Posted on 07/03/2006 8:42:25 AM PDT by GATOR NAVY
A Japanese museum has obtained a rare photo of Japan's World War Two battleship the Yamato shortly before it departed for the East China Sea, where it was sunk by US warplanes.
The aerial photo was taken by a US reconnaissance plane on April 6, 1945, off Tokuyama in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, five hours before the Yamato made its final sortie.
The Yamato Museum in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, recently obtained a digital image of this photo, which is stored in the US National Archives in Washington.
The Yamato, the world's largest-ever battleship, sank on its way to Okinawa after being attacked by US naval aircraft on April 7, 1945.
The image shows the Yamato preparing for departure, and six other escort vessels, including the light cruiser Yahagi, which were anchored around the Yamato.
The Yamato was remodeled several times to counter US air attacks. A researcher says the picture is the first photo that clearly shows anti-aircraft guns installed near the Yamato's stern.
The Yamato Museum Director, Kazushige Todaka, says the photo is important since there is a lack of data on the battleship shortly before it sank.
The Graf Spee, with 11" guns, took out the Exeter who had only 8" guns. Didn't sink the Exeter, but she was ordered back to the Falklands, heavily damaged. The Ajax & Achilles, with 6" guns, did little damage to the Graf Spee.
The Graf Spee took refuge in the Plate Estuary, and there remains some question as to why he did so, since the ship wasn't that heavily damaged. She then returned to sea where the Captain scuttled his ship.
...Plate River (south America): 3 British cruisers took out a larger German ship.
The Yamato was built at great cost during the height of the War. Previous to its single engagement it had a reputation as a floating hotel for Imperial Navy brass. The Army, fliers and common Japanese had suffered terribly because of a War that the Navy was preceived to have started. By the time the Yamato set sail no one expected it to come back, few expected to even score against the Americans, and in the event it did not. Its demise probably provided US Navy fliers invaluable target practice. Japan would have been better served if it had been scuttled.
Sing it with me...
"we're off, to save the day, to save the human race..."
That's true.
I once heard a story that after a kamikaze hit on a US battleship the next command that came over the loudspeaker was "Sailors, man your brooms!"
(...of course I have heard the same story to describe a hit on a British carrier which had an armored flight deck)
Yeah, that's big.
But how would it fare against this?
who were the bad guys? I just remember rushing home after school to watch, I remember the space marines and the comet but little else
If you ever get a chance to see the Alabama in Mobile, I highly suggest it. Katrina did a number on the park, and especially the planes in the Aviation Pavillion, but the Alabama & Drum are in fine shape. I took my nephew yesterday and it was a blast. It would be better if they'd let me shoot those double 40's though.
Unlike a few visionaries such as Nimitz and Yamamoto, before WW2, most of the admirals considered the carrier as a scout who would find the enemy fleet so the battlewagons could go in and slug it out.
http://www.desslok.com/INFO/storyint.htm
As always, the The Gamilons were eliminated using everyone's favorite weapon of mass destruction, the wave motion gun!
The major role of the fast battleships was to protect the CV's from a major surface combatant like the Yamato. The thinking was that it might be possible during adverse weather conditions, or in narrow waters, to catch a carrier unready. The fast battleship, because it could keep pace with the CV's, was ideal for that role. In addition you could put a lot of AAA guns on a battlewagon to help drive off enemy aircraft.
That said, Halsey left his slow battleships to cover San Bernadino Strait, and took his fast BB's with him as insurance. Had Halsey known that the Japanese CV's posed no threat (they didn't have any aircraft embarked), he might have reacted differently.
I saw this battleship last week. It was damaged during the Katrina hurricane but is open to the public now.
The single worst acting job ever done by Kirk Douglas had to be "The Final Countdown". I swear he just mailed that one in.
That looks like an LPD (?)
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