Ahoy - Mac's Web Log

Dear Mac,
 
The contact that you told me about, who had kept copies of the Instruction and Maintenance Manuals for the Mk 11 Welfreighter has proved enormously worthwhile. Digital copies of the 2 manuals have been sent to me , and now I have such a wealth of detail that I am almost at a loss to know how to proceed. ! Luckily a veteran has been able to study the detail, and has indicated how it is to be understood in context with the later Mk 111  WF version...the ones that were trialled in Australian waters in 1945.
 
I have decided to try to interest a Publisher in the whole of the British midget Sub story, now that UK  Freedom of Information Legislation has at last permitted the opening of so many closed files. Many of the UK SOE personnel records that had been closed till at least 2017  ( 100 years from d.o.b.  ) are now able to be opened. A review of each file is triggered either when the veteran gives his consent, or when positive evidence can be produced that the individual is now deceased. It has opened a huge new line of research. It appears that by incorporating all this material, a definitive book could be written bringing together the information given in so many books written under the Official Secrets act since the war,  with that evidence from newly released files. a huge project...but  worthwhile.
 
On a separate subject .....while reviewing some detail the other day I noticed a reference I made at some time to the Typhoon that scattered the US fleet off the eastern Phillipines on Sunday 17th December 1944. Three destroyers were sunk and  8 carriers, 1  light Cruiser, 7 further destoyers and some auxiliary craft were also damaged. 150 aircraft were lost or damaged. Many lives were lost . The storm cost 769 sailors their lives. Do you know if a book has ever been written to tell this story ? I see just one reference to this event on your letters archive. My father was at sea between San Francisco and New Guinea at the time.
 
Best wishes,
 
Tom Colville.

Tom,
 
Nice to hear from you.

Here is the reference for a book about that Typhoon:

• Typhoon, the Other Enemy: The Third Fleet and the Pacific Storm of December 1944 by Raymond C. Calhoun, published by the Naval Institute Press in 1981.

Also see this article about it at URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_of_1944 

Go to the references at the bottom of this report, and then visit the Naval Historical Center at URL:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-4f.htm#anchor1011961 for the Navy report about that awful event.

Best regards, 
Mac.