Halsey's Typhoon by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

So why was I reading a book about the US Navy Admiral Halsey during WW II? I was at Barnes and Noble looking for a Father's day book for my 91 year old dad. He loved the Navy and I like to find him good Navy books. It is amazing that new ones keep popping up-- most of the folks who served in WWII are no longer living-- where is the audience for these books? I should also say that I did have a particular affinity for WW II things in the 1950s-- I watched Gallant Men and Hogans Heros religiously with my parents and yes I liked the movie South Pacific, which may explain why I decided to read the book before sending it to my dad. OK so Admiral Halsey was another one of those ego maniac guys who follows the rules even in the face of a typhoon coming. While he is charged with giving General McArthur cover as he "retakes" the Philippines, a big storm whips up. Halsey does not clear out his Blue Blanket Naval fleet of destroyers who get tossed around like balls on a blanket as the typhoon grows to a very scary size. The main interest in the book is how the captains and their shipmates handle the storm- some are complete Captain Queeg nut cases and others are heros. Ships go down (3 of them) and about 800 men are lost. Somehow Halsey never gets really blamed for his dumb decision to make them all stay in the path of the storm instead of getting away. I was surprised to learn that some of the men who were interviewed for the book had never told their families about what happened to them- those who were rescued from sea where sharks and the blistering hot sun literally ate away at them. In the end I decided the book was a little too junky. I found another one called the Cobra Strikes -- which was also written about the typhoon and what happened to Halsey's fleet.