The Pressure Was on the Atomic Bomb

Ships.

This form of transportation had appeared thousands of years ago, and from the moment of its invention, it had been closely tied to rivers, lakes, and seas.

Throughout the long development of the shipping industry, one topic had never lost its appeal.

That was:

Just how much wind and swell could a ship withstand?

Especially after modern destroyers, cruisers, and aircraft carriers appeared, the question became a shared concern both inside and outside the industry.

The debate had gone on for decades, until Halsey came along.

William Frederick Halsey was one of the few five-star admirals Across the sea, and, frankly, his record was full of both accomplishments and controversy.

For example, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Halsey had been lured away by Ozawa's carrier fleet, but in the end, he still managed to claim some kills.

But what had truly made Halsey a meme legend and earned him a special place in the history of ships was his inseparable bond with typhoons.

December 1944.

Halsey led the Third Fleet in raids on Neon airfields near the Philippines. As the fleet refueled its light destroyers, Typhoon Cobra suddenly struck.

The ships soon began to rock in the strengthening wind. At that moment, careless Halsey made his first bad decision:

"Keep refueling. If we top off the tanks, the ships will ride lower in the water and stop rocking, right?"

Then he was possessed by some famous master of micro-management. "Move the machine-gun positions five meters to the left—no, I mean, move the fleet five nautical miles southeast."

With that move, they sailed straight into the area where Typhoon Cobra's winds were strongest.

The maximum wind speed at sea reached 160 kilometers per hour, and the waves were over 21 meters high. Three destroyers sank, 146 planes were wrecked,