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Author Topic: Kamikaze  (Read 1719 times)

RAAArtyGunner

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Kamikaze
« on: November 29, 2015, 09:08:58 am »

The Kamikaze were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy war-ships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks. During World War II, about 3,860 kamikaze pilots were killed, and about 19% of kamikaze attacks managed to hit a ship.
This video is a real heart-stopper. The sailors fought well, but there were just too many fighters.
Worst kamikaze atttack in WW II (Okinawa).
Best naval footage ever shot by a navy cameraman. The camera was in the gun turret under attack !!
Click on the link. (Takes a while to load). Be patient. Click on the gun barrels to begin. Rather slow at the start, then plays well. This is actual war footage.

http://HTTPS://www.dropbox.com/sh/4zkp7hvrgbcd7gd/D-qPNsG9ym#lh:null-Laffey%20Enhanced%20vo%203.wmv

Don't know what is going wrong but the first http:// should not be there. Deleting it also deltes them both??? weird.

So you will have copy and paste the link rather than just clicking on it, sorry about that.

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Gunna build those other boats one day.

essex2visuvesi

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Re: Kamikaze
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2015, 09:53:18 am »

Definitely worth watching
Not keen on voiceover man tho
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raflaunches

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Re: Kamikaze
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2015, 04:06:05 pm »

It's eerily amazing to watch. I read recently The British Pacific Fleet which the final part of the book described the Kamikaze attacks on the British carriers. The Kamikaze pilots kept attacking them ploughing into the flight deck but to no avail- the British ships didn't explode like the Americans carriers- they didn't know about the Armoured deck protecting the hangars below, the situation got so bad for the American carriers that had to borrow one of ours renaming her USS Wasp.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Kamikaze
« Reply #3 on: November 29, 2015, 05:06:01 pm »

Nick, are you referring to the temporary secondment of HMS Victorious to the US Pacific Fleet in 1942 when she was code named USS Robin? If so it was nothing to do with Kamikazes but because the USN had only one operational fleet carrier in the theatre at the time. During this period the USS Wasp CV7  was actually attached to the RN and running Spitfires to Malta. The ship was subsequently torpedoed and sunk in September 1942 in the Pacific. The name was carried on by the Essex class USS Wasp CV18 commissioned in November 1942.

There is a very interesting and convincing study on the relative merits of British and UK carrier design here   http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-030.htm and it is difficult to argue with the final conclusion that, despite the merits of the armoured decks, the RN carriers turned out to be less battleworthy overall than their US counterparts as evidenced by the final RN WW2 design embodying war experience, the Malta class, being deigned along USN practice without an armoured deck and hangar.

Colin
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dodes

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Re: Kamikaze
« Reply #4 on: November 29, 2015, 06:34:51 pm »

Colin, were not the Essex class and later USA flat tops have armoured Hanger decks above the vessels vital areas, only I seemed to recollect to watching one nicknamed being prepared and sunk as a under water reef for divers to play in and they showed how difficult it was to cut through 3" armour belt along the hanger deck.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Kamikaze
« Reply #5 on: November 29, 2015, 07:08:42 pm »

Dodes,

The Essex class did carry armour. The hangar deck was the strength deck and had some armour. Below this there was an armour belt of about 3 inches I think. The hangar itself and flight deck was a lightweight structure built above the hangar deck and vulnerable to damage if hit but it did enable the US ships to carry much larger air groups than the British carriers and the best defence of a carrier turned out to be the CAP (Combat Air Patrol intended to prevent enemy aircraft coming close enough to bomb. The very interesting parts of the document I quoted make the point that if a RN carrier flight deck was pierced, the resulting explosion, in a confined space, distorted the structure of the ship which was then effectively not properly repairable.

The US ships were more vulnerable to fire due to the large numbers of aircraft ranged on their flight decks and the fact that they carried much greater quantities of avgas than their RN counterparts so there was more flammable material. The Japanese carriers were the same. I also read somewhere that the RN carriers, besides carrying smaller quantities of aircraft fuel, also stowed it more safely well below the waterline. All ship design is compromise of one sort or another. Today's warships are not designed to take heavy punishment but to intercept incoming ordnance before it reaches the ship.

Colin
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