Kamikaze 1945
 

Earlier this week I saw a documentary on TV called Day of the Kamikaze which looked at the peak of the Kamikaze attacks in April to June 45 as they attacked the American ships stationed at Okinawa while the bloody Battle for Okinawa was going on. Or so I must mention that us the British were also hit further south, excepted the Americans bore the brunt of these attacks.

Just wondering has anyone seen these Kamikaze attacks in the game?

I haven't, but I can't imagine that it would be very difficult to modfy Zero behavior for that time frame to basically ram your boat, instead of bombing it. I've had plane parts hit my boat before after shooting them down and I never had any damage.

From a much earlier thread: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...mikaze+attacks


RDP

I have seen them climb straight up after an attack, but they never successfully hit my boat. It sounds like an intact plane will do damage to you, but if it's already destroyed, the parts won't.

Has anyone swung by Okinawa in that time frame?

Any ships in big groups?

Kamikaze pilots were always told to go after capital ships, so I don't think they'd ever bother w/a submarine.

That's the odd irony of the kamikaze program. They were told to concentrate on sinking capital ships; carriers, battleships, cruisers, etc. But it was the picket destroyers at Okinawa that took the biggest beating. The poorly trained Japanese pilots simply didn't know the difference. As far as I know US submarines were never attacked by kamikazes. Probably because kamikazes were usually held in reserve for attacking large amphibious forces en masse. They weren't expected to fly routine patrol missions.

I think you're right on this one, but if there was nothing else around, they might go for it.

Well, another thing: subs would be typically lone wolves, or in a small group. Out in the middle of nowhere. Kamikazes would typically go for task forces and the like!!

I only saw this today, but I guess there is a least one recorded instance of a US sub being attacked by a kamikaze.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Devilfish_%28SS-292%29

However, There are instances throughout the war of Japanese pilots flying their (usually damaged) planes into ships or other planes even before the Special Attack Corps was started. Maybe this was one of these.

Definetely. The first deliberate Kamikaze attack was in 1943 during the New Guinea campaign, made by a twin engine Ki46 "Dragon Slayer" destroyer.

Interesting Fishlord...apparently, there was a Japanese Lt. Idia, who during the Pearl Harbor attack tried to fly his damaged plane into the armoury building at Kanehoe Air Station. He missed and hit a hill instead. Oddly, in the movie Tora, Tora, Tora he's shown dramatically making a direct hit. According to his fellow pilots before the raid, he had vowed to hit a worthy target if fatally damaged.

FYI
 

Actually:
21 Oct44 Two planes with volunteers flew from the Philippines to attack US carriers. According to eyewitness [per wikipedia] accounts, the first Allied ship to be hit by a kamikaze attack was the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy, the large heavy cruiser HMAS Australia on October 21 1944. The attack appears to have been spontaneous and was carried out by an unknown pilot who was not a member of Onishi's Special Attack Unit [kamikaze). The pilot was most likely an Imperial Japanese Army Air Force aviator from the 6th Flying Brigade, in a Misubishi Ki-51.


23-26 Oct44. Off Leyte, 55 Kamikaze pilots, in the first planned mass suicide attacks of the war, coordinated with the IJN attack on Leyte Gulf, hit the escort carriers and sank the St. Lo (CVE-63) and damaged the large escorts Sangamon (CVE-26), Suwannee (CVE-27), Santee (CVE-29), and small escorts White Plains, Kalinin Bay, and Kitkun Bay. In all, 7 carriers were hit and 40 other types damaged; five ships were sunk, 23 heavily damaged, and 12 moderate damage.

Imagine if we had Ohkas in this game. :huh::dead: