Thank you all for watching Historigraph in 2025! It's been a tough year at times in terms of view counts, but I'm proud of what we made and hope you all enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed creating. If you wanted to help support the creation of documentaries into 2025, I'd love it if you checked out the new histoigraph poster store or our patreon! Buy a Poster! www.historigraph.media/store Get Early Access to Videos: www.patreon.com/historigraph
though i can understand their poor damage control how the hell did the submarines consistently get through the destroyer screen? poor radar? fatique? inadequate numbers of escorts? wtf.
great example is during the age of sail the British had smaller ships generally, but much more well trained sailors than the French and Spanish, who built some of the biggest ships during the Napoleonic Wars
@@lumiiyyyy British ships nearly always produced more effective firepower. While they tended to have fewer guns, their crews could fire roughly twice as quickly.
Was the spread of the gasoline fumes a crew training issue, or a ship design issue? Seems like there should have been some sort of failsafe in place for that contingency.
@@Nainara32 I don’t actually remember maybe it’s a little bit of both. There is an excellent video on drachinifel’s channel about damage control. Go watch that.
@@Nainara32 Both, but more a crew training issue. Taiho's flight deck lacked ventilation, but it was the damage control officer's decision to open all the interior hatches that allowed fumes to spread through the entire ship.
@@allrefersone It’s not as much of a security risk as you might think. I was issued 2 of them when I first reported for duty, but now they’re long out of warranty, and one is moderately degraded in serviceability while the other has failed almost completely. And don’t even think about requisitioning replacements. 😂
Kind of encapsulates one of the core problems with the IJN's cultural dogma, that it trained its men to throw their lives away, but didn't bother trying very hard to make that unnecessary.
@ I don't think any navy would. In fact, what he did was, if things were slightly different, the only way to stop the ship's eventual demise from starting.
What wasn't mentioned in the video was the design of the ship herself. At 1:48 she was described as the "the Imperial Japanese newest and most capable aircraft carrier" the newest part is true. Most capable.........not really. Unfortuntely, she's not as good as she probably should have been by design. It was long (starting around the same time as the Shokaku class) turbulant, constant stops, starts and changes and just, all over the place. This left her, flawed. Her TDS was inaduquate, though the same was true for the Shokaku class for some reason. The armoured flight didn't help at all. She had to lose an entire deck to get it to avoid being top heavy. Went back to the old enclosed hanger system (probably due to armoured flight deck, Japan taking ideas from the RNs Illustrious class) which was a downgrade from the Shokaku class becuase they had thin walls that could open the sides if hanger, a perferated flight deck to allow fumes to exit through the deck. Meaning they were enclosed enough to protect the aircraft from the elements whilst being open enough to prevent fumes from being trapped in the ship. The AV gas tanks were an integral part if the ship's construction which made them easier to rupture when hit which is another old building tradition they had. She did see some improvements over the Shokaku class, the larger island superstructure, taken from the hiyo class. Larger overall flight deck and elevators made the deck more aircraft friendly and finally the hurricane bow improved seakeeping. Overall she was, ok. I personally say her design was more of a step backwards than forwards. However, it's also the result of a long and all over the place design and construction process. Their was some improvements but more flaws. Besides the Japanese considered the Shokaku class their best carriers in spite of Taiho.
You have to remember that a sub sank the largest carrier ever built with 4 torpedoes. The one made with the hull of a super battleship. The Yamato and her sister ship took way more damage to sink them. It wasn’t finished and the crew was untested!
I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing
I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing
Alongside a ship that was designed specifically to hunt submarines like her, USS Stewart (DE-238). Really neat museum that showcases both sides of anti-submarine warfare.
One of the survivors of Shokaku was a man named Eikichi Nagamochi. Nagamochi would recover in Kure and when he did he re-discovered his first love, baseball. He'd been a pretty good player in high school so he elected to try out for one of the 2 new teams that were joining the JPBL (now NPB) when it re-started after the war. He ended up being signed by the Tokyo Senators (now the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters). In 1950 he'd join the newly founded Taiyo Whales (now the Yokohama BayStars) and would hit the first home run in franchise history. Then he would join the Hiroshima Carp and helped save the franchise from potential contraction in 1952. He described joining the Carp as giving back to the people of Kure (which is in Hiroshima prefecture) who'd healed the wounds he'd received in the sinking. E: S&G
Really makes you sad thinking about how many people could've gone on to do great things after WW2 if they hadn't been killed, maimed or traumatized. Although that applies to any war or conflict really...
@@Corristo89 Yep, even if we limit it to just baseball, many great players died during the war, a lot of them in senseless Kamekaze attacks and Banzai charges ordered at the end of the war that were wiped out without doing any damage whatsoever. Some of those who died include: - Osaka Tigers two-way star Masaru Kageura - Eiji Sawamura, whom NPB's version of the Cy Young Award is named after - Masaki Yoshihara, the best catcher in the league at the time - Shinichi Ishimaru, who still holds the Chunichi Dragons single-season ERA record - Shuichi Hirose, an ace-caliber pitcher who was KIA at 22 - Adelano Rivera, the first non-Japanese player in Yomiuri Giants history (if you don't count Victor Starffin), killed by Japanese troops when he tried to sneak home to visit his family. War is hell.
@GaijinBaseball Yep, though I do wonder if the people would be the same had those events of the 30s and 40s never happened. The depression and war were a crucible and forge that made the great men of the 50s and 60s.
Interesting to think about what might have happened if the Japanese high command had realized that they would never be able to win within the year or two after Pearl Harbor, and decided not to sacrifice so many of their people to assuage their "honor". Among other things, it shows what happens when a government and military refuse to accept reality. They certainly could have avoided Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the firebombings of many of their cities, and the devastation at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
When they found out about Shokaku’s loss. The crew on USS Enterprise (CV-6) celebrated it. As she was a huge pain for them during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Slight more detail - because of oil bans they had to rush unrefined fuel to the ships, fuel that had a lot more volatile organic compounds in it, much more likely to blow up. It wasn’t _just_ the torpedo but torpedo + shitty fuel that months of boycott and subs downing merchant ships. Maybe that was the captain’s thinking too - he didn’t realize how much different the fuel composition made to the ship. Oil is oil, right?
HMS Ark Royal was lost in a similar way. A single torpedo hit, followed by almost non-existent damage control, as they considered whether to abandon ship. Her CO was court martialed and found guilty of negligence.
@@biffbobfred There was some knowledge about the oil from Borneo having volatile elements in it but it was limited and only those that worked at the refineries knew about it. I have not seen anything that indicates the IJN knew about how dangerous it was
Akagi was doomed by a single 1000lb bomb during the Battle of Midway. Because of the morning action, there were a bunch of planes, fuel, and ammo exposed on the hanger deck when it hit, and the whole thing went up like a roman candle.
Having 15 carriers for a strike vs having to hurry and scrape together just 3 carriers for the Battle of Midway is such a difference it's almost unbelievable. If you tried to put such a turn around into fiction people would say it was unrealistic.
And only if you count museum vessels too, the US barely has 15 fleet carriers today (iirc 3 Essex’s, 1 Midway, and 11 active carriers, with at least 2 (Enterprise CVN-80 included) under construction)
@@General_Danewell, each one of those carriers are >3x larger than an Essex, and that's not including our totally not aircraft carriers in the "amphibious assault ships"
@@TonyChan-eh3nz Yes that’s true, but if you *only* look at the total amount of aircraft they are capable of carrying they are basically the same size as an Essex. Now, the planes today are a lot more powerful than 100 years ago, but still about 90 planes in a Gerald R Ford class, and between 90 and 100 (originally) on a Midway
Well it was 3 top of the line carriers vs 6 top of the line carriers plus a former top of the line carrier and 8 lesser carriers. That makes it much more realistic. In addition it was 2 years later, and part of the Midway stand was they knew these new more powerful carriers were coming soon.
For USN aviators, the Battle of the Phillipine Sea had another (nick) name: The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The IKN lost over 350 aircraft to 123 for the USN (80 lost ditching due to fuel exhaustion). The USN.carriers included the ESSEX Class replacements USS HORNET, LEXINTON, YORKTOWN.& WASP.
Taiho (Great Phoneix) really did live up to its namesake, blowing up in a great fireball, but unlike her mythological namesake, she never rose up from the ashes. Shokaku (Soaring Crane) is really ironic here as well, sinking bow-first into the bottom like her Empire. Her service was also very much inseparable from her sister Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane), the two ships of the class were really twins in a packaged deal. When the sisters were together, Shokaku would always seemingly take the damage meant for both of them, leaving Zuikaku undamaged in battle. After Shokaku sank, fate would catch up to Zuikaku as well, as she suffered her first battle wound the very next day. Zuikaku would soon join her sister, as history knows, her first mission without her sister would be her last, as she would be sunk during the Battle off Cape Engaño, sinking stern-first mirroring her sister Shokaku.
@@DABrock-author Yeah I remember that as well. Especially after Coral Sea battle. Both of them had to return to Japan, I believe, as for Shokaku to get repaired, and Zuikaku to get new aircrafts for her air group
@@Danspy501st Yep. And if they’d done the logical thing and transferred Shokaku’s mostly-intact air group to Zuikaku they could have had a fifth carrier at Midway, possibly altering the outcome. But that wasn’t the doctrine, must always obey the holy doctrine. 🤦♂️
@@DABrock-author Well on that as how we know Midway turned out, I do think both Shokaku and Zuikaku were lucky as they needed to return to Japan and missing out for Midway. In the original plan, Shokaku class carrier should also had been with the Midway force. I just cant recall why they were taken away from that force and needed to support the force that lead to Coral Sea battle
Submarines, especially in WW2, are so interesting to hear about when you can recognize all their names. Each one of them has their own achievements and in extension formed their own identity from their war service.
I've just finished reading a book called 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' by Mike Carlton, about Australian ships in the Mediterranean Sea. He mentioned that German subs had a very similar problem, & that 4 torps from one submarine had hit a major British warship & all had broken apart on impact. This was kept secret for the rest of the war & I had never heard of it before.
That opens a can of worms, there weren’t many torpedoes available in the inventories anyway, had the faults been identified and attempts to replace them, ammo would’ve been even more scarce.
@@looinrims BUT they would have known about the problem and probably could have gotten enough funding to fix them. Thus once they started the run up to the war they would have been able to manufacture enough good torpedoes to make a serious difference in the first year of the war. Faulty ammo is worse than no ammo at all. We will never know how many submariners died in that time period because of bad torpedoes.
@@looinrimsfaulty ammo is worse than no ammo at all. Just look at the bravery torpedo bombers crews being the most vulnerable of the strike forces and their sacrifices amounting to nothing due to faulty torpedos
@pufffincrazy5275 without the computer, the sailors needed to fire just by looking and estimating, otherwise known as "eyeballing" it. There was no backup aiming "device," they were just aiming by themselves.
@pufffincrazy5275"Mk-1 eyeball" is an old military joke for naked eye. The tone and script in the video leads me to believe that historigraph didn't get it either.
*US Navy:* _(sends into battle 15 aircraft carriers with 850+ planes, 7 battleships, 20+ cruisers, 65+ destroyers, and 25+ submarines)_ *Imperial Japanese Navy:* Ha! We got'em right where we want'em!
Reminds me of the Parlay scene from Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End where the pirates sail to meet the East India Trading Co. fleet, they start cheering, until the fleet keeps coming...and coming...and.. 😂
The Japanese knew from the start that they were outgunned and outproduced but there was nothing they could do against that. Thats why they tried the first strike and the decisive battle. They had well trained crews and pilots (better than the americans) at the start of the war so they tried to force a decisive battle early before american production would overwhelm them and sink/disable the american carrier fleet in one strike. Then they would have bought themself a little bit of time until the USA outproduced them again. Time they could use to conquer the pacific with their temporary naval dominance. Ultimately the goal was to discourage the american public in continuing the war and making peace. It didnt work out, the first strike (pearl harbor) was not succesful in sinking/crippling the US carrier fleet and they didnt manage to win a decisive battle quickly. The war was pretty much doomed before it started and the IJN knew that.
@@ShirosTamagotchi Japanese leadership didn't really appreciate how overwhelming American industry was. America kept giving Japan a chance to surrender, but they clung to the idea of one giant decapitating strike. All Pearl Harbor did was piss off the American public. It made SURE that the Americans would keep fighting in spite of losses.
@@ShirosTamagotchi You can argue that the US had wind of a pending attack, and that is why no carriers were there. Maybe it was Divine intervention, but without that attack what would have provoked US people to want to go to war?
@@ShirosTamagotchi Yamamoto did also say that he can make sure that IJN won battles in the first 3 to 6 months. After that he was unsure. That was when Battle of Midway happened where IJN lost. Yamamoto also knew after their not so good victory in Pearl Harbour, that he knew IJN were doomed. I also think it were him that said something about "Awaken a sleeping giant"
Well done guys. The only significant mistake is the order of Japanese carriers formation of A Force: initially it was just single column, Zuikaku at the lead (since she had the most powerful carrier air group, HI323, aboard), then flagship Taiho (HI311), then Shokaku with the mostly reconnaissance/scout air unit, HI322, hence such order. When USS Albacore attacked Taiho, this damaged carrier veered to port quarter of Zuikaku while Shokaku simultaneously shifted to starboard quarter of her leading sister. The reason is quite simple: damaged ship may lose its power at any given time so this arrowhead-like formation prevents collision in such a case. Thus the real formation was rather inverted: Zuikaku in the lead, then Shokaku to her starboard and slowly roasting Taiho to Zuikaku's port quarter. Why both subs had let the leading Zuikaku escape? This carrier had very profitable habit: to have a cruiser or at least large destroyer on each of her beams, starting from Coral Sea battle till this June'44. Just her last fight in October same year was different since very few cruisers left in IJN active list by then. But generally good work, thanks again.
awesome video! its crazy to see how underrated the US silent service's impact on the pacific war is, sinking two carriers before a major battle seems so incredible. unrelated but it'd be interesting to see a video on the scapa flow raid by u 47, i find that attack really fascinating(especially how, from what i heard, u-47 didnt submerge once during the raid)
Remember that the US submarine fleet sank more tonnage than both US surface ships and US airplanes. They really punched above their weight class. Just imagine how much damage they would have done if they'd had functioning torpedoes at the beginning of the war.
There's a certain irony with the Philippine Sea. In that, the IJN was fielding 4 Carriers: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Jun'yo and Zuiho, who had fought against other carriers before. The US Navy was only bringing in one, the ever-present and vengeful Enterprise. Yet because of the downgrade in pilot training and throwing away most of their surviving veterans in the Solomons during 1943. The IJN wasn't able to leverage the experience. Whereas the USN were able to rotate their veteran pilots back and after some time, transfer them back to the front. We’re able to bring their all-powerful Essex-Class and Independence-Class Light Carriers up to speed.
I also believe US had a better option to route their veterans between ships and home front to train new crews and so on. I believe I heard about something with Pensacola class cruisers and the Lexington class carriers. Something about their 8 inch guns. I also think during the Solomons where DCP found out a thing that works (Like shutting of the gasolin for the planes when they expecting attacks) where shared between all other DCPs on carrriers. I would say US were better able to adapt and share informations between their crews. And unlike with IJN pilots, the US Navy pilot where also trained to land on different carriers. In case their "home" carrier got sunk, or if one of the other air groups needs more pilots because of loses to combat and such
The Operations Room has a good vid that touches on some of this too, with their “battle of the Philippines, pt 1”. Part of the issue was unrefined fuel. The boycott of selling American oil and the blockade of other sources made the Japanese desperate, and they had oil that was unrefined and had a lot more light carbon vapors than they wanted to. Any realistic hit was a fuel air bomb waiting to happen. I recommend both videos, this has a lot of things the other vid doesn’t have, because of a different focus. Both excellent historically.
This video was concise and comprehensive. When I checked your channel's description and literally saw those two words in it, I simply had to subscribe.
Excellent narrative and super graphics. I'd know a lot of this before, but seeing the animations of what was going on aboard TAIHO really put the facts into context.
You've taught me so much about naval history, strategy, and tactics. Thank you for all you do! Your skills of storytelling and accuracy are unmatched. Looking forward to more views in 2025 :)
I find it ironic how the battle of the Philippine Sea went for the Americans like how Yamamoto wanted to do in the battle of Midway. Wherein the invading force attacks a place the defenders are forced to commit, and using submarines to provide early warning and first strike, Also the use of land based aviation.
How the Japanese did not try to evade submarine attacks after the strike on Taiho and how the damage control crews were so unbelievably inept at their jobs is unreal
That's what happens when you do a crap job of keeping your servicemen alive and have to replace so many of them so rapidly they barely have time for training, never mind how much the upper levels of the organization just didn't seem to care about things like damage control protocol.
The Japanese strategy called for decisive large scale victories. The conquest of China and the Pacific islands, and finally the attack on Pearl Harbor gave the illusion that this strategy was working at the same time that the war shifted to a battle of attrition. Overstretched supply lines fought to deliver dwindling supplies to declining forces that could not be replaced. IMO the military planning lesson is what is your plan if you assume Plan A will fail? Is Plan B likely to succeed? For the Japanese that answer would have been a resounding no.
German U-boats were always in the center of the news and interests, but American submarines in the PTO did an amazing job as well. Their crucial probelm was - at least in the beginning - the troublesome torpedos (Mark 13? Mark 14? One was aireal the other was a naval torpedo, I always mixing them up).
Wasn’t Enright later in 1944? He did get more tonnage by some sources by a good few thousand tons but I think these men came before Edit: Enright was nov 29 1944, spotted contact nov 28
As drachinifel pointed out several years ago; not having a properly trained and experienced damage control team is what sealed this ship's fate, well that and having such a heavy ship didn't help either.
Since I presume, that this might be your last Video of this Year.... MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 😁 May the New Year gets your Videos better in Views 👍
@Historigraph, at timestamp 1:10 the video flickered for a short moment. I do not know if this is intentional, or RUclips's video policy to force viewers to blink.
And years later both Taiho and Shokaku became shipgirls in Kantai Collection. Taiho is - predictably - focused on flight operations and damage control, while Shokaku is a sweet girl who is a calming influence on her younger, rasher sister ship.
It's pretty crazy that it took until 1944 for the USN submarines to do what the IJN's had in 1942, namely sinking enemy capital units. How no one was demoted/sacked/shot for the outright incompetence of the Mk14 debacle I'll never understand
Midway (2019) has a great scene on that torpedo. That Roland Emmerich was able to make a mostly historically accurate story is the greatest miracle for that movie.
a lot of influential admirals, a corrupt Congressman, an unwillingness to admit such a huge mistake, and so on. Congress had part of the blame for refusing to fund a good testing program. I have always thought that the MK 14 torpedo scandal the worst US military scandal of ww2. To this day it has never been properly exposed and names named as it should have been.
It wasn’t just the Mk 14. The aircraft Mk 13 (used at Midway) and surface vessel Mk 15 had the same defects (but didn’t have the more complicated gyroscopic guidance system that sank at least two U.S. submarines when it malfunctioned).
12:14 Never considered the whole situation on the Taiho after the torpedo, nice touch. Which means the new flight deck only ever made a bunch of chunky salsa before it went down.
I cant believe they sank my waifu 😭 All in all its very sad for me having to hear the tragedy of this war, im a huge naval history fan and knowing thousands of people dying for such a pointless war really hits hard and also shokaku and zuikaku has a place in my heart from kancolle
As a proud ex player of Kantai Collection, I understand the feeling of seeing IJN Shokaku going down in flames, but even more said one of my fav ships, Taiho got did dirty 😭⚰️, rip
The thing about tonnage sunk, two submarines made up the 61k. It was a solo sub on the 57k, and took the lead for tonnage sunk by a single sub in the pacific.
You forgot to credit USS Harder for causing them to leave anchorage early. Look up her 5th war patrol. She sunk 5 destroyers in the week prior to the Japanese fleets departure, scaring the Japanese so badly that they left anchorage a day early.
I always understood Midway to be the decisive carrier battle that turned the tide of the Pacific war, especially as that event was the most successful 5 minutes in naval conflict history, with greater tonnage sunk with that of 3 fleet carriers (albeit by dive bombing rather than submarine torpedoes).
No one battle is ever truly decisive. (Okay, except maybe Gettysburg.) Midway reversed the earlier flow of events in the war, and absolutely can be said to have shaped events that followed. This battle was Japan's attempt to accomplish the same. They failed.
Something about the sections inside Japanese ships were not properly segregated from one another to save on construction time. This often turned minor problems in one section into enormous problems for the whole ship.
We don’t fight or think about war the same way as the Japanese Navy. They always focused on the one decisive battle that would end the war with victory for Japan. We fought one battle at a time knowing that we would win in the end.
Drachinifel has said Japanese Damage Control left a lot be desired. US Damage Control, otoh; improved steadily by leaps & bounds as the war progressed.
You misstate the role of Cavalla. She was supposed to report before attacking. It was a tough pill for her crew to swallow, but they followed the order, which let the U.S. fleet know where their opposition was, greatly helping the pilots who would soon participate in the "Marianas turkey shoot."
The Japanese were always seeking that decisive “Mahian” fleet engagement. They seemed to completely ignored Julian Corbett’s sea strategies. While in the allies you see hints of both.
The Loss of IJN Taiho once again demonstrated that the "Tip of the Spear" means nothing if the spear shaft is riddled with rot...by that I mean that the Japanese never treated Damage Control as the vital Skill that a Navy required to "Stay in the Fight!" I served on 2 US Fast Attack Submarines and we would drill 4-5 Days/Week on various casualties so we would be ready when the Alarm for a real casualty rang out. I responded to a half dozen instances over my naval career and those Drills paid off in a big way with no casualties and minimal material damage. The USS Franklin vs. IJN Taiho offers a stark picture of the opposing navies' philosophies/practices.
Two things. First was in one reading on the loss of the Taiho was when the explosion happened the flight deck bucked upwards, almost like a wave, and the sides blew outwards and bottom the blew downwards. Second, Shinano displaced far more than the 59,000 you show here on this video. She displaced between 65,000 and 72,000 short tons, making her larger in displacement than the combined displacements of Taiho and Shokaku.
Yeah Shinano's displacement is given variously at lots of different tonnages. The figure I used in this video is the one from JANAC, which compiled a comprehensive list of every japanese ship sunk during the war - so its a consistent set of data across the whole war. That makes it the best candidate to draw from for the graph in that section in my opinion
IJN: Give me my decisive battle!!! I'm holding my breath! Hey! That's my line! Get back! Don't cross it. I said stay there. Well, stay behind this other line...you have no respect for the lines I draw on a map. If there was a law against crossing my line I'd totally press charges.
Thank you all for watching Historigraph in 2025! It's been a tough year at times in terms of view counts, but I'm proud of what we made and hope you all enjoyed them as much as we enjoyed creating. If you wanted to help support the creation of documentaries into 2025, I'd love it if you checked out the new histoigraph poster store or our patreon! Buy a Poster! www.historigraph.media/store
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It's not 2025 yet 😅
though i can understand their poor damage control
how the hell did the submarines consistently get through the destroyer screen?
poor radar? fatique? inadequate numbers of escorts? wtf.
I haven't missed one video and as always I liked and commented on them
It's already almost 2026?😂
These videos about major American victories are the best ones! I watch them repeatedly. I skip the ones about American losses.Make more of these!
Taiho is a reminder for all navies that no matter how good your ships are, if you don’t have a good well trained crew, you’re still screwed.
great example is during the age of sail the British had smaller ships generally, but much more well trained sailors than the French and Spanish, who built some of the biggest ships during the Napoleonic Wars
@@lumiiyyyy British ships nearly always produced more effective firepower. While they tended to have fewer guns, their crews could fire roughly twice as quickly.
Was the spread of the gasoline fumes a crew training issue, or a ship design issue? Seems like there should have been some sort of failsafe in place for that contingency.
@@Nainara32 I don’t actually remember maybe it’s a little bit of both. There is an excellent video on drachinifel’s channel about damage control. Go watch that.
@@Nainara32 Both, but more a crew training issue. Taiho's flight deck lacked ventilation, but it was the damage control officer's decision to open all the interior hatches that allowed fumes to spread through the entire ship.
The bit about switching to the backup aiming device, the Mk-1 eyeball, had me snorting my coffee.
Proud owner of the legendary Mark-1 Eyeball here 🙌🤣🤣🤣🤣
Can't believe the US government just let anyone have this valuable piece of military equipment smh
@@allrefersone It’s not as much of a security risk as you might think. I was issued 2 of them when I first reported for duty, but now they’re long out of warranty, and one is moderately degraded in serviceability while the other has failed almost completely. And don’t even think about requisitioning replacements. 😂
"had me snorting my coffee" stfu with these dumbass comments, no you didnt.
That went over my head for a few seconds and I was thinking huh, I haven’t heard of this piece of tech, before I facepalmed myself after realising lol
Pretty incredible move by that Japanese pilot in diving straight into the torpedo though, never heard of such a thing before.
Kind of encapsulates one of the core problems with the IJN's cultural dogma, that it trained its men to throw their lives away, but didn't bother trying very hard to make that unnecessary.
@@shingshongshamalamaHe didn't just throw his life away like the admiral going down with Hiryu. He was trying to save hundreds of his comrades.
@@shingshongshamalamathat pilot didn’t really have any other options to reliably stop the torpedo
@ I don't think any navy would. In fact, what he did was, if things were slightly different, the only way to stop the ship's eventual demise from starting.
@@minamagdy4126 Seems like the pilot picked the wrong torpedo.
I had never quite understood how Taiho could be sunk by a single torpedo - until your brilliant explanation. Kudos!
What wasn't mentioned in the video was the design of the ship herself. At 1:48 she was described as the "the Imperial Japanese newest and most capable aircraft carrier" the newest part is true. Most capable.........not really. Unfortuntely, she's not as good as she probably should have been by design.
It was long (starting around the same time as the Shokaku class) turbulant, constant stops, starts and changes and just, all over the place. This left her, flawed. Her TDS was inaduquate, though the same was true for the Shokaku class for some reason.
The armoured flight didn't help at all. She had to lose an entire deck to get it to avoid being top heavy. Went back to the old enclosed hanger system (probably due to armoured flight deck, Japan taking ideas from the RNs Illustrious class) which was a downgrade from the Shokaku class becuase they had thin walls that could open the sides if hanger, a perferated flight deck to allow fumes to exit through the deck. Meaning they were enclosed enough to protect the aircraft from the elements whilst being open enough to prevent fumes from being trapped in the ship.
The AV gas tanks were an integral part if the ship's construction which made them easier to rupture when hit which is another old building tradition they had.
She did see some improvements over the Shokaku class, the larger island superstructure, taken from the hiyo class. Larger overall flight deck and elevators made the deck more aircraft friendly and finally the hurricane bow improved seakeeping.
Overall she was, ok. I personally say her design was more of a step backwards than forwards. However, it's also the result of a long and all over the place design and construction process. Their was some improvements but more flaws. Besides the Japanese considered the Shokaku class their best carriers in spite of Taiho.
You have to remember that a sub sank the largest carrier ever built with 4 torpedoes. The one made with the hull of a super battleship. The Yamato and her sister ship took way more damage to sink them. It wasn’t finished and the crew was untested!
Taiho was SUPPOSED to be able to shrug off torpedo hits.
The Cavalla is preserved in Galveston, Texas at Seawolf Park. It is a real hidden gem and a great tour
I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing
I’ve been there and it’s insane that the girl was at a time under water stalking an armada without fear, truly a crazy feeling looking at the confined space of the sub. Good fishing
@@christophermartinez7985i don’t know if you meant to but you replied twice
Alongside a ship that was designed specifically to hunt submarines like her, USS Stewart (DE-238). Really neat museum that showcases both sides of anti-submarine warfare.
One of the survivors of Shokaku was a man named Eikichi Nagamochi.
Nagamochi would recover in Kure and when he did he re-discovered his first love, baseball.
He'd been a pretty good player in high school so he elected to try out for one of the 2 new teams that were joining the JPBL (now NPB) when it re-started after the war. He ended up being signed by the Tokyo Senators (now the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters). In 1950 he'd join the newly founded Taiyo Whales (now the Yokohama BayStars) and would hit the first home run in franchise history. Then he would join the Hiroshima Carp and helped save the franchise from potential contraction in 1952. He described joining the Carp as giving back to the people of Kure (which is in Hiroshima prefecture) who'd healed the wounds he'd received in the sinking.
E: S&G
Really makes you sad thinking about how many people could've gone on to do great things after WW2 if they hadn't been killed, maimed or traumatized. Although that applies to any war or conflict really...
@@Corristo89 Yep, even if we limit it to just baseball, many great players died during the war, a lot of them in senseless Kamekaze attacks and Banzai charges ordered at the end of the war that were wiped out without doing any damage whatsoever.
Some of those who died include:
- Osaka Tigers two-way star Masaru Kageura
- Eiji Sawamura, whom NPB's version of the Cy Young Award is named after
- Masaki Yoshihara, the best catcher in the league at the time
- Shinichi Ishimaru, who still holds the Chunichi Dragons single-season ERA record
- Shuichi Hirose, an ace-caliber pitcher who was KIA at 22
- Adelano Rivera, the first non-Japanese player in Yomiuri Giants history (if you don't count Victor Starffin), killed by Japanese troops when he tried to sneak home to visit his family.
War is hell.
@GaijinBaseball
Yep, though I do wonder if the people would be the same had those events of the 30s and 40s never happened. The depression and war were a crucible and forge that made the great men of the 50s and 60s.
Interesting to think about what might have happened if the Japanese high command had realized that they would never be able to win within the year or two after Pearl Harbor, and decided not to sacrifice so many of their people to assuage their "honor". Among other things, it shows what happens when a government and military refuse to accept reality. They certainly could have avoided Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the firebombings of many of their cities, and the devastation at Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
When they found out about Shokaku’s loss. The crew on USS Enterprise (CV-6) celebrated it. As she was a huge pain for them during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
They never battled before Guadalcanal, but they twice battled at Guadalcanal (Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz). Now she was finally gone.
Imagine losing an aircraft carrier to one torpedo and a gas leak.
It’s that Goliath mentality “we’re too big to worry about a single torpedo”
Slight more detail - because of oil bans they had to rush unrefined fuel to the ships, fuel that had a lot more volatile organic compounds in it, much more likely to blow up. It wasn’t _just_ the torpedo but torpedo + shitty fuel that months of boycott and subs downing merchant ships. Maybe that was the captain’s thinking too - he didn’t realize how much different the fuel composition made to the ship. Oil is oil, right?
HMS Ark Royal was lost in a similar way. A single torpedo hit, followed by almost non-existent damage control, as they considered whether to abandon ship. Her CO was court martialed and found guilty of negligence.
@@biffbobfred There was some knowledge about the oil from Borneo having volatile elements in it but it was limited and only those that worked at the refineries knew about it. I have not seen anything that indicates the IJN knew about how dangerous it was
Akagi was doomed by a single 1000lb bomb during the Battle of Midway. Because of the morning action, there were a bunch of planes, fuel, and ammo exposed on the hanger deck when it hit, and the whole thing went up like a roman candle.
Having 15 carriers for a strike vs having to hurry and scrape together just 3 carriers for the Battle of Midway is such a difference it's almost unbelievable. If you tried to put such a turn around into fiction people would say it was unrealistic.
And only if you count museum vessels too, the US barely has 15 fleet carriers today (iirc 3 Essex’s, 1 Midway, and 11 active carriers, with at least 2 (Enterprise CVN-80 included) under construction)
@@General_Danewell, each one of those carriers are >3x larger than an Essex, and that's not including our totally not aircraft carriers in the "amphibious assault ships"
@@TonyChan-eh3nz Yes that’s true, but if you *only* look at the total amount of aircraft they are capable of carrying they are basically the same size as an Essex.
Now, the planes today are a lot more powerful than 100 years ago, but still about 90 planes in a Gerald R Ford class, and between 90 and 100 (originally) on a Midway
Well it was 3 top of the line carriers vs 6 top of the line carriers plus a former top of the line carrier and 8 lesser carriers. That makes it much more realistic. In addition it was 2 years later, and part of the Midway stand was they knew these new more powerful carriers were coming soon.
These were escort carriers much less capable from original carriers
For USN aviators, the Battle of the Phillipine Sea had another (nick) name: The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.
The IKN lost over 350 aircraft to 123 for the USN (80 lost ditching due to fuel exhaustion).
The USN.carriers included the ESSEX Class replacements USS HORNET, LEXINTON, YORKTOWN.& WASP.
The replacement Yorktown was the ship featured in the excellent film 'Fighting Lady' detailing this fight.
Grumman hellcats I believe...
I have respect for all the the seamen on both sides who perished in the war. Heroes don't get to choose where they are born. they just do their jobs.
Not to mention the last of the Yorktown class, the legendary Grey Ghost, USS Enterprise CV-6
Taiho (Great Phoneix) really did live up to its namesake, blowing up in a great fireball, but unlike her mythological namesake, she never rose up from the ashes.
Shokaku (Soaring Crane) is really ironic here as well, sinking bow-first into the bottom like her Empire.
Her service was also very much inseparable from her sister Zuikaku (Auspicious Crane), the two ships of the class were really twins in a packaged deal. When the sisters were together, Shokaku would always seemingly take the damage meant for both of them, leaving Zuikaku undamaged in battle. After Shokaku sank, fate would catch up to Zuikaku as well, as she suffered her first battle wound the very next day. Zuikaku would soon join her sister, as history knows, her first mission without her sister would be her last, as she would be sunk during the Battle off Cape Engaño, sinking stern-first mirroring her sister Shokaku.
Yeah, Shokaku was the bomb magnet, while Zuikaku kept losing large chunks of her air group and effectively irreplaceable air crews.
@@DABrock-author Yeah I remember that as well. Especially after Coral Sea battle. Both of them had to return to Japan, I believe, as for Shokaku to get repaired, and Zuikaku to get new aircrafts for her air group
@@Danspy501st Yep. And if they’d done the logical thing and transferred Shokaku’s mostly-intact air group to Zuikaku they could have had a fifth carrier at Midway, possibly altering the outcome. But that wasn’t the doctrine, must always obey the holy doctrine. 🤦♂️
@@DABrock-author Well on that as how we know Midway turned out, I do think both Shokaku and Zuikaku were lucky as they needed to return to Japan and missing out for Midway.
In the original plan, Shokaku class carrier should also had been with the Midway force. I just cant recall why they were taken away from that force and needed to support the force that lead to Coral Sea battle
Divine intervention?
Submarines, especially in WW2, are so interesting to hear about when you can recognize all their names. Each one of them has their own achievements and in extension formed their own identity from their war service.
There are about 50 us subs that have one thing in common from that time, lost with all hands
@chadrowe8452 Yeah, it's sad when you see one of the names you recognize fade away and disappear as their luck ran out.
@@chadrowe8452
That was applied to every sub tho.
Even the German & Japanese sub lost all hands.
One of the great what ifs of the Pacific War was WHAT IF the US Navy had good torpedoes to start the war.
I've just finished reading a book called 'Scrap Iron Flotilla' by Mike Carlton, about Australian ships in the Mediterranean Sea. He mentioned that German subs had a very similar problem, & that 4 torps from one submarine had hit a major British warship & all had broken apart on impact. This was kept secret for the rest of the war & I had never heard of it before.
That opens a can of worms, there weren’t many torpedoes available in the inventories anyway, had the faults been identified and attempts to replace them, ammo would’ve been even more scarce.
@@looinrims BUT they would have known about the problem and probably could have gotten enough funding to fix them. Thus once they started the run up to the war they would have been able to manufacture enough good torpedoes to make a serious difference in the first year of the war. Faulty ammo is worse than no ammo at all. We will never know how many submariners died in that time period because of bad torpedoes.
@@looinrimsfaulty ammo is worse than no ammo at all. Just look at the bravery torpedo bombers crews being the most vulnerable of the strike forces and their sacrifices amounting to nothing due to faulty torpedos
@@johnhallett5846yeah dude just imagine the sacrifices of the torpedo bombers wasted due to bad ordinances
And thus, Wasp (CV-7) was avenged.
My grandmother's cousin died on WASP
'The backup aiming device.' 😂
The “mark one eyeball” got me dead
wait what’s the joke? Is it just a periscope?
@pufffincrazy5275 without the computer, the sailors needed to fire just by looking and estimating, otherwise known as "eyeballing" it. There was no backup aiming "device," they were just aiming by themselves.
@pufffincrazy5275 "eyeball it"
@pufffincrazy5275"Mk-1 eyeball" is an old military joke for naked eye. The tone and script in the video leads me to believe that historigraph didn't get it either.
Mk. 1 Eyeball is such a wonderful piece of equipment. I wonder if every ship was equipped with at least one of those.
The Mk 1 eyeball, was much akin to,
oversized spheres of metallic substance,
BOTH of which were war winners.
They generally had two when they were put to sea--one to scan the horizon and the other to keep track of the pinup calendar
The mk-1 eyeball ? But im not even watching the orange powerpoint man
I'm used to hear Drachinifel say it, personally.
@@Paludion Oh wow, you're right. I guess its a far more common term than I thought xD
I’m a proud owner of the legendary Mark-1 Eyeball, it came exclusively with my default set 🤣🤣🤣
*US Navy:* _(sends into battle 15 aircraft carriers with 850+ planes, 7 battleships, 20+ cruisers, 65+ destroyers, and 25+ submarines)_
*Imperial Japanese Navy:* Ha! We got'em right where we want'em!
Reminds me of the Parlay scene from Pirates of Caribbean: At World's End where the pirates sail to meet the East India Trading Co. fleet, they start cheering, until the fleet keeps coming...and coming...and.. 😂
The Japanese knew from the start that they were outgunned and outproduced but there was nothing they could do against that.
Thats why they tried the first strike and the decisive battle. They had well trained crews and pilots (better than the americans) at the start of the war so they tried to force a decisive battle early before american production would overwhelm them and sink/disable the american carrier fleet in one strike. Then they would have bought themself a little bit of time until the USA outproduced them again. Time they could use to conquer the pacific with their temporary naval dominance.
Ultimately the goal was to discourage the american public in continuing the war and making peace.
It didnt work out, the first strike (pearl harbor) was not succesful in sinking/crippling the US carrier fleet and they didnt manage to win a decisive battle quickly. The war was pretty much doomed before it started and the IJN knew that.
@@ShirosTamagotchi Japanese leadership didn't really appreciate how overwhelming American industry was. America kept giving Japan a chance to surrender, but they clung to the idea of one giant decapitating strike.
All Pearl Harbor did was piss off the American public. It made SURE that the Americans would keep fighting in spite of losses.
@@ShirosTamagotchi You can argue that the US had wind of a pending attack, and that is why no carriers were there. Maybe it was Divine intervention, but without that attack what would have provoked US people to want to go to war?
@@ShirosTamagotchi Yamamoto did also say that he can make sure that IJN won battles in the first 3 to 6 months. After that he was unsure. That was when Battle of Midway happened where IJN lost. Yamamoto also knew after their not so good victory in Pearl Harbour, that he knew IJN were doomed. I also think it were him that said something about "Awaken a sleeping giant"
Well done guys. The only significant mistake is the order of Japanese carriers formation of A Force: initially it was just single column, Zuikaku at the lead (since she had the most powerful carrier air group, HI323, aboard), then flagship Taiho (HI311), then Shokaku with the mostly reconnaissance/scout air unit, HI322, hence such order. When USS Albacore attacked Taiho, this damaged carrier veered to port quarter of Zuikaku while Shokaku simultaneously shifted to starboard quarter of her leading sister. The reason is quite simple: damaged ship may lose its power at any given time so this arrowhead-like formation prevents collision in such a case. Thus the real formation was rather inverted: Zuikaku in the lead, then Shokaku to her starboard and slowly roasting Taiho to Zuikaku's port quarter. Why both subs had let the leading Zuikaku escape? This carrier had very profitable habit: to have a cruiser or at least large destroyer on each of her beams, starting from Coral Sea battle till this June'44. Just her last fight in October same year was different since very few cruisers left in IJN active list by then. But generally good work, thanks again.
awesome video! its crazy to see how underrated the US silent service's impact on the pacific war is, sinking two carriers before a major battle seems so incredible.
unrelated but it'd be interesting to see a video on the scapa flow raid by u 47, i find that attack really fascinating(especially how, from what i heard, u-47 didnt submerge once during the raid)
Pretty sure he has already done the attack on Scapa Flow, just go have a quick look for it
There is a great video on the scapa flow raid done by House of History
if you have an effective tactic or strategy
don't tell the enemy.
Remember that the US submarine fleet sank more tonnage than both US surface ships and US airplanes. They really punched above their weight class. Just imagine how much damage they would have done if they'd had functioning torpedoes at the beginning of the war.
Merry Christmas Historigraph, this vid was very much a pleasant surprise :D
There's a certain irony with the Philippine Sea. In that, the IJN was fielding 4 Carriers: Shokaku, Zuikaku, Jun'yo and Zuiho, who had fought against other carriers before. The US Navy was only bringing in one, the ever-present and vengeful Enterprise. Yet because of the downgrade in pilot training and throwing away most of their surviving veterans in the Solomons during 1943. The IJN wasn't able to leverage the experience. Whereas the USN were able to rotate their veteran pilots back and after some time, transfer them back to the front. We’re able to bring their all-powerful Essex-Class and Independence-Class Light Carriers up to speed.
I also believe US had a better option to route their veterans between ships and home front to train new crews and so on. I believe I heard about something with Pensacola class cruisers and the Lexington class carriers. Something about their 8 inch guns. I also think during the Solomons where DCP found out a thing that works (Like shutting of the gasolin for the planes when they expecting attacks) where shared between all other DCPs on carrriers.
I would say US were better able to adapt and share informations between their crews. And unlike with IJN pilots, the US Navy pilot where also trained to land on different carriers. In case their "home" carrier got sunk, or if one of the other air groups needs more pilots because of loses to combat and such
The Operations Room has a good vid that touches on some of this too, with their “battle of the Philippines, pt 1”. Part of the issue was unrefined fuel. The boycott of selling American oil and the blockade of other sources made the Japanese desperate, and they had oil that was unrefined and had a lot more light carbon vapors than they wanted to. Any realistic hit was a fuel air bomb waiting to happen.
I recommend both videos, this has a lot of things the other vid doesn’t have, because of a different focus. Both excellent historically.
There is a lot more to war than just battles. the smartest side almost always wins.
Mad ive never seen this channel before, this is my ideal content. Explanations of munitions, animated, good commentary, peak.
Your videos are bloody good. Not watched one I haven't found riveting, informative and detailed. Great job ❤
13:31 I do love it when RUclipsrs sneak those in there
Excellent presentation, sir.
Indeed.
This video was concise and comprehensive. When I checked your channel's description and literally saw those two words in it, I simply had to subscribe.
Excellent narrative and super graphics. I'd know a lot of this before, but seeing the animations of what was going on aboard TAIHO really put the facts into context.
You've taught me so much about naval history, strategy, and tactics. Thank you for all you do! Your skills of storytelling and accuracy are unmatched. Looking forward to more views in 2025 :)
I find it ironic how the battle of the Philippine Sea went for the Americans like how Yamamoto wanted to do in the battle of Midway.
Wherein the invading force attacks a place the defenders are forced to commit, and using submarines to provide early warning and first strike, Also the use of land based aviation.
New video lets go! Thank you as always for making such great historical content!
Shades of Lexington. Fumes are the enemy. Very good show, well done graphics.
Your videos are always so entertaining and informative! Loved this one and I love your animation. Keep up the great work!
The Cavalla, along with destroyer escort USS Stewart, is now a museum ship open to the public in Galveston, Texas at Seawolf Park on Pelican Island.
My father was on Cavalla during this action. Thank you to those who made this video
11:58
Taiho be like:
"This place about to BLOW UP!"
thank you historigraph, i never heard of the taiho before, i think i heard of the pilot sacrificing to destroy the torpedo but not the taiho
How the Japanese did not try to evade submarine attacks after the strike on Taiho and how the damage control crews were so unbelievably inept at their jobs is unreal
That's what happens when you do a crap job of keeping your servicemen alive and have to replace so many of them so rapidly they barely have time for training, never mind how much the upper levels of the organization just didn't seem to care about things like damage control protocol.
The Japanese strategy called for decisive large scale victories. The conquest of China and the Pacific islands, and finally the attack on Pearl Harbor gave the illusion that this strategy was working at the same time that the war shifted to a battle of attrition. Overstretched supply lines fought to deliver dwindling supplies to declining forces that could not be replaced. IMO the military planning lesson is what is your plan if you assume Plan A will fail? Is Plan B likely to succeed? For the Japanese that answer would have been a resounding no.
@@JHrubyAnd my understanding is that the japanese knew that perfectly well, they simply neither had the eggs or the baskets to disperse the risk.
Ive read a thing that said that they saw the torpedoes and just watched it.
@@JHruby don’t forget Tsushima. One battle knocked out Russia.
oh this is a new upload-
amazing content!
German U-boats were always in the center of the news and interests, but American submarines in the PTO did an amazing job as well. Their crucial probelm was - at least in the beginning - the troublesome torpedos (Mark 13? Mark 14? One was aireal the other was a naval torpedo, I always mixing them up).
0:19 Commander Joseph Enright has something to say about that...
“Oh, you all needed TWO submarines to sink TWO ships for that… i guess that’s cool… sure”
Wasn’t Enright later in 1944? He did get more tonnage by some sources by a good few thousand tons but I think these men came before
Edit: Enright was nov 29 1944, spotted contact nov 28
As drachinifel pointed out several years ago; not having a properly trained and experienced damage control team is what sealed this ship's fate, well that and having such a heavy ship didn't help either.
It's driving me crazy that the thumbnail has Shoukaku being hit by a single torpedo and Taihou being hit by 4.
Incredible history, thank you!
Since I presume, that this might be your last Video of this Year....
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 😁
May the New Year gets your Videos better in Views 👍
Excellent work on this video!
Shokaku was the 5th of the Dishonorable 6 to be sent to the bottom. They got the 6th a few months later in the Leyte campaign
Thank you. Fantastic content, as always.
These ship videos never fail to explode in views
@Historigraph, at timestamp 1:10 the video flickered for a short moment.
I do not know if this is intentional, or RUclips's video policy to force viewers to blink.
Not sure what that is! Probably an error I made in editing
Hey there - a Video on the Battle of Lissa 1866 or the Austrian Navy in general would be huge!! Keep it up m8
And years later both Taiho and Shokaku became shipgirls in Kantai Collection. Taiho is - predictably - focused on flight operations and damage control, while Shokaku is a sweet girl who is a calming influence on her younger, rasher sister ship.
Great Video, Thanks for Sharing!
This is a terrific video. It felt like I was on scene watching as it happened. Thank you! #Subscribed
It's pretty crazy that it took until 1944 for the USN submarines to do what the IJN's had in 1942, namely sinking enemy capital units. How no one was demoted/sacked/shot for the outright incompetence of the Mk14 debacle I'll never understand
Unlike the Japaneses of ww2 our leaders don't take personal responsibility for there actions
Drachinifel made a full vid on the Mk14. The cockup is more than shameful!
Midway (2019) has a great scene on that torpedo. That Roland Emmerich was able to make a mostly historically accurate story is the greatest miracle for that movie.
a lot of influential admirals, a corrupt Congressman, an unwillingness to admit such a huge mistake, and so on. Congress had part of the blame for refusing to fund a good testing program. I have always thought that the MK 14 torpedo scandal the worst US military scandal of ww2. To this day it has never been properly exposed and names named as it should have been.
It wasn’t just the Mk 14. The aircraft Mk 13 (used at Midway) and surface vessel Mk 15 had the same defects (but didn’t have the more complicated gyroscopic guidance system that sank at least two U.S. submarines when it malfunctioned).
12:14 Never considered the whole situation on the Taiho after the torpedo, nice touch.
Which means the new flight deck only ever made a bunch of chunky salsa before it went down.
Good stuff Maynard
These attacks each sinking a carrier shows to never underestimate the power of the Silent Service of WW2.
Honestly, the fact that Yamato alone was almost the same tonnage as the previously largest Japanese carrier plus a whole extra fleet carrier is nuts
Excellent video!
I cant believe they sank my waifu 😭
All in all its very sad for me having to hear the tragedy of this war, im a huge naval history fan and knowing thousands of people dying for such a pointless war really hits hard and also shokaku and zuikaku has a place in my heart from kancolle
As a proud ex player of Kantai Collection, I understand the feeling of seeing IJN Shokaku going down in flames, but even more said one of my fav ships, Taiho got did dirty 😭⚰️, rip
The thing about tonnage sunk, two submarines made up the 61k. It was a solo sub on the 57k, and took the lead for tonnage sunk by a single sub in the pacific.
Great channel and just subscribed 👍 😊
Enjoy your videos and narration.
When your enemy shows up with 15 aircraft carriers like it’s no big deal, you’re not turning the tide of the war.
Great video, thanks
Above battle shows the value of always having a decent destroyer and submarine screen to defend your key assets from enemy submarines.
I agree,there is a really good vid about that other one out there
I love the double speak for him just eyeballing it lol
You forgot to credit USS Harder for causing them to leave anchorage early. Look up her 5th war patrol. She sunk 5 destroyers in the week prior to the Japanese fleets departure, scaring the Japanese so badly that they left anchorage a day early.
Great Video.
The thing with Tiaho and the fumes building up is like that scene in midway where the carrier explodes due to built up fumes and the flame
I always understood Midway to be the decisive carrier battle that turned the tide of the Pacific war, especially as that event was the most successful 5 minutes in naval conflict history, with greater tonnage sunk with that of 3 fleet carriers (albeit by dive bombing rather than submarine torpedoes).
Was it at midday?
@ Japanese didn’t have to contend with autocorrect!
No one battle is ever truly decisive. (Okay, except maybe Gettysburg.) Midway reversed the earlier flow of events in the war, and absolutely can be said to have shaped events that followed. This battle was Japan's attempt to accomplish the same. They failed.
Having worked on a theater level staff I wonder what bringing that report to the commander would feel like
"Uh...sir, we lost two carriers. Yes, two"
Community theater or more professional like Broadway?
@Shenaldrac
Lol
Theater as in 4 star command
@@Illiteratechimp So you're saying you can't get me tickets to see The Lion King? :P
Good commentary.
Welcome back
Something about the sections inside Japanese ships were not properly segregated from one another to save on construction time. This often turned minor problems in one section into enormous problems for the whole ship.
I thought that when I saw how close the aviation fuel storage was to the magazine...
We don’t fight or think about war the same way as the Japanese Navy.
They always focused on the one decisive battle that would end the war with victory for Japan.
We fought one battle at a time knowing that we would win in the end.
Drachinifel has said Japanese Damage Control left a lot be desired. US Damage Control, otoh; improved steadily by leaps & bounds as the war progressed.
And so dies the first of the Axis’s greatest superweapons, the Shokaku-class.
You misstate the role of Cavalla. She was supposed to report before attacking. It was a tough pill for her crew to swallow, but they followed the order, which let the U.S. fleet know where their opposition was, greatly helping the pilots who would soon participate in the "Marianas turkey shoot."
The Japanese were always seeking that decisive “Mahian” fleet engagement. They seemed to completely ignored Julian Corbett’s sea strategies. While in the allies you see hints of both.
Interesting having the aviation fuel storage compartment so close to the magazine..
I really wanna see you cover some aerial battles
Was this the same battle of the great marianas turkery shoot
Indeed
Merry Christmas to all
3:11 the USS Cavalla is docked in Houston/Gavelston Texas. I’ve been on the ship it’s pretty cool
Absolutely correct!! I myself have been on board it twice. Also the DE USS Stewart which is right beside it ✌🏼
Mrk 1 - Eyeball, someone has been watching Perun
Mk 1 Eyeball has been military speak for as long as there's been a mk 2 telescope.
Yes new video
I often wish we could see a last-screen bibliography of the books used for all videos.
The Loss of IJN Taiho once again demonstrated that the "Tip of the Spear" means nothing if the spear shaft is riddled with rot...by that I mean that the Japanese never treated Damage Control as the vital Skill that a Navy required to "Stay in the Fight!" I served on 2 US Fast Attack Submarines and we would drill 4-5 Days/Week on various casualties so we would be ready when the Alarm for a real casualty rang out. I responded to a half dozen instances over my naval career and those Drills paid off in a big way with no casualties and minimal material damage. The USS Franklin vs. IJN Taiho offers a stark picture of the opposing navies' philosophies/practices.
So, Taiho got the title of: "First day in combat already sunk" medal?
BABE WAKE UP NEW HOSTORIGRAPH VID!
Two things. First was in one reading on the loss of the Taiho was when the explosion happened the flight deck bucked upwards, almost like a wave, and the sides blew outwards and bottom the blew downwards.
Second, Shinano displaced far more than the 59,000 you show here on this video. She displaced between 65,000 and 72,000 short tons, making her larger in displacement than the combined displacements of Taiho and Shokaku.
Yeah Shinano's displacement is given variously at lots of different tonnages.
The figure I used in this video is the one from JANAC, which compiled a comprehensive list of every japanese ship sunk during the war - so its a consistent set of data across the whole war. That makes it the best candidate to draw from for the graph in that section in my opinion
interesting,
haven't seen much about these
very significant hits
IJN: Give me my decisive battle!!! I'm holding my breath! Hey! That's my line! Get back! Don't cross it. I said stay there. Well, stay behind this other line...you have no respect for the lines I draw on a map. If there was a law against crossing my line I'd totally press charges.
Didn't ships carry foam specifically intended to coat fuel mixes and contain gas vapors?
early christmas present i see