered the ships on a southerly course, because his “weather guys” thought the eye of the storm was a hundred miles to the east.  This would take them south of the worst part of the storm, and would allow the ships to refuel in calmer waters. In fact, though, the eye of the storm passed right through the formation of ships, causing some to be whacked on all sides, making navigation impossible. Most ships lost power and/or radio, and visibility was zero.  During that awful night, three destroyers went down: the Hull, the Spence, and the Monaghan. Total loss of life: almost 800 men – mostly sailors aboard the three destroyers, but also includes men swept off other ships throughout the storm.

My father served on the Boston during WWll.  He was assigned to the ship while it was still being built and spent months in the city of Boston barracked at the Fargo Building.  He almost never spoke of the war or his Navy days to his family.  When he died four years ago, my brothers, my sister and myself could only remember a handful of anecdotes that he shared with us.

After he died, I spent three years researching and writing a book about his service on the Boston, titled “A Bird’s Eye View.” Many years earlier, a copy of a diary written by one of dad’s shipmates, Frank Studenski was given to me (the details are spelled in the book).  Using Frank’s Diary and a mountain of info from the internet, I was able to piece together the remarkable story of the Boston and what her crew endured.

The task was a bit daunting, to say the least.  I was never in the Navy.  In my entire life I stepped aboard a ship 4 times: as a boy scout I visited “Old Ironsides” in Boston, and in the last four years I have visited the Missouri at Pearl Harbor, the Hornet at Oakland, CA, and the USS Salem (the only heavy cruiser still afloat) at the Quincy MA shipyard – where the Boston was built.

The book was completed in the early months of this year, and is available on Amazon and on my website: www.ussbostonbook.org.

In the few months that the book has been available, to my knowledge two of my father’s shipmates have read the book.  One crewmember and his wife have invited me to their home for dinner and an overnight stay.  The other emailed me  “I have already read it and it is great.  You say it just the way it was!  I loved it. Brought back memories that I had forgotten a long time ago.” A few emails later, he ordered five more books – one for each of his children.  I am very gratified by their response to my book.

A few months ago, my younger brother Bill and I decided to start this blog site, devoted to the Boston during WWll in the Pacific.  We are not experts, we are not Navy guys, we are not part of any organization.  We are not affiliated with any other group or website.  We’re just a couple of guys with enthusiasm about our dad’s ship, the action she saw, and what the guys endured while serving our country and fighting our declared enemy.

1944: On Dec 9, the Boston weighed anchor after more than two weeks in drydock in Seeadler Harbor.  The ship headed north to rejoin the rest of the ships of the Task Force anchored in Ulithi Lagoon. They arrived at the lagoon on Tuesday, December 12^th. The following day, they formed up off Ulithi into Task Group 38.1, joining the cruisers New Orleans, San Francisco, the Baltimore and San Diego along with the battleships Massachusetts and Alabama.  Those seven large capital ships form the screen around the four aircraft carriers of the group: the Yorktown, Wasp, Cowpens and Monterey.  Sixteen destroyers form the outer screen.  The Task Force (TF38) and the Invasion Force begin the second phase of operations to liberate the Philippines, code named Operation Love lll, the landing of invasion forces on Mindoro.  By now, the Japanese use of suicide attacks (kamikazes) against American ships was becoming commonplace.

On December 14, 15, and 16, the carriers of Task Force 38 launch deckloads of fighters and bombers against targets on Mindoro and Luzon. On December 17^th, the weather stiffens and the seas grow heavy –  a typhoon is gathering – and conditions get worse and worse.  They are about to run afoul of the fiercest typhoon of the War – Typhoon Cobra.

I will do a separate post on this terrible storm.