Barometric pressure during the storm dropped to 26.8. Most ships reported rolls of as much as 70 degrees. and 120 knot winds were reported. This was one serious storm. Definitely not a place you'd like to be on a ship, but, this was 'The Greatest Generation, after all.
Fletcher-class destroyers Spence, Hickox, and Maddox had nearly empty fuel stores, thus lacking the extra weight for stability. However, the latter two pumped in sea water for ballast and were able to ride the storm out.
Two older Farragut-class destroyers, the Monaghan and Hull, had been refitted with 500 tons of extra equipment and were top heavy. The ships sank either by water coming down the funnels on the rolls or because they lost power and were at the mercy of the seas..
Sever officers and 55 men were saved from the Hull and six from the Monaghan.
Information from Wikipedia, but there are a lot of websites about the event.
Not Where I Would Want to be. --Cooter
No comments:
Post a Comment