In Drydock in Ulithi

At Ulithi for replenishment and maintenance in drydock ABSD-2. Lost plane – washed over the side during typhoon.

As one crew member recounts, “It was a very scary night, the Iowa rolled to about a 45 degree angle at one point and we all held our breaths that it wouldn’t happen again. As our luck went, it happened at meal time so you can imagine the condition of the deck in the mess hall.”

There were 24 ships damaged, plus the destroyers Monoghan, Hull, and Spence which were sunk with a loss of 765 sailors. Damage to shaft caused by storm required USS IOWA to return to the United States for overhaul at Hunters Point Shipyard, San Francisco in the following month.

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