Great documentary!!

[rpembert]

This is great!! All I can say is check it out, you will like it.

If its been posted sorry...

Thanks,
Joshua Pemberton

[merc4ulfate]

Very nice. My son just got stationed on the USS Wyoming as a Torpedoman.

[JoeCorrado]

Quite an excellent documentary. I did not realize that 1944 was actually the most successful ship sinking year of the war for U.S. submarines... by nearly 2 to 1, outpacing the 350 ships sank in 1943, by nearly double with 600 ships sunk, including many warships!

This changes my perspective that things had thinned out by 1944, Instead it appears that there were plenty of targets for most of that year- and the success rate of that year spelled doom for the Japanese.

Also surprised to find that at the end of the war, the Japanese still had well over 1 million GMT of merchant capacity available to her that had survived the onslaught.

Well worth the time to enjoy this video in it's entirety. Thanks for sharing!

[Dread Knot]

Yes but most of what was left of the Japanese merchant marine was not in any shape to contribute to the Japanese war effort anymore
In poor repair and trapped behind extensive air dropped minefields and with no place left to go to pick up the vital resources Japan so badly needed

[JoeCorrado]

Originally Posted by Dread Knot

Yes but most of what was left of the Japanese merchant marine was not in any shape to contribute to the Japanese war effort anymore
In poor repair and trapped behind extensive air dropped minefields and with no place left to go to pick up the vital resources Japan so badly needed

And the pertinent point that I am making is simply this:

That those ships that remained, most certainly would have tried to run the blockade regardless of the odds that they could ever succeed. Not implying that Japan had a chance of supplying their industry with the materials for war- simply stating that their merchant marine was still kicking- and they would most likely have continued as they had... risk going against anything that we had standing in their way in an effort (futile or not) to do what they likely viewed as their solemn duty.

Perhaps the fact that the Japanese still had fight in them- that they still believed in their Emperor and still held to the warriors mind set for better or worse... perhaps THAT truth is what made the decision to drop the bombs a military necessity that is still believed to have saved a hundred thousand lives.

Think about it- for them, they still had a chance. Their Emperor, they believed- was after all, a living God.

Know what I mean?

[Admiral Halsey]

I actually have nightmares where the US didn't have the bomb and had to invade Japan.(Let's just say that the ending has Halsey's saying that "Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell" come almost completely true.)

[maxswain]

A must see! Huge amount of info on the class of subs and the skill of the Skippers. After pearl the only thing protecting mickey mouse were the pig boats loaded with duds. Your chances of storming Iwo jima were better vs serving on a thin skinned pig boat..... damn

[Dread Knot]

Originally Posted by JoeCorrado

Think about it- for them, they still had a chance. Their Emperor, they believed- was after all, a living God.

Know what I mean?

Actually I do. There was even a name for the chance they thought they still had. Ketsu Go. It's basic premise was that American morale at home was wavering with the huge casualty lists from Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and could be shattered by inflicting staggering losses in the initial landings in Japan. The reasoning among Japanese leaders was that American politicians would balk at the prospect of enormous causalities to continue the conquest.

Although we had virtually destroyed the Japanese navy and merchant marine by 1945, the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army was largely intact. The garrison on Kyushu, the first island due to be invaded had been raised to 14 field divisions, three tank brigades and eight mixed brigades totaling 900,000 men by August 1945. Far larger than the three divisions the US Army and Marines had faced in Okinawa.

Which is why I don't much regret the decision to use the atomic bombs. If they had not been used, it is by no means certain that the Emperor would have finally spoken up to provide the first step of an organized surrender of the Japanese government and armed forces. The Emperor always gave the bomb credit for his decision along with his break of faith with the Imperial Army and the spectre of starvation and civil disorder as his reasons for ending the war. He didn't see how Ketsu Go was going to work if Japanese cities were being obliterated in a flash with just one bomb.

[maxswain]

When I was stationed in Sasebo, JPN we were still disarming thousands of porcelain grenades the Imperial Japs were going to hand out to every man woman and child. I still have one that was painted by a local. The irony of that old man painting my unit and USN on a grenade that was to blow us up was rife. Living in Japan for years I know they would still BBQ our livers if they could.

[TorpX]

Originally Posted by maxswain

The irony of that old man painting my unit and USN on a grenade that was to blow us up was rife. Living in Japan for years I know they would still BBQ our livers if they could.

Ummm..... interesting imagery there.