USS Vigilance (AM-324) - Damaged in A Typhoon

Damaged in A Typhoon

Worsening weather gave all signs of an approaching typhoon; and Vigilance was forced to anchor in various berths at Wakanoura Wan, off Honshū, between the 16th and 19th. As the storm reached its climax before dawn on the 18th, LST-661 dragged her anchors and drifted down toward Vigilance's berth. The minesweeper slipped her anchor and chain in an effort to avoid a collision; but the 90-knot (170 km/h) wind pushed the LST inexorably toward the minecraft. Soon there came the crunch of steel on steel as the landing ship crashed into the minesweeper's starboard side, forward, bending in the bulwarks near the bow.