How the US sank the worlds largest battleship

[Music] this is the biggest battleship ever built Japan's Yamato it carried these monster 46 centimeter type 94s the biggest guns ever mounted on a ship today we cover her final suicide mission to the island of Okinawa to beach herself and fight to the death [Music] good Japan was desperate after World War One to become a major Naval power initially they wanted to remain allied with the West so they signed the Washington Naval treaty in 1922 which limited ships to 35 000 tons and 16-inch guns they kind of rhymed as well you see the treaty was designed to prevent an arms race but unfairly for Japan for every 100 ships the US built Japan could only build 60. so Japan made a plan to concentrate their Force they figured why not leave the treaty build our ships twice as big and the Americans can't compete because they need their ships to fit through the Panama Canal in other words Japan is desires to have a new deal in the naval matters on a much more reasonable basis than heretofore 1937 the super Battleship builds began at the Docks of Courier Naval Arsenal 1.5 billion a ship nowadays several were planned three were made the Yamato shukaku and Musashi it was top top secret the docks were deepened and screened off it was forbidden to mention the 46 centimeter guns and a criminal offense to take a picture you didn't want to be messing with the Japanese gestapo the sword wielding kenpai Thai to give you an idea of her size this is the Bismarck Europe's biggest battleship the Germans fibbed about her as well said she was 35 000 and she was actually closer to 50. a lot of big ladies about see Yamato's not much longer but damn she got girth and of course she was packing these tight 94 18.1 inch Godzilla turrets not their official designation I don't think imagine firing those sir prepare gun for use but the gun hasn't been tested if it fails humanity is done for I understand Race For The Flash and recoil okay well that might be a different Yamato but this is a Sherman tank to scale looks scared by the way the front alarm on these were 65 centimeters I believe it's the only armor ever made so thick it was impenetrable to all existing weapons you can shell Calais from Dover with these they've got 42 000 meter range of 45 degrees that's the equivalent power of firing a Ford Focus over the English Channel at 500 meters a second unfortunately though the Japanese lacked Radar Fire and remote power control so they had to be manually Range found the rangefinder viewports stuck out like these little metal ears at the back of the turret and then it was this long metal tube that ran across the width you look through here and the prisms then split the view from your left and right eye the left eye was fixed at 90 degrees and you'd use a wheel to bring in the right eye to form a triangle if you know this angle then you know that angle and from that you can get the length in the viewport when the top and bottom aligned you knew that you formed your triangle underneath the turrets the shells and cord eyes were stored they had a system of pulleys because the shells weighed 1400 kilograms to take them to the separate elevators when they reached the top a big mechanical arm pushed them into the breech if you want to know the details somebody has made an insane 3D animation of the tour I've linked it below unbelievable this was made with pen and paper you know what amazes me watching that that there was only one fatality in Yamato's tourists apparently a guy got cut in half by a rogue shell bogey I'm okay it wasn't okay who fired these tight 91 armor-piercing shells for surface combat up to 50 centimeter armor penetration they had a breakaway wind cap and then a hydrodynamic head underneath so they could dip underwater through the torpedo Gorge and then through where the belt armor was thinner if you're wondering as I was what the deal is with torpedo bulges they're like an unarmored cushion usually filled with water to soften torpedo explosions because without Torpedoes cause crazy damage because they don't penetrate they damage with hydrostatic pressure Yamato also fired these AA sunshiki beehive rounds they had a timed fuse and were filled with flechettes and rubber thermite which burned at 3 000 degrees apparently not very effective but it did trick the Americans though because the U.S thought Japan throughout the war had radar-controlled AA which it didn't so when they came under Fire they used to throw these little metal streamers called window out of the plane's window to disrupt the radar as you can see Yamato had quite the AAA complement if it fly as it dies I think was the motto if you look on the port side here by the way do you know how I remember that Port is left because there's never any left when my girlfriend's been near it hey anyway I had these 50 50 type 96 triple barrel 25 millimeters and then a vast assortment of type 89 40 cows and type 93 Shiki 13 millimeters these here are the AAA fire controllers that supposedly coordinate the AAA but to be honest back then AAA wasn't very effective the US were averaging 1050 cows per plane they took down also because of the main gun's blast pressure notice everybody running in this clip some of the AAA couldn't be manned for reference a blast pressure of one kilogram a centimeter squared will tear your clothes off and knock you out sounds like a fun time but a three-barrel salvo produced 20 times that you had to be 50 meters from the guns Yamato was the heaviest arm and ship ever built 22 895 tons of armor it was designed to take on five to six U.S ships at once had a central armored Citadel containing the boiler fire rooms engines and ammo as well as the classic japanese unprotected bow and Stern the superstructure had all the latest technology type 98 hoiban low angle director Rangefinder air defense combat post combat Bridge Compass Bridge signal deck and conning Tower at the back you've got a signaling Master signal to other ships and a catapult at the rear for launching spotting planes the main armor belt was 410 millimeters of Vickers hardened the deck was impenetrable supposedly to a thousand kilogram armor-piercing bombs dropped under 3400 meters Yamato did have a couple of weaknesses though firstly this belt armor is extremely thick it's actually too thick to be welded so they had to rivet it which is significantly weaker and of course the first random torpedo she took those rivets sheared and she took on a ton of water and had to limp home the Japanese had a solution though this little Crosby now I'm not an engineer but compared to this that does not look sufficient ugh that push it with his wonky nose the second problem is that the lower armor belt is the back of the torpedo Bush so there's only two walls there to stop water now that might have been okay but the Japanese didn't fill Yamato's bulges with water and the bulkheads behind were very rigid it's often the torpedo blasts would just bend the armor around them letting water in [Music] by April the 6th 1945 the war had been disastrous for Japan they'd been pushed back battle after battle after battle the fate of the Empire rested on one action a breakthrough operation of unrivaled Bravery the Americans had just invaded Okinawa a crucial Japanese stronghold Yamato was to go on a one-way Mission exact maximum punishment on the Americans Beach itself and fight until destroyed that morning Yamato set off commanded by Admiral araga she was traveling with eight destroyers she had no air cover all the remaining Japanese planes have been sent to attack the American Fleet at Okinawa one Gallant attempt a final Charge of the Light Brigade float planes were sent up to spot the U.S submarines but at 4 pm she was noticed by threadfin and hackleback under the cover of night the Convoy managed to lose them and at 6am the next morning she reached osami Peninsula as the sun broke the Convoy moved into defensive formation yahagi leading eight destroyers in a 1500 meter ring they knew they were exposing themselves to potentially eight hours of daylight Air Attack by 10 AM the weather is terrible for the Japanese low broken 300 foot cumulus clouds perfect for Air Attack the Destroyer asushimo falls behind with engine trouble by now Yamato has been spotted multiple times the US is still unsure of a heading they don't want to lose her but she's 250 miles away the real limit of their bomber strike range 10 30. Admiral spruance gives the shortest operational order in history to Commander mitcher you take them 11 am 2000 Japanese planes begin operation from kyushua Air Base it's going to be the greatest Kamikaze attack of the war they're too late though to help Yamato the U.S planes have already launched [Music] the planes the U.S had launched were Curtis helldivers vort corsairs the whistling death and hellcats as fighter support they also sent the turkey the Avenger torpedo bomber bit of a fat boy had to be catapulted off the ships also you wanted to be the pilot because apparently there wasn't space for the radio operator and Gunner to have a parachute George Bush Senior had one he actually had three he called them all Barbara after his wife after having to crash land one he nearly got eaten by Japanese cannibals but that's another story The Avengers dropped these one-ton Mark 13 mod 9 Torpedoes unlike the Japanese the Americans had trouble keeping their Torpedoes running straight the submarine version of this the mark 14 used to sometimes run in a circle and blow up the submarine that fired it they had to put this plywood box tail stabilizer and Pickle Barrel drag wing crikey that was a tongue twister on on the mark 13 to keep it stable in the air because it had to enter the water at 26 to 30 degrees a lot of the Torpedoes were set at the wrong run in depth for Yamato because they didn't realize how big she was it should have been 18 to 22 feet which a radio operator could have set with a screw at the back but to save weight and fuel for the long flight distance most of the Avengers only had a pilot at the front the Torpedoes got a tall PEX tip equivalent to 400 kilograms of TNT for the first 300 yards water would run in turn this impeller so the Exploder is gradually armed and they had a ball switch in them so if there was a glancing blow like this the ball could displace in any direction closing the contacts and releasing electricity from the condenser and you've got a very big boom on your hands it's uncertain how many hits Yamato actually took but these are the confirmed ones that correlate between the U.S technical missions Declassified report and Requiem for Yamato 1220 at 250 kilogram bomb hit starboard frame 150 glances off the Gunnery control destroying three 12.7 centimeter AA mounts punches a 22 foot hole in the weather deck exploding two decks below killing the entire Port damage control team another bomb penetrates the flying deck wiping out the main radar room a third stays in the AFT 15.5 centimeter Mount as if struck by a giant hammer destroying the Fire Control station and directors warning lights flash on the bridge that the main turret cordite store is getting hot being heated by fire through the bulkhead Yamato's anti-air mounts are proving relatively useless like swatting bugs with a sledgehammer the 50 cal rounds are barely traveling five to six times the speed of the planes many of the Gunners have less than one hour training 12 45 the first torpedo hits at pool frame 125. the second is poor frame 150 flooding the outboard engine room and causing a list of five to six degrees the bridge counter floods to one degree 1pm a torpedo hit starboard frame 124 flooding and killing everyone in fire room 7. another hits the opposite side flooding fire rooms 8 and 12 as well as the outboard engine and poor hydraulic Machinery rooms Yamato is now listing 15 to 16 degrees to Port the starboard engine and boiler are counter flooded likely killing several hundred crew in there the list is corrected to five degrees but Yamato is slowed to 10 knots 130 two more Torpedoes hit Port Yamato raises the Z flag this is a final stand 150 now two damaged reform evasive maneuvers three Torpedoes hit successively one to starboard two to Port she lists 22 to 23 degrees to Port the ship's blisters are now too far above the water to be counter flooded she pulls a sharp left turn to counteract the list the Allies begin targeting a Ruger 2PM Admiral araga gives the order to abandon ship Gunnery officer Hattori locks himself in the senior Ward room to protect the emperor's portrait and prevent it from falling into American hands 218 Admiral araga ties himself to the compass Pinnacle his messenger sukamato puts a cracker in his mouth a traditional farewell to someone about to die on the decks below some of the sailors commit substitute surrender is dishonorable 2 20 p.m Yamato finally capsizes with 120 degree list [Music] it's not until the 1st of August 1985 that Yamato is seen again when Pisces two locates a 1410 feet deep in the East China Sea her final explosion created a 20 000 foot mushroom cloud and was hurt 200 kilometers away it's likely fire reached the ammo in turret 2. of the crew 3 000 drown many being dragged down by the ship's undertow only 280 survived the US lost 12 Airmen the Japanese seriously underestimated U.S resource and strength at that time in the war and that sometimes as it goes bigger isn't better it's how you end up using it rarely she stood no chance without air cover of making it to Okinawa it's argued the bitter irony is that by attacking Pearl Harbor with carriers in 1941 the Japanese rendered battleships obsolete even before Yamato was delivered because they showed the whole world that carriers not massive battleships ruled the waves maybe we'll never see anything like Yamato again [Applause] Maybe the [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: FRANKIEonPC

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Id: udRzCzE_dE0

Length: 17min 15sec (1035 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023