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70 years ago, the battleship Yamato was sunk

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Well I mean, it was war and it was 70 years ago and they were on the other side and the Japanese committed all sorts of atrocities. Not saying empathy for the common soldier/sailor isn't possible, but it's not surprising to see some indifference.

And for all intents and purposes, the Yamato was target practice in its final battle. It never stood a chance.

So did everyone. Everyone comitted all sorts of atrocities. It was total war.

Those men who died on that ship did not make the decision to commit those atrocities and they were most like every other soldier in the war innocent men ripped out of their lives and thrown into battle.

RIP to all the sailors that died the day the Yamato sank both on the Allied and Axis side.
 
So what is, or more appropriately, was a battleships's purpose? Long range artillery support? Can't even destroy ships as effectively as destroyers, right?

My understanding is that Battleships were primarily used to support operations on land by the 1940s. Ship to ship fighting was rare by then.

Japan had Yamato, Germany had Bismark, what did America & Europe have in terms of great big battleship that may or may not have seen much use

What about Italy? hahaha!

The US directed more and better resources into carriers, which were useful for long after the war.
 
So did everyone. Everyone comitted all sorts of atrocities. It was total war.

Those men who died on that ship did not make the decision to commit those atrocities and they were most like every other soldier in the war innocent men ripped out of their lives and thrown into battle.

RIP to all the sailors that died the day the Yamato sank both on the Allied and Axis side.

Yeah I agree, I'm not saying the conduct here is right, but it is understandable.
 
The Japanese made a cartoon based on the ship. But OF COURSE the foreigners are the ones being disrespectful.
 
Over 200 anti air guns. Sinking that thing must have looked like..

xc7NOqR.jpg
 
The Suez dictated the beam, depth and length for ships that wanted to go through the Suez. There were many ships that were built back then that had no intention of going through the Suez that didn't care about the requirement.

Much like the PanaMax ships of today; these requirements are only held to for ships wanting to go through the canal.
Yup. Whole reason Roosevelt pushed so hard to get the canal completed was for the Navy.
 
So did everyone. Everyone comitted all sorts of atrocities. It was total war.

Those men who died on that ship did not make the decision to commit those atrocities and they were most like every other soldier in the war innocent men ripped out of their lives and thrown into battle.

RIP to all the sailors that died the day the Yamato sank both on the Allied and Axis side.


This is my take as well. I'm not trying to be an over sensitive tight ass. It would just be nice to have a bit of respect for the loss of life, considering the thread is about the anniversary of its sinking.
 
I thought the Yamato was sunk during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests.

Fake edit: Nope, that was the Nagato.
 
Guys, not very respectful to post the space battleship yamato stuff, even though I half expected the OP to use images from it in his post.

I kind of disagree. Space Battleship Yamato (Star Blazers) chose the name of the ship as a direct homage to the WWII battleship. It's not a connection to be ashamed of but celebrated IMHO.






RIP Yamato, she was a hell of a battleship.
 
The Japanese made a cartoon based on the ship. But OF COURSE the foreigners are the ones being disrespectful.

Kantai Collection already one upped that.

New waifu get.

Seriously though she was a hell of a ship for her time. Since the Japanese could not keep pace with the quantity of ships the US and allies could put out they went with power instead with those canons of hers.
 
This is a bizarre thread. Am I expected to feel bad for the sailors on the Bismarck as well?
The Yamato was the epitome of battleships: a national construct to inspire pride in a murderous empire that was rendered useless by progress and technology.
 
Jutland was a fluke though. And even then that was the first and last battle of that kind

And apparently nobody knew what was going on the whole battle. It just kinda happened and the parties reacted as they traded positions of control

Reading wiki Yamato didnt stand a chance in that battle.
fk3pAo5.png

Oh my god 11 Carriers, 11 Cruisers, and 30+ Destroyers? You are fffffucked! What a WASTE of human life and resources for NOTHING. Japan wasn't a rational actor, though. They should have surrendered after Midway.
 
And apparently nobody knew what was going on the whole battle. It just kinda happened and the parties reacted as they traded positions of control



Oh my god 11 Carriers, 11 Cruisers, and 30+ Destroyers? You are fffffucked! What a WASTE of human life and resources for NOTHING. Japan wasn't a rational actor, though. They should have surrendered after Midway.

Yeah, everybody dogging it as target practice aren't talking into consideration how out gunned it was. The us Wanted it dead
 
And apparently nobody knew what was going on the whole battle. It just kinda happened and the parties reacted as they traded positions of control

Nah, that's not true. The British definitely had communication problems throughout the battle, due to using antiquated flag signaling, but there were a lot of actions where people knew what was going on and what to do.

Jellicoe crossing the T, for example. That wasn't just an accident. Scheer falling into the T was probably an accident. But him calling for a sharp 180 degree swerve and retreat to save his fleet wasn't.
 
Funnily enough even though the end of the age of battleships was cemented in World War II, the United States continued to use its Iowa Class Battleships until the end of the First Gulf War in gun support roles.

There is actually talk of bringing back battleships as mobile weapon platforms for railgun and laser systems.
 
Nah, that's not true. The British definitely had communication problems throughout the battle, due to using antiquated flag signaling, but there were a lot of actions where people knew what was going on and what to do.

Jellicoe crossing the T, for example. That wasn't just an accident. Scheer falling into the T was probably an accident. But him calling for a sharp 180 degree swerve and retreat to save his fleet wasn't.

That's a fair assessment. I didn't mean to minimize the preparation and systems the Navies had in place. Simply, that things didn't go as planned and there was great confusion. However, as it has been talked about often, the rigid structure of German military vs. a more decentralized British military often meant that British commanders were far more flexible with the decisions they were permitted to make during events such as these. This is even more apparent in WW2, though.
 
Funnily enough even though the end of the age of battleships was cemented in World War II, the United States continued to use its Iowa Class Battleships until the end of the First Gulf War in gun support roles.

There is actually talk of bringing back battleships as mobile weapon platforms for railgun and laser systems.

I think there may have been an initial thought of converting them into arsenal ships. However, the cost of actually cutting into them and refitting into a 500 VLS arsenal ship was probably too high to be a sensible option. Instead, we went for the SSGN option with the four Ohio conversions, and any future designs to fit the role will probably be along those lines for survivability.
 
So what is, or more appropriately, was a battleships's purpose? Long range artillery support? Can't even destroy ships as effectively as destroyers, right?

Battleline, destroyers armor was paper thin, were destroyers couldn't do jackshit to Battleships. They are also much better at coastal shelling (hi naval battle of guadalcanal and henderson field).

When the New Jersey was brought back for Vietnam it pretty much tore the VietCong up.
 
Huh, I had no idea large battleships were a thing of the past. So are most navies just destroyers and aircraft carriers now?

Yep, Destroyers, Aircraft Carriers, Submarines, and other vessels. Really since the beginning of World War II. The Yamato was nearly more so a propaganda tool than an effective battleship.
 
Huh, I had no idea large battleships were a thing of the past. So are most navies just destroyers and aircraft carriers now?


With the success of drones, I feel like carriers and support/defense ships are the future, at least until we have electronic countermeasures that can jam remote operators.
 
I thought the Yamato was sunk during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests.

Fake edit: Nope, that was the Nagato.

An easy mistake considering how fucking big the explosion was when the Yamato's magazines went up.
Can't believe no one has posted a photo. I posted one once in a non-Yamato thread.
 
Interesting fact:

The Suez Canal dictated the length and width of ships. When Japan built the Yamato, they had no intention of ever using the canal so without that restriction it allowed them to build it as large as they did.

That's actually really interesting. I suppose it makes sense that ships built then and today would have in mind the Suez and Panama canals.
 
Yeah that actually changes things a bit.

Do people make threads/comments like these about Pearl Harbor, though? I don't know if anyone here would care very much if a Japanese forum made a thread about Pearl Harbor the movie on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Maybe it's the same thing.

Personally I'd be a little "wtf" if a bunch of Japanese people were like "lol we popped all their ships and subs at Pearl Harbor, like candy from a baby" ON 12/7.

The main difference being the ship was sunk during a battle in which both sides were, I guess willing participants of open warfare. While the other was an attack on a country that was not technically fighting in said war.

Not that I'm advocating either side of the argument, it's just that there is a difference on when both happened.
 
To the guy saying we shouldn't talk about the anime, the official Yamato museum in Kure City, Hiroshima, has an entire wing dedicated to Space Battleship Yamato. The museum is pretty awesome, too. I think a lot of you guys in this thread would find it very interesting.
 
I thought the reason for the emergence of carriers was due to the fact that the attack on Pearl Harbor left the American fleet crippled, but their carriers were not in port so were unscathed in the attack which prompted them to use them more? Battleships at the start of World War II were still the thing. The Bismarck was the target of the entire British navy and my grand father use to cry a little when talking about how the Hood was one shotted by the Bismarck.
 
Compared to how many millions of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipinos etc.?

I'm Filipino. Lives being lost are terrible, but it was war and Japan was a vicious, murderous aggressor in that war.

irrelevant. Loss of life on all sides was regrettable. It's okay to mourn both sides
 
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