The Pacific theatre of World War II represents a turning point in the history of navigation – when practical observation of weather conditions was supplanted by land-based weather forecasts, generated with newly developed technologies. The question was whether a ship’s commander should entrust the safety of his vessel to his own judgement or instead rely on radio broadcasts, the beginnings of ‘big data’, and the output of machines.
US naval campaigns in the Western Pacific and South China Seas during World War II provide notable occasions when the old and the new knowledge were tested under extreme weather conditions and the exigencies of wartime operations. This lecture examines the role of typhoons and the science about their prediction in relation to US naval operations in the Pacific Ocean theatre in 1944 in 1945.
Entry is free; no ticket is needed. Places are on a first-come, first-served basis, so latecomers may not be admitted when the lecture room is full.
Venue Details
BLAYDES HOUSE,
Maritime Studies Centre,
6 High Street,
Hull,
HU1 1HA
Blaydes House was built around 1740 as the home and business premises of the Blaydes family. The family included shipbuilders, shipowners, merchants and local political figures who played a leading part in the commercial and civic life of eighteenth-century Hull. The house, with its elegant panelled rooms and sweeping carved staircase, demonstrates the prosperity and self-confidence of the town’s mercantile elite. It is a typical Georgian merchant’s house, among the most impressive of several such buildings that have survived on the High Street. The house has been sympathetically restored, with period colour schemes. Since 2001 Blaydes House has been the home of the University of Hull’s Maritime Historical Studies Centre.
