The Unstoppable American Warship Japan Never Saw Coming
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- Опубликовано: 5 ноя 2023
- In the chilling waters of the North Pacific, a high-stakes game of World War 2 naval warfare was about to unfold. By March 1943, America was gearing up to reclaim the Alaskan islands of Attu and Kiska, snatched by the Japanese the previous year. The US Navy’s mission: intercept and destroy Japanese resupply convoys.
But on March 26, Rear Admiral Charles H. McMorris, at the helm of a small task group, stumbled upon more than anyone had anticipated. A formidable Japanese group, escorted by eight warships, including two heavy and two light cruisers, was advancing. The Americans, led by the heavy cruiser Salt Lake City and the light cruiser Richmond, were clearly outmatched. Yet, they bravely engaged.
The Salt Lake City, despite drawing first blood against the Japanese cruiser Nachi, was battered and on the brink of destruction. As the smoke of battle thickened, the Japanese, for reasons still debated, made a move that nobody expected…
My father was a fireman in the engine room of the Salt Lake City. He was one of the 3 crewman who purged the salt water from the fuel lines and re-fired the boilers. He credited the Destroyers for the SLC's survival. The final reunion of the Salt Lake City's surviving crew will be held in June (2024) in Philadelphia.
Years ago I had the privilege of knowing a veteran of the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, a gunner's mate aboard the USS Salt Lake City. His battle position was in the forward main gun director above the bridge. He said at one point in the battle he stuck his head out of the top hatch and a Japanese salvo passed just over him, punching a hole in one of the tripod mast supports behind him. He stayed down after that aiming the big guns. He served on the Salt Lake City throughout the war returning safely home.
Heroes and supermen.
Much more to this story than what has been presented here.
My Uncle was a Gunner on the USS Bailey (DD-492) as such I had a particular interest in this battle.
During a torpedo attack, in which she scored several gunfire hits on Nachi, Bailey received three direct hits from 8-inch shells which killed five and wounded six men, and caused major damage to the ship. For this action, she was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation. After undergoing temporary repairs at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Bailey arrived at Mare Island Navy Yard 8 April 1943 for permanent repairs.
While in the Pacific later in the war...... On the night of 1 October 1944, she underwent two severe strafing attacks while on picket duty off the Palaus. Damage was extensive, 9 men were killed (including Uncles best friend aboard ship) and 16 wounded. Following emergency repairs Bailey proceeded to Mare Island for permanent repairs, arriving 25 October.
Uncle "G" had to bag up the big pieces of his friend and wash the rest over the side with a fire hose. He survived it all, never forgot it and was changed forever by it.
i think yer tellin sea stories.......
Thanks for sharing that bit. G sounds like a real one. Sucks that we have to fight thru shit in life.
I believe your story. Heard many others like it. My dad was lucky, all thru WW2 he just kept getting transferred from one base to another. As an MP mostly. He had some stories too, but mostly about drunk sailors and hookers.
@@notlisted-cl5lsWhy??
My dad never would talk about what he saw and did during WWII. We did learn from another person that he was fired on at close range, and fired back, killing his attacker.
We will never know what else he survived.
My friends from 'Nam don't talk about their experience to those who've never been to war.
Thank you for not forgetting the bravery of the U.S. Navy, each and every man.
all branches.... the Greatest Generation.
not like today where the young are lost in stupidity,arrogance, deviance and entitlement
Go Navy!
My father was Chief on the Coghlan. He told us that they all assumed they would be blown out of the water when they made the torpedo run and were more than surprised when they got away
My father was a BAR armed infantryman with 10th Mountain Division on Kiska, so I am strongly drawn to any information related to that island. Fortunately, my library includes four books delving into Kiska Occupation, where no combat took place, and combat with Germans in northern Italy while aided by Italian forces. Dad was seriously wounded in combat, recovered, and I had him for much of my life thankfully. Thank you very much for making this history video available.
The only combat that occurred was when US & Canadian infantry that landed on the island got mixed up in the thick fog and mistook each other for the enemy.
@@michaeldowson6988 Sadly, thousands of mistakes that end up taking lives are being made all around the world, every single day.
I could only presume, though I don't want to, how more frequent and more costly they are, when they are made in one of these "smaller", current wars.
There's a blood chilling video of US troops in Afghanistan, crouching behind a wall of a surrounded building, then mistakenly hit by friendly fire from an airstrike they themselves called in (to avoid risking their lives in a likely shootout). Can't imagine, surviving who knows how many horrific moments, how many mines, IEDs, shells, fire fights and deadly situations, and in the end dying because of a mistake! Just hearing "Blue on blue! Blue on blue!" blasting over the radio, after the incident, is both terrifying and infuriating! Luckily, the cloud of smoke and dust from the explosions obscured those poor soldiers' last moments from camera's view.
Also there was a more gory video (which was shared by many news sites) of a cameraman with a few other civilians, getting shot and killed by a US drone, as they were running across the street towards cover, because the pilot (as well as his OC) misidentified a big, old TV camera on his shoulder, as an RPG. Sad...
A-10's caused a lot of friendly fire because they're badly designed aircraft that don't have accuracy but rather a large field of stuff that is very likely to get hit.@@21palica
@@michaeldowson6988
How tragic!
Very grateful for your dad.
This story requires a whole book and he's trying to tell it in thirteen minutes. For security reasons the American admiral could not be told that intelligence KNEW the Japanese were there. He was so convinced the mission was pointless that he didn't launch his scout planes. And he got surprised by a fleet twice his size. Afterward the Japanese marveled at how fast the Americans could shoot, but laughed at how inaccurate their shooting was. Ironically, the Americans marveled at how tight the Japanese groups were, "If one had hit, we'd have been obliterated", but laughed that being so tight meant they never hit. The book is "Battle of the Komandorski Islands" by John A. Lorelli Naval Institute Press. It is a great read.
Thanks, I'm going to check it out
I was wondering if anyone here could answer a question I have about this video?
The name of the video was:
“The American WW2 Ship That Made A Move Nobody Expected”
As the story was told, which ship were they talking about, and when did she make it? If they were talking about USS SLC taking a turn to the south, a capable Japanese Commander should not have been too surprised to see the Americans turning south in an attempt to break contact. It was really the only logical maneuver open to the Americans to take. And the IJN would have known it too. The IJN officers knew their business and it seems that the SLC only survived the encounter because the Japanese Commander broke off the chase due to his supply issues. He was the one who made the surprising decision to break off contact. The Americans were retreating in good order all things considered so no surprise there. So where was the surprise the American ship preformed?
Let me be clear, I’m not trying to lay blame on either side for their actions.
The “Dark” Chanels all have a tendency to play fast and loose with their productions. The only reason I listen to any of them, don’t laugh, is that I like the sound of the narrator voice. I tend to think it is a computer generated voice, but is easy on my ears! LOL!
😎
It's a human I can guarantee that.
It's called clickbait
There's a lot that's 'dark' about this channel . . .
What a mess. Lots of video that has nothing to do with the story. Aircraft carriers that weren’t there, battleships that weren’t there, torpedoes exploding that didn’t happen, and Admiral Halsey, who wasn’t there, makes an appearance. Whoever makes this channel has a habit, apparently, of not looking at the video being posted.
There's another military channel that shows a single still photo for an entire video and the narration voice is a pleasant sounding AI voice with an English accent that often mispronounces words. I still listen because the stories published by the channel are very interesting and often riveting (imho). I feel the same about the "Dark" channels videos. I love to listen to the narrative even though there are unrelated videos as filler and some of the "deeper dive" detail missing.
Road captain, god bless our service members everywhere thank you for your service and dedication to our country
The ship's bell of the USS Salt Lake City can be seen in the ROTC building on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City Utah.
The ship's bell from battleship USS Utah can be seen at the Utah State capitol a few miles away.
Go 28th Composite Group!!! Guardians of the North!
That was very informative thank you
My Dad was a Chief Pharmacist Mate in the Navy, and served in the North Pacific. Your story was very interesting to me.😊
Now I know where the nickname "Swayback" in Otto Preminger's film "In Harm's Way" comes from.
One correction to pronunciation - The name of the island of Adak is actually pronounced with the first A being a long A - so the name is said like "aadak". Source: when I was in the Marines in the late 1960's, I spent a year on that island. I enjoyed nearly every day of it.
I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and prior to having me, my parents lived in Alaska. They always said the name of Adak in the way you are describing: Ay-dack, stress on the first syllable.
Rhymes with haystack.
Although I was stationed in Norfolk as a marine, my navy friend who was previously stationed in Adak, called it Ay-dak just as the other posts indicate.
9:07 Fire control radar: my father was a US Army radar specialist who was among those sent to the Pacific when Italy quieted down. His specialty of fire control radar, operation and maintenance, which earned him a Marine with a .45 to protect the nation's secrets. He said they practiced the drill at least once a week: the Marine would give the command to drop to his knees and he placed the muzzle of the .45 to the base of my father's skull. As long as it could be completed in three seconds they were good. When dad was more drunk than usual he related how they had held that position for several minutes while a skirmish raged on the other side of the bulkhead.
Great work
Thank you for sharing
🤗🏆🇺🇸🎖️
I'm a native of Adak. Cool to hear my old digs in your vid. One note--I've only and always heard the name pronounced "a-dak," with the "a" rhyming with "ray" and the "dak" rhyming with "back."
Thank you for posting this battle. I was unaware it even occurred. The video moves rather quickly and, quite frankly, I got a bit confused during the narration. I suppose some maps of the movement of the ships during the battle could have helped. I'll have to pursue my interest by reading the book mentioned below in the comments.
Thank again.
Another piece of Pacific War (2) History. More than once Japan "Withdrew" from a naval engagement against the USN when they had: Superior Numbers, Experience and Impending Victory.
Thank you.
The movie "Gallant Hours" echoes this fact. This movie is about Adm Halsey's command and the battle for Guadalcanal.
@@autryld Thanks Larry. I wrote a quick note to see your recommendation. First dual to let Japan know we were coming.
Great episode
Very well done gentleman.
Interesting archive footage . Filmed is some cruiser of same ? class with damage , broken bow, smoking ? What ship was it ?
Good one.
This channel never fails to disappoint.
I hope to see and hear more of these battles however small made up our history.
Lt. Commander Atkeson was my grandfather.
There is more to this then just the battle .
Their are a few book's about this battle and my good friend who was a great resource for information about this battle .
Has been to the islands after the war and to this day you can you can still see where the battles had taken place
botched¹like 11both kicks a1nd 111
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1111
That was quite a slugging match. First time I'd heard of it.
The northern theater was just as important as the south. Thanks for covering it.
When the smoke screen was used to help the Salt Lake City try and buy time. Knowing this was a suicide mission for the destroyers. They heard the radio chatter of the American destroyers and they reported taking hits, the radios went silent. Fearing the worst that the destroyers were sunk they heard a reply from the Destroyers, "Enemy is retreating shall we pursue?"
Incredible courageous US Navy well done.
Yes that's I mean. It could have been easier to go the short route rather than go the long way
USN Treaty Cruisers were not well balanced ships. Not that other nations' Treaty Cruisers were far better. USN Treaty Cruisers did improve some with successive classes, but USS Salt Lake City was of the first Treaty Cruiser class. USS Richmond was a pre-Treaty light cruiser. Most ships of her, Omaha, class were used in secondary roles where a peer-on-peer fight was not expected. Two of the DDs were of the Farragut class, the first modern class after the WW1-design Wickes class. So not only was McMorris' force outnumbered, but his ships were not the best and most modern of USN ships sent into combat. Nachi and Maya, while Treaty Cruisers (probably ~30% over-weight), were among the IJN's newer types. Light cruisers Tama and Abukuma, while lighter, were similar in fighting capacity to Richmond, though their torpedo armament was greater (and training for using torpedoes was probably much better), with far better torpedoes.
You mentioned treaty. Is this the reference to the Washington Naval Treaty of 1921?
The Northampton Class Heavy Cruisers: They were the first ship designs to have (3) main battery turrets, hangers for the sea planes, & bunks that folded up on a chain.
My dad who passed in 2017 at age 92 proudly served on the USS Louisville CA 28 from 1943-46 and witnessed (52) sailors and Rear Admiral Theodore Chandler buried at sea due to (3) kamikaze hits in the Pacific. The Louisville went thru (2) typhoons with minimal damage. (Currently, a turret in Nevada Desert used in the 1950's foe atomic bomb detection.
The Northampton class were the USN's second class of (Washington) Treaty Cruisers, and better than the previous Pensacola class, of which USS Salt Lake City was a member.
@@petestorz172 Yes, you are correct and the Baltimore Class Cruisers did not start coming til late 1943 during WW2. The crews on the older cruisers were well trained too for many were on prior to WW2. Take care!
While a lot of people make a massive deal about the Japanese throwing away winning battles and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, only two of those cases genuinely represent the Japanese giving up too soon (as in the other cases, the Japanese either faced far worse odds than commonly assumed, or were prevented from following through due to legitimate issues): this one and-arguably-First Savo Island.
Even then, given how strategically worthless the Aleutians were in WWII, the Japanese would only have hurt their logistics even more by managing to hold onto it, so if anything they should have given up even sooner here.
A major reason for the Japanese attack on the Aleutians was to divert American forces from Midway. After the Japanese loss, there was no need to try to hold the islands.
🦬💩
I love naval history. I guess because I was in the Navy myself.
Another great story thanks 13:07
Praise the Lord for these amazing documentaries
During WWII it was not the USAF as you stated. It was the Army Air Corp.
On June 20th 1941 the Army Air Forces was created, he said USAAF, but regardless, it was called interchangeably early in the war the Army Air Corps, Army Air Forces, and Air Force, Jimmy Stewart even refers to it as Air Force and Air Corps interchangeably in a recruiting short from 1942. Basically, officially it wasn't the Army Air Corps at all by the time the US entered the war, but it was the AAF, but even officially and unofficially it was interchangeably called the Army Air Forces and just the Air Force.
My dad was there on a destroyer escort DE 17.
Pictures of Halsey, 16" shells battleships and aircraft carriers!!??
No maps of the battle. Lift your game.
I agree with your decision to skip the intro sequence. It would have been distracting. There's plenty of identification of your channel and the subject of this video. I think you did well with it.
Greetings from the BIG SKY. Good to know.
Whats ths giant red circle for?
The USS Salt Lake City had a fine war record. Treaty cruiser or not. Old Swayback was well crewed.
Nachi had severe problems with her electricity generators during most of the fight, and was therefore unable to use her 8" guns.
My dad served in the Coast guard in Alaska back in the fifties shortest pictures emplacements and aircraft
The engaged while running like hell.
The cruiser Salt Lake City received 11 battle stars and a Naval commendation.
Its amazing how many completely irrelevant clips were used in this video.
Tell the story of Mitcher turning on the lights. (was it Mitcher?)
Thank you for your videos. I wish more younger Americans knew their history. On another subject, please don't let RUclips run long ads without the 5second button! I have no wish to return to the old ad pattern of the television industry of yore. Single ads only WITH the 5second button. Thank you.
My Dad was on PT boat's in WW Two
The Japanese had far better optics having copied the german Zeiss optical equipment. Salt Lake ran out of armour piercing shells, firing out of necessity high explosive shells. These exploded on impact on the sea, giving the japanese the impression of being bombed by american planes through the overcast. This, plus the other factors made them to retire. This battle was the most prolonged gunnery duel of the war. 🇬🇷
I didn't know that Salt Lake City trick the Japanese with her high-explosive shells, thanks for the facts.
A misleading title.
In what is otherwise great content, the only question I have is: why does this channel revert to clickbait headlines and tacky red circles?
At 7:02, are those 8" shells? Or 14's? The narrative described only cruisers and destroyers in the battle, yet those look much bigger than 8 inchers. 14" shells belong on a BB. And at 8:50, the officer in the baseball-type cap reminds me of ADM Nimitz. I've seen that shot before, somewhere, I think on Pennsy. If it IS Nimitz, he's REALLY out of place.
Agree 14's and looks like Nimitz to me!
I think it's Halsey.
@@bronxboy1829 I think Halsey is a safe bet, as well. Supporting that, I have recently found other pictures of Halsey in that hat. His collar device looks like it could be the small circle of 5 stars; not a row of 4. All in all not McMorris.
Most probably Halsey than Nimitz.
It is definitely Bull Halsey. They just montaged whatever.
It’d be a great show if the video depicted pictures of the cited vessels and personnel, instead of Japanese ships when mentioning USS SLC, or Gen MacArthur when speaking of US Navy leaders in the battle.
This is a persistent AFI (area for improvement w/ your otherwise VG videos.
Why do you insert clips of Hawsey which have nothing to do with the subject?
My uncle was a gunnery officer on the Salt Lake City. He told some interesting stories about that battle. He did say something odd I cannot confirm. He said that they ran out of ammo for the 8" guns, so they loaded the 8" barrels with 5" ammo and lobbed them at the Japanese. That's when the Japanese fleet turned away possibly thinking it was aircraft. I no nothing more about that, and it doesn't seem possible, but I guess if you are desperate...
Is the answer a power-slide? I saw it in the movies once 😅
The vast majority of Japanese officers and soldiers would gladly fight to the death, but when it came to the navy, the captains and admirals were terrified of losing their ships in battle, they were the Emperor's ships, it would bring great shame and dishonor to them and their families to have their ship sunk.
Please make a video on USS Diablo....
There was a great deal of repetition in the beginning, it was starting to look like click-bait. Glad it wasn't, but I hope the repetition ends.
Débit trop rapide , mais bonne narration.
or why would you pay ship's crew ?
NAH BABY THIS IS PRO BONO LIKE U2
I didn't like the amount of pictures unrelated to this action--amateurish; but it was still good to see some attention paid to the north Pacific operations.
Just how much film do you think there is.
This channel is common for that.
AH-tu"! "A-dak"! Emphasis on the FIRST syllable.
OK. but it ould have been a LOT more easily understood if there were MAPS.
I'll never understand why the Japanese Imperial Navy sent one of its carriers to Alaska and not Midway. The outcome could have been very different.
"A ... dack" not "A ... dock"
Sanko maru? Sounds more like sunk-o maru.
ah-doc? No.....eh-dak
What would happen to the prisioners when they were released from the brig? Assuming they were American, they would go to battle stations but if they were Japanese...?
Allied prisoners were released to their battle stations (if members of the crew) or areas of specialty (if foreign). Enemy prisoners were not released although there are stories of enemies being let go if the ship were sinking.
8:50: Admiral Halsey, despite being thousands of miles away, appeared upon the deck as a hologram, barking orders and encouraging his men to fight on.
With Nimitz and McArthur pointing at maps and smiling approvingly at their progress.
I've always wondered why the US didnt just supply Russia by the Barents Sea route rather than the UK had to go via The Artic Circle via Murmansk
Because they didn’t need resources on the pacific coast as Japan wasn’t invading, the resources were need for the defenses against Germany.
Distance ends up being about the same. That, and if I remember right, the Trans Siberan railroad ended at Vladivostock. That's right next to Japan. The equipment would then need to be transported all the way across Russia. The Trans Siberian could'nt handle that volume at the time. So the Atlantic route ended up being easier.
The Pacific Route to USSR was used to transfer aircraft. About 8,000 in all. about half were P39s. This is itemized at the Air Museum in Edmonton, AB.
I assume you actually mean Bering Sea. Barents Sea is the Murmansk area.
There wasn't much railroad infrastructure thru Siberia back then.
Near the end when Russia started attacking Japan, we supplied them with a whole bunch of Misfit ships on the Pacific. I'm sure most of what I know about that I heard on this channel?😮
That's pronounced: "A'-dak" - emphasis on the first syllable and a long 'a' as in "safe." As a former USCG Officer with friends having been assigned there at the LORAN Station, that's how it is pronounced. Great video, otherwise. Keep at it!
We say Adak sounds like Ay-dack.
Not Ah-dok.
Anchorage, Alaska
Gotcha! 😂
Both the Japanese and the Germans fatally underestimated the American fighting man.
Could the American's shoot and hit anything? from fighters planes to ships it seems if they hit something it was pure luck.
If the enemy shot back they were sunk or knocked from the sky. A country where men grew up with a gun in their hands and an industry that could build anything. Proud American!!
I sailed aboard a US destroyer in those waters back during the Cold war. I didn't like it. If you fell in, you were dead before anybody could pull you out. I preferred the "shark-infested" waters of the the Philippines. There you at least had a chance.
"Ragtag"?
Most of the footage was not of that battle but of the turkey shoot by Admiral Nimitz. At least the Bismark was not showed what a joke.
I understood that the Japanese did NOT have radar. HOwever, now we hear they had radar controlled cannons. Which is it?
At the beginning of the war they knew how to build radar sets but had few. During the war they developed the ability to build many. In 1945 Yamato tracked ALL the planes - 1,000+ - that attacked it but was overwhelmed.
Adak is pronounced A Dak!
thank you mr know it all do you help folks with there spellN2?????
I grew up on Kodiak Island in Alaska and have visited Adak, Attu and Kiska. Sounds like you could use both manner and more history knowledge.@@kcstafford2784
Thank you for the correction, having grown up on Adak the mispronouncing really bothered me
@@grumpyolddwarf8953 LMAO....do you get mad at old lady with shopping carts too...or do you run around telling folks how to spell????
RUclips, why is this **** being recommended despite this channel lying more often than Konashenkov does?
The Air Force said we can’t see nah it cool? What if would sank the American fleet and yall not protected 😢
As the saying goes, can’t hit what ya can’t see
USA 🇺🇸
so what was the move....way too much nonessential information...
Looks like Salt Lake City had a significant fire and explosion its flight deck. Oh, wait a minute... And setting fire to what looks like USS Wasp just to provide a smoke screen was an interesting move. But which US ship made an unexpected move and what was it? In the description you say it was the Japanese, which is true: they retreated while actually winning.
That sounds like McClellan at Malvern Hill. Winning and too afraid so in retreat!
Thumbs down, title is pure hyperbole for clicks. The did see the ship coming and it was stopped and would of been sunk had it not turned around.
....get to the point already...
Whydoyoutalksostinkingfast?
One of my daughters talks faster than he does.
I defeated a large Japanese fleet with just a flare gun and an inner tube.😮
Ah, I was trying to tell someone at work about Jewish Lamp Shades, as she had a lot of tats While I was telling her about it, she seemed OK. HOwever, later I recieved a phone call from my boss asking what I had said. Later fI found out this young brat had claimed I wanted to kill her for tats! I sometimes am horribly dis-astounded at how ignorant and assinine some of the youth are today.
What she was up to was tryhing to get me fired so she coujld get my spot at work. She failed and a few weeks later she was fired.
Japan was too strong they half the war
What???
War is ruff but those back in the day was just barbaric and no ones safe.
Interesting story, but spoiled by the awful commentary.
The Japanese invasions of Attu and Kiska were not part of the Midway plan, other than being concurrent. Japan feared attacks might be based in the Aleutians and took Attu and Kiska to preclude such attacks.
The Aleutians operation was intended as a diversion from AF - Midway.
Yamamoto wanted to trick Nimitz into deploying his carriers further north and east to counter a move against the west coast after the Aleutians.
Nimitz, of course, knew of the Midway attack plans and stayed put.
First