The Largest Warship Ever Built That Would Save Japan from Annihilation
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- Опубликовано: 16 май 2024
- For the Empire of the Rising Sun, the end was looming large. By April 1945, US forces had relentlessly driven Japan’s once-expansive empire back to its home islands. Perched on the doorstep of Japan, American troops were dug in on the island of Okinawa, primed for an all-out invasion.
The Japanese Navy, once among the top maritime forces in the world, was now a shadow of its former glory-crippled, depleted, and shattered. Yet, it would not fade away without a final, defiant stand. Determined to reclaim their honor, they prepared for a bold and ferocious operation designed to make the Americans rue the day they entered the war.
Under normal circumstances, the plan would be dismissed as sheer folly: Yamato, the largest battleship ever built, boasting earth-shaking 18.1-inch main guns, was to spearhead the charge. Accompanied by the cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers, they had just enough fuel for a one-way journey to Okinawa.
They aimed to inflict maximum damage to the US fleet in an unexpected attack, turning the tide at Okinawa. Amidst a barrage of air-borne strikes, they would charge at full throttle toward their grim destiny in the ultimate Kamikaze naval assault.
But as they surged towards their targets, the Japanese squadron was intercepted by American Task Force 58.
Inches away from achieving their twisted honor, they refused to yield. With American warplanes bearing down and the ocean erupting in fiery blasts, the Yamato and her escorts pressed on, driven by desperation in their harrowing, final gambit of the war.
The courage and loyalty of the Japanese sailors, soldiers and pilots was wasted by the inability of their admirals and generals to admit that the war was lost. Their lives were literally thrown away to no strategic purpose.
Reminds me of cult followers.
@@patbateman6729cult of Hirohito
Japan lost the war when they bombed Pearl Harbor. It took some time, but their defeat was inevitable. Once US manufacturing kicked into high gear, we were cranking out airplanes, ships, ordnance, etc., whereas Japan was having its equipment and good pilots depleted during the war.
Wrong. That war was lost after the nuclear bombs. Those bombs saved thousands of American lives. Put that in perspective
Since 1916, the USA is by far the richest country in the world with the biggest industrial capacity known to man. Moreover, the vast contigous landmass of the USA afforded the Americans almost unlimited natural resources of oil, iron ore, metal alloys, etc. and vast mechanized fertile agricultural lands. You name it, the Americans have it. As a result, can win a war with the Americans. Any country that initiates a war with the Americans just sealed their fate to defeat.
When did Japan lose the War,,, December 7th 1941.
@@RonniejamesleoThe point made here was in hindsight. They were never capable of finishing what they had started.
The Yamato smoked like a turbo Acura.
When I read the title of this post I immediately knew it would be about Godzilla. Oh well, it was just the Yamato.
😂
😶😑😶😑😮😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Sad…
2400 men. That’s tragically incredible.
An astounding number.
Don’t piss off the US Navy.
Chased away from the coast of Vietnam and Somalia by peasants
If TF-58s aircraft hadn't been available, Admiral Lee's fast battleships were on deck to take on Yamato and her sparce group. Six to eight modern battleships were available to overwhelm the single super-battleship, single light cruiser and handful of destroyers under a torrent of 16", 2700lb superheavy shells from North Carolina, South Dakota and Iowa class battleships plus the 8", 6", 5" and torpedo fire from screening cruisers and destroyers. The losses to Japan would have been just as bad if not worse.
Agree. The performance of Yamato in the war was pathetic given how expensive it was to create. The one previous time it actually went into combat, it did miserably against a small force of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and small “jeep” carriers. At this stage of the war the US had perfected aiming big guns with radar. The American battleships would have blown Yamato out of the water while Yamato either couldn’t see them or if she could would be aiming via sight, far more error prone. This is what happened to the Southern force of Japanese battleships when they went up against modern US battleships as part of the battle of Leyte gulf.
More planes attacked the Yamato than took place in the Pearl Harbor attack After the event of carrier aviation the Yamato was described as the right ship for the wrong war
It was slow, couldn't be utilized much because of its value to the Japanese navy, awful on fuel. It didn't have close to the proper capability of utilizing it's 18" guns to their full potential with its aiming and radar systems. It was a big scary looking chunk of steel that would have met it's demise over and over again against the American Navy. if it wasn't our air superiority, our Iowa class could run circles around it while decimating it. America was out for revenge. Nothing was going to stop that
@@theshapeexists I'm not so sure about the Iowa class. They were faster than the Yamato and had superior radar and gunnery control, but their armor was way too thin to stop an 18" shell. When you consider how many bombs and torpedoes it took to sink Yamato and Musashi it's pretty apparent that either one could've withstood quite a bit of shelling from 16" guns.
if it was an american battleship it wouldnt have happened , carriers / battleships & anything Japanese was getting sunk at this stage
@@theshapeexiststhats only before its refit
@@DK-gy7ll they definitely had the capability of sinking one another, but the quarter million horsepower and 33 knot top speed an Iowa class had with its radar system was incredible for its day. That's a ship that could run circles around the heavy and slow Yamato while delivering blow after blow well out of sight of the enemy. Even the lighter shells of an Iowa is travelling at insane speeds while weighing 1.5 tons. I don't care what armor a ship could have, it's not immune to that.
Read the wiki on this ship.
It was supposed to be part of “The Tokyo Express” to blast U.S. Marines at Guadalcanal, but that idea was scrapped as it did not have 6 inch shells to shoot.18 inch gun shells were way too much of an overkill there.
It was restricted in its cruising in the Pacific as it had to remain close to the Dutch East Indies oil field to feed its ravenous engines.
But the suicide run on the U.S. Naval fleet was due to a mistake.
When the Japanese Emperor conferred with his Naval and Army commanders in discussing their defenses of Okinawa, the Army Generals told him of their extensive defensive strategy. When he looked at his Admirals and asked them what were their plans, they were embarrassed as they had none. It was “their loss of face”. Immediately, they responded to him with their intention of sending the Yamato and the rest is history.
Ironically, it was the Japanese action at Pearl that led to the obsoleting of the battleship
I disagree...I believe it became inevitable after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty
@@patricklenigan4309 The two are not contradictory. The attack on Pearl by carrier-based aircraft was the specific "How". Apparently the Japanese did not believe it was inevitable. Otherwise there would have been no Yamoto laid down in secret to violate that treaty. Why would they have? They could have put the money and resources into mre carriers
@SpacePatrollerLaser It goes back even further than that. Look up the Royal Navy carrier attack on the Italian base of Taranto where a handful of torpedo armed biplanes, flying from a single carrier sank or seriously damaged the battleships moored there.
It was studying this attack that gave the Japanese the inspiration for the modified torpedoes they later used at Pearl Harbor.
There are also the successful torpedo attacks against KM Bismarck at sea by Swordfish biplanes flying from HMS Victorious and HMS Ark Royal, a hit from the latter crippling Bismarck and allowing HMS King George V and HMS Rodney to catch up to her and pound her into a burning wreck with 14" and 16" fire.
@@robertf3479 The Japanese were observing the actions of Billy Mitchell and must have been aware that the Navy was trying to sabotage his efforts
I’m amazed by the mystique of this poorly equipped ,outdated ship. It had minimal impact on a war where it’s designed use never happened. It was not a tragic figure of heroic proportions but dream of a world that passed her by.
Came here for Godzilla. Stayed for Yamato
The first bomb to hit Yamato was landed by naval aviator Francis Ferry. After the war he became a teacher, and was the Dean of Boys at Carlmont High School in Belmont, CA. He appears in a video on RUclips which you can find by doing a search on his name. There was a story in a local newspaper a few years ago about him reaching his 100th birthday.
Yet the wreck of the Yamato will be resurrected into the Space Battleship Yamato.
Yes!!
Yamato saw more action in anime than in real life. She didn't exactly cover herself in glory during the war...same for Musashi and Shinano.
We'll ignore the magazine explosion for the sake of the anime, tho (and a kick-ass theme song).
WOW ... What a story! You made your narrative so engaging.
Wouldn’t it have been interesting if the Yamato had managed to close the distance with the Wisconsin?
Amazing how one particular phrase here or there can pound home the extent of the horrors of combat:
"...vacuum tubes shattering from concussive forces, rendering radar equipment unusable."
Soldiers and Sailors blinded, deafened, and torn apart, and all the technology of battle destroyed,
and still war rages on, unsatiated...
The largest Aircraft carrier was 69000 tons The Yamamoto was 72000. A battle ship bigger than an Aircraft carrier. And yet. It didn't sink a single ship.
it did sunk uss gambier bay
not sure about johnston and hoel
When she was sinking, the survivors in the water sang the national anthem
As long as we're dumping on poor old Yamato, it should be noted that in her only other major action she and the battlewagons she led somehow got chased off by a bunch of tin cans.
Now its at the bottom of the sea. Paper tiger 🐅
anything Japanese was a paper tiger by 1945
Don't start nothin', won't be nothin'. Sincerely, the United States military. Semper Fi 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
The American losses at Okinawa convinced the US to use the atomic bombs. Adm. Kōsaku Aruga, the commander of Operation Ten-Go opposed the operation as a waste of ships, men, and materiel. But, as was required, he commanded the Yamato. When he realized that the Yamato was loss, he called off the Operation and told the other ships to save themselves.
The Yamato class, the greatest targets ever built! Even in a surface engagement, the two ships would have been overwhelmed by the USN battleline. They were better than the HMS Hood, which blew up in its first real combat.
Never f around with American boats 😂
Shout-out to the Fat Electrician! 😂👍🇺🇲
You mean planes
Imagine if Yamato was there during the Battle of Midway. How would that affect the Japanese battle plans?
IMHO, they lost the war when they riled up the giant at Pearl Harbor.
It's honestly a waste of resources and men with such an impossible task. No air cover! What do you expect?
There's a great movie on that tragedy called Otoko Tachi no Yamato. Worth seeing.
they made their Super Battle Ships Useless after they attacked Pearl, the Question is what if they attacked Pearl with Musashi and Yamato while the U.S fleet was just setting there instead of CVs , and CVs just for Air Cover 🤔
Unbelievable that approximately 75 million people -- military and civilians, from every part of the world -- died because of the arrogance and greed of a handful of leaders in Germany and Japan.
How and where the hell you get this footage?
The Zuikaku, the Ryu Sheung Sheung, the Chitose, the Chiyoda, the Yamato, etc., all sail out knowing they will be sunk, but in the American movie, the foolish Japanese soldiers believe they can reach Okinawa and destroy the enemy.
I don't remember whether it was the History Channel or National Geo, but the captain in the drama was portrayed as a “HATABOU” from the “Osomatsu-kun” manga, and I was embarrassed.
I was troubled by the way he was portrayed as if he was forced to work as a captain by a child.
I suggest you watch Toho's movie “United Fleet” (1981) when it is translated some day.
No lines like “For the Emperor ・・・・” or “He's an American soldier, but he's braver than I imagined.”
Not all of it is historical fact, but it's a movie from the Japanese point of view.
There are admonitions in the movie that were said at the beginning of the war in historical fact, not fiction
If you fight, your country will die. If you don't fight, your country will die. But to perish without fighting is the true destruction of a people.
By General Nagano
President Roosevelt of the United States has died of illness. At that time, the condolences expressed by the Japanese government via the Alliance News Agency's English-language broadcast for overseas audiences surprised the American people.
He said, “I must admit that the American side has the upper hand today because of President Roosevelt's leadership, which was very effective. Therefore, I understand that the passing of President Roosevelt is a great loss to the American people. I hereby express my deepest condolences to the American people.”
The Japanese government's condolences shocked Thomas Mann, a German writer who was living in exile in the United States at the time. In fact, Hitler issued a statement in response to Roosevelt's death in Germany as well.
Roosevelt will go down in history as the instigator of the expansion of the current war into World War II and, moreover, as the foolish president who strengthened his greatest opponent, the Bolshevik Soviets.”
These contrasting condolences left Thomas Mann with no choice but to speak out in a radio broadcast to his native Germany.
In Japan, a country of the Orient, there still exists chivalry and a sense of human decency. There is still a reverence for death and for the great. This is the great difference between Germany and Japan.
Ridiculous!
Japan had a small advantage in the navy, but in fact they were never as strong as the others were weak until the USA entered the war.
They lost the war when they attacked Pearl Harbor, they should have waited for the USA to attack them
The Yamato was secretly given enough fuel to return to Japan 😮 bet casual viewers didn't know that but it didn't matter in the end
The entire planet respects this moment in history. May the human race remember Yamato as well as they do the Spartan 300 or the Trojan horse.
Big bugger.. WW2’s version of an Empires star destroyer!!
Tennōheika Banzai
The Yakamoto was a glorious ship
I believe the two ships were extremely overated with most of her systems unproven especially ship to ship combat. Would like to know more on accuracy and reliability of guns, firing systems, powerplants, electrical systems ect. impressive on paper, but we know how that goes in the real world.
Largest corral reef lol
that sea monster on the bottom??
Love your channel but the title is kind of click bait. In reality the Japanese weren’t deluded enough to think Yamato was going to do anything except get the crap blown out of it and if lucky take a few Americans with them. The captain and probably whole crew knew this was nothing but a suicide mission.
everything looks like a monster to a monster, isn't it?
I'm glad their was a big red circle around the massive battleship. Otherwise I wouldn't of spotted it on the thumbnail 😂
Imagine the different outcome if Japan had built a whole fleet of Yamato class battleships.
The war would have ended sooner. Imagine the war had Japan used the resources and man-power to build more air-craft carriers and submarines instead of super battleships that were made obsolete for many of their anticipated uses.
Imagine if they didn't all commit suicide
No difference.
Imagine if the Yomato actually had proper air coverage. Without proper air coverage it took 17 bombs and 13 torpedoes or something like that? With more air defenders for her she would have been even harder to defeat.
What a Waste of Everything…