How the US sank the worlds largest battleship

[Music] this is the biggest battleship ever built Japan's Yamato it carried these monster 46 CM tight 94s the biggest guns ever mounted on a ship today we cover her final suicide mission to the island of Okinawa to beach herself and fight to the [Music] death Japan was desperate after World War I to become a major Naval power initially they wanted to remain allied with the West so they signed the Washington Naval treaty in 1922 which limited ships to 35,000 tons and 16inch guns kind of rhymed as well you see the treaty was designed to prevent an arms race but fairly for Japan for every hundred ships the US built Japan could only build 60 so Japan made a plan to concentrate their Force they figured why not leave the treaty build our ships twice as big and the Americans can't compete because they need their ships to fit through the Panama Canal in other words Japan is desirous to have a new deal in the Neal matters on the much more reasonable basis than here to for 1937 the super Battleship builds began at the Docks of kuray Naval Arsenal 1. 5 billion a ship noway several were planned three were made the yam shukaku and Musashi it was top top secret the docks were deepened and screened off it was forbidden to mention the 46 CM guns and a criminal offense to take a picture you didn't want to be it with a Japanese Gusto the sword wielding Kai thae to give you an idea of her size this is the bismar Europe's biggest battleship the Germans fibbed about her as well said she was 35,000 T she was actually closer to 50 lot of big ladies about see yam's not much longer but damn she got girth and of course she was packing these tight 94 18. 1 in Godzilla turrets not their official designation I don't think imagine firing those sir prepare the gun for use but the gun hasn't been tested if it fails humanity is done for I understand Grace for The Flash and recoil fire okay well that might be a different yam but this is a Sherman tank to scale looks scared by the way the frontal armor on these was 65 cm I believe it's the only armor ever made so thick it was impenetrable to all existing weapons you can shell Cal from DOA with these they got 42,000 M range of 45° that's the equivalent power of firing a Ford Focus over the English Channel at 500 m a second unfortunately though the Japanese lack Radar Fire and remote power control so they had to be manually range the range finder viewp stuck out like these little metal ears at the back of the turret and then it was this long metal tube that ran across the width you look through here and the prisms then split the view from your left and right eye the left eye was fixed at 90° and you'd use a wheel to bring in the right eye to form a triangle and if you know this angle then you know that angle and from that you can get the length in the viewport when the top and bottom are lined you knew that You' formed your triangle underneath the turrets the shells and cord eyes were stored they had a system of pulley cuz the shells weighed 1,400 kg to take them to the separate elevators when they reach the top a big mechanical arm pushed them into the bridge if you want to know the details somebody has made an insane 3D animation of the tour I've linked it below unbelievable this was made with pen and paper you know what amazes me watching that that there was only one fatality in yam's tourist apparently a guy got cut in half by a rogue shell bogy I'm okay it wasn't okay yam fired these tipe 91 armor piercing shells for surface combat up to 50 cm armor penetration they had a breakaway wind cap and then a hydrodynamic head underneath so they could dip under waterer through the torpedo bulge and then through where the belt armor was thinner if you're wondering as I was what the deal is with torpedo bulges they're like an unarmored cushion usually filled with water to soften torpedo explosions because without Torpedoes cause crazy damage CU they don't penetrate they damage with hydrostatic pressure yamuto also fired these AA siki beehive rounds they had a timed fuse and were filled with Flett and rubber thermite which burnt at 3,000 de apparently not very effective but it did trick the Americans though because the US thought Japan throughout the war had radar controlled AA which it didn't so when they came under Fire they used to throw these little metal streamers called window out of the plane's window to disrupt the radar as you can see yam had quite the AA compliment if it flies it dies I think was the motto if you look on the port side here by the way do you know how I remember that Port is left because there's never any left when my girlfriend's been near it hey hey anyway had these 50 50 type 96 triple barrel 25 mm and then a vast assortment of type 89 40 Cals and type 93 shiky 13 mm these here are the AA Fire controllers that supposedly coordinate the AA but to be honest back then AA wasn't very effective the US were averaging 1,50 Cals per plane they took down also because of the main gun's blast pressure notice everybody running in this clip some of the AA couldn't be manned for reference a blast pressure of 1 kg a CM squ will tear your clothes off and knock you out sounds like a fun time but a three Barrel Salvo produced 20 times that you had to be 50 m from the guns Yamato was the heaviest armored ship ever built 22895 tons of armor it was designed to take on 5 to six us ships at once had a central armored Citadel containing the boiler fire rooms engines and ammo as well as the classic japanese unprotected bow and Stern the super structure had all the latest technology type 98 hyan low angle director Rangefinder air defense combat post combat Bridge Compass Bridge signal deck and conning Tower at the back you've got a signaling mask to signal to other ships and a catapult at the rear for launching spotting planes the main armor belt was 4 10 mm of vicus hardened the deck was impenetrable supposedly to 1,000 kg armor piercing bombs dropped under 3,400 M Yamato did have a couple of weaknesses though firstly this belt armor is extremely thick it's actually too thick to be welded so they had to rivet it which is significantly weaker and of course the first random torpedo she took those rivets sheared and she took on a ton of water and had to limp home the Japanese had a solution though this little now I'm not an engineer but compared to this that does not look sufficient that push it with his wonky nose the second problem is that the lower armor belt is the back of the torpedo BGE so there's only two walls there to stop water now that might have been okay but the Japanese didn't fill yam buers with water and the bulkheads behind were very rigid so often a torpedo blast would just bend the armor around them letting water in [Music] by April the 6th 1945 the war had been disastrous for Japan they'd been pushed back battle after battle after battle the fate of the Empire rested on one action a breakthrough operation of unrivaled Bravery the Americans had just invaded Okinawa a crucial Japanese stronghold Yamato was to go on a one-way Mission a exact maximum punishment on the Americans Beach itself and fight until destroyed that morning yam set off commanded by Admiral ariga she was traveling with eight destroyers she had no air cover all the remaining Japanese planes have been sent to attack the American Fleet at Okinawa one Gallant attempt a final Charge of the Light Brigade float planes were sent up to spot for us submarines but at 400 p.

m. she was noticed by threadfin and hackleback under the cover of night the Convoy man managed to lose them and at 6:00 a. m.

the next morning she reached AME Peninsula as the sun broke the Convoy moved into defensive formation yahagi leading eight destroyers in a 1500 met ring they knew they were exposing themselves to potentially 8 hours of daylight Air Attack by 10:00 a. m. the weather is terrible for the Japanese low broken 300t cumulus clouds perfect for Air Attack the Destroyer Asimo falls behind with engine trouble by now Yamato has been spotted multiple times the W is still unsure of her heading they don't want to lose her but she's 250 M away at the real limit of their bomber strike range 10:30 Admiral spru gives the shortest operational order in history to Commander mitcher you take them 11:00 a.

m. 2,000 Japanese planes begin operation kikus from kushu Airbase it's going to be the greatest kamakazi attack of the war they're too late though to help yam the US planes have already launched [Music] the planes the US had launched were Curtis hell divers vort Corsair the whistling death and hellcats as fighter support they also sent the turkey the Avenger torpedo bomber bit of a fat boy had to be catapulted off the ships also you wanted to be the pilot because apparently there wasn't space for the radio operator and Gunner to have a parachute George Bush Senior had one he actually had three he called them all Barbara after his wife after having to crash land one he nearly got eaten by Japanese cannibals but that's another story The Avengers dropped these onton Mark 13 mod 9 Torpedoes and like the Japanese the Americans had trouble keeping their Torpedoes running straight the submarine version of this the mar 14 used to sometimes run in a circle and blow up the submarine that fired it they had to put this plywood boxtail stabilizer and pickle barel drag wi KY that was a tongue twister on on the mark 13 to keep it stable in the air cuz it had to enter the water at 26 to 30° a lot of the Torpedoes were set at the wrong running depth for Yam cuz they didn't realize how big she was it should have been 18 to 22 ft which a radio operator could have set with a screw at the back but to save weight and fuel for the long flight distance most of the Avengers only had a pilot at the front the Torpedoes got a torpex tip equivalent to 400 kg of TNT for the first 300 yards water would run in turn turn this impeller so the Exploder is gradually armed and they had a ball switch in them so if there was a glancing blow like this the ball could displace in any direction closing the contacts and releasing electricity from the condenser and you've got a very big boom on your hands it's uncertain how many hits yam actually took but these are the confirmed ones that correlate between the US technical missions Declassified report and requium for Yamato 1220 a 250 kg bomb hit starboard frame 150 glances off the gun R control destroying three 12. 7 CM AA mounts punches a 22t hole in the weather deck exploding two decks below killing the entire Port damage control team another bomb penetrates the flying deck wiping out the main radar room a third staves in the AF 15.

5 CM Mount as if struck by a giant hammer destroying the Fire Control station and directors warning lights flash on the bridge that the main turret cordite store is getting hot being heated by fire through the bulad yam's anti-air mounts are proving relatively useless like swatting bugs with a sledgehammer the 50 caral rounds are barely traveling five to six times the speed of the planes many of the Gunners have less than 1 hour training 12:45 the first torpedo hits at Port frame 125 the second hits Port frame 150 flooding the outboard engine room and causing a list of 5 to 6° the bridge counter floods to 1° 1 p. m. a torpedo hit starboard frame 124 flooding and killing everyone in fire room 7 another hits the opposite side flooding fire rooms 8 and 12 as well as the outboard engine and poor hydraulic Machinery rooms Yamato is now listing 15 to 16° to Port the starboard engine and boiler are counter flooded likely killing several hundred crew in there the list is corrected to 5° but Yamato is slowed to 10 knots 130 two more Torpedoes hit Port Yamato raises the Z flag this is a final stand 150 now two damaged per evasive maneuvers three Torpedoes hit successively one to starboard two to Port she lists 22 to 23° to Port the ship's blisters are now too far far above the water to be counter flooded she pulls a sharp left turn to counteract the list the Allies begin targeting her Rudder and Stern 2: p.

m. Admiral araga gives the order to abandon ship gri officer hatori locks himself in the senior wardro to protect the emperor's portrait and prevent it from falling into American hands 218 Admiral araga ties himself to the compass binacle his messenger sukato puts a cracker in his mouth a traditional farewell to someone about to die on the decks below some of the sailors commit sepu surrender is dishonorable 2:20 p. m.