Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-07-13
Heavy Cruiser,
3 ButtIeships
Among Craft Hit
By the Associated Press.

mlle-an-hour winds last June
tore the bow off the cruises
Pittsburgh and damaged a
least 20 other warships, Admira
Chester w. Nimitz announced
today after 20 of the ships were
back in action.
AT least four of the damaged
shipS-the battleShipS MasSachus.
ettS and Indiana, the carrier Sar
Jacinto and the destroyer Johr
Rodgers-participated in last Tues.
days 1,000-plane carrier strike al
Tokyo.
The typhoon damaged more ships
than the Japanese Navy has been
able to damage in action in any
single battle. He said no ships were
sunk.
He listed the. 20 damaged ships as
repaired and back in action as inI
Guiding three fast new battleships
and, two EsseX-claSS carriers.
Pittsburgh Being Refitted.
The cruiser Pittsburgh, which
miraculously remained af1oat, is be-
ing refittted for action. Presumably
some additional ships, not identified,
we're damaged and have not returned
to sea.
Admiral Nimitz said no one was
lost from the most heavily damaged
Ship-the Pittsburgh. Nor was man
on her seriously injured. She has a
complement of more than 1000 men,
The Pittsburgh returned to Guam
under her own power for temporary
repairs and is now being refitted for
return to action.
Ships which suffered damage and
have returned to action include:
Essex-class carriers Hornet and
Bennington; the fast battleships
Massachusetts,, Indiana and Ala
bama; the independence class
cruiser-type carriers San Jacinto
and Belleau Wood; destroyers John
Rodgers and Blue; escort carrier
Bougainville.
Others Back in Action.
Three other cruisers and sever
deStroyers which suffered minor
damage also have been repaired and
returned to action.
Towering seas crushed Is feet o.
the Hornets flight deck and badly
damaged several destroyers, Other
correspondents reported.
Planes on one small escort car
rier were tipped around like bean
srl&A he nty
end and piled in a jumbled heap Of
wreckage," said Associated Press
Correspondent Grant Macdonald
The forward end of her flight deck
was ripped up and left dangling
over the bow.
Correspondent William Marien Of
the Sydney (Australia) Morning
Herald, aboard the Hornet during
the storm, said gigantic waves
pounded hammer blows on the flight
deck 60 feet above the ships norma
waterline.
Waves crushed about Is feet Of
the flight deck over the bow.
Performs Weird Feat.
When the storm abated, Rear Ad-
miral J. ]. (Jocko) Clark, command
ing this task force, was called on
to send out planes on mercy search
for five small ships and two hospital
ships driven from their course in
the same storm.
The ships were found to be safe.
But in order to get the planes off
for the search, the Hornet per-
formed one of the wars weirdest
feats in Improvisation and seaman
ship. This happened after one plane
attempting a normal takeof over
the bow was caught in the updraft
and spun into the wafer. The pilot
struggled free and was rescued. Ad-
miral Clark decided to send planes
off the carriers stern.
The engineers put the carrier in
reverse. The great ship backed up
until the wind speed was safe for
backward takeoffs.
ut was incongruous watching
planes take off the stern, but the
takeoffs went successfully, Corre-
spondent Marien reported.
Sea repairs were soon completed
on the bow and normal takeoffs
we're resumed.
Last December Is another typhoon
struck the Sd Fleet between the
Philippines and the Marianas and
three destroyers capsized and were
lostsin the violent seas.
Most of the personnel of the de-
stroyers Monaghan, Hull and Spence
were lost. Only six of the Mona
ghan's personnel were saved.
Correspondent Marien also was
with the 3rd Fleet during the De-
cember 18 typhoon. He described
the June storm as the worse of
the two.
Halsey Had Just Taken Over.
Admiral Halsey had taken over
the Sd Fleet eight days before the
second storm broke.
On June 2 and 8, as the storm
approached, Admiral Halsey's car
rier planes swept Kyushu in the
last fast carrier force action re-
ported until the July 10 attack on
the Tokyo area and nearby airfields
Presumably Admiral Halsey's
ships retired to a port in that period
for repair and refitting before
starting their foray into Honshu
waters.
Observed North Of PaIaus.
The first sign Of this storm was
observed June ! in a weak cyclonic
circulation about $50 miles north of
the Palaus. Planes were assigned
to maintain careful observation
of the disturbance moving north
westward at about 10 knots.
Philippines-based plane crews re-
ported June that the disturbance
promised to develop into a typhoon.
During June the storm appeared
heading toward the Ryukyus and on
the verge Of dissipating.
The storm moved on to a point
ahout 800 miles south of Okinawa
and broke up.
Admiral NimitZ's announcement