Admiral Radford, sailing as an observer on the Ticonderoga, judged that “we were in for it.” The carrier’s skipper agreed and issued orders to secure for a typhoon.85 Many others throughout the fleet, including all of the task group commanders and many senior captains, reached similar conclusions. The safest move would have been to turn south. But that would have taken Task Force 38 out of position to launch the planned airstrike on Luzon two days later, and Halsey was determined to keep his promises to MacArthur. Given that his meteorologists were forecasting that the storm (if such it was)
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