Last Voyage of the Yamato.

[Bob Hubbard]

So, I'm surfing for an anime clip and i found this movie clip, about the last voyage of the Yamato during WW2.

Note: Very bloody footage.

I'm rather clueless at the moment concerning the fate and path leading up to it of the Yamato.

And, does anyone know where to find this film? Subtitled preferable.

Thanks.

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Battle scene from the movie Otoko Tachi No Yamato. It tells the story of the crew of the World War 2 Japanese battleship Yamato. (Título em português: Os Homens do Yamato).


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Yamato ''The Last Battle'' (Otoko Tachi No Yamato) - Official Trailer

 

[grydth]

A terrific account of the last voyage is included in Captain Hara's book, Japanese Destroyer Captain.... Hara captained the escorting cruiser Yahagi, which also went down under a hail of bombs and torpedoes.

Hara's entire book is great reading, most especially for the savage fights in and after the Solomons. The book has been reprinted recently, but look for the old Ballantine paper back edition.

 

[Archangel M]

Go Navy!!

 

[Sukerkin]

Quite so, Angel. I know it is disrespectful to the courage of the pilots of the planes and I apologise to them for it but I ever feel like it is akin to a lion being dragged down by hyaena's or a knight felled by brigands whenever I see a battleship mauled by airpower .

I was as moved to tears by what I just watched above as I was at footage both real and 'fictional' that I have seen of Pearl Harbour.

 

[Archangel M]

Spoken like a true Brit.

 

[MA-Caver]

Quite so, Angel. I now it is disrespectful to the courage of the pilots of the planes and I apologize to them for it but I ever feel like it is akin to a lion being dragged down by hyena's or a knight felled by brigands whenever I see a battleship mauled by airpower .

I was as moved to tears by what I just watched above as I was at footage both real and 'fictional' that I have seen of Pearl Harbor.

I understand how you feel because some of the romance has gone out of it, no more ship to ship battles. But it was as the battleship's namesake had figured would happen. That the air power would soon dominate warfare and it has. Today a small squadron of fully armed naval planes can cause more destruction than the attack on Pearl, Midway, Guadalcanal and several more famous battles/attacks combined.
Battleships still have their place but not as they were before.

Yamato was indeed a powerful ship. I played the submarine simulator Silent Service and one of the scenarios was to attack and sink the battleship. I set it to 98% realism once (the highest it would go). Biggest problem was the approach, had to come far ahead of it, at least 10 miles and lie in wait along the bottom with everything off and HOPE that the escorting destroyers don't pick you up... if you get that far then aiming your torpedoes at it and again far ahead of the ship because you're still barely within range.
If your game is up then the Battleship steams off at flank speed and that baby could MOVE! It would (as seen in the first video) literally out turn and cause the torpedoes to miss... all 8 of them. Even if one or two of my fish hit it... it was like shooting a BB at a bank vault.
Airpower was the only way to sink this vessel. It had to be done.

 

[Sukerkin]

I remember that, Caver. I spent days and countless cigarettes playing Silent Service and Silent Service II on the Commodore (in the tape loading days ).

That's when my friends determined that I was born to be a destroyer captain as I would stealth about, put as many fish into the target as I could and then surface, charging in with the deck gun blazing :lol:.

Oh and in similar vein, I won the Battle of the River Plate outright in table top wargaming, sinking the Graf Spee with the loss of the Achilles and heavy damage to Ajax. The Achilles had a charmed life for quite some time under my hand - at one time she was firing into the stern of the Graf Spee from such a short distance that the Germans guns could not target her . The flip side is seeing your 6" rounds bouncing off the armour belt .

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Yamato's been a favorite ship of mine, due I suspect to my growing up watching Star Blazers (Space Battle Ship Yamato).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato

IJN Yamato (大&#21644, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, and flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet. She was lead ship of her class. She and her sister ship the IJN Musashi were the largest, heaviest, and most powerful battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load, and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 inch) main guns.

Constructed from 1937-1940 and formally commissioned in 1941, the Yamato became the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in May 1942, first sailing as part of the Combined Fleet in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The Yamato was subsequently involved in every major surface naval-battle (excluding the Guadalcanal Campaign) of the Pacific War . The Yamato was sunk in April 1945 during Operation Ten-Go.

 

[Sukerkin]

Even with that overly canted funnel, isn't she a thing of beauty? She's reckoned the most powerful battleship ever built but she was flawed in some ways and hamstrung by fuel restrictions and foolish orders from the upper echelons.

A great sadness that she never got to prove herself (yes, I know they were the 'bad guys' but my love of 'gun' ships runs deep ).

 

[Sukerkin]

With regard to the OP directly, is this of any use?:

http://twitchfilm.net/archives/007678.html

 

[Archangel M]

Check this baby out.

http://www.ussfreedom.org/freedom-facts

45 Knots!!

 

[Sukerkin]

Nifty . Mind you, if I was given free choice of 'modern' warships, I'd have to go for the Type 21 'Amazon' class. I've been enamoured of them since I was a boy.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

One could feel the same way for the US Arizona.
Another WW2 battleship whose tale was interesting was the Bismark as well as the Battle Cruiser HMS Hood. Their tragic connection caught my eye while watching a special on the hunt and sinking of Bismark.

 

[Sukerkin]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=k4sJ6Zcc5vI

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=rdZqQ5C7pN0

Only three chaps made it out of the Hood alive .

 

[Bob Hubbard]

With regard to the OP directly, is this of any use?:

http://twitchfilm.net/archives/007678.html

Darn. Region 3. Need to find a Region 1 version. or a Region Free one.

 

[Sukerkin]

Sorry. Closest I've found so far is Region 2:

http://www.yesasia.com/us/otokotach...n-japan-version/1004191989-0-0-0-en/info.html

Or BitTorrent:

http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/1784047/Otoko-tachi-no-Yamato-By-Mega-Seeders-Jp

 

[grydth]

The very success of the Japanese in 1941 in sinking the British Repulse and Prince of Wales with air power alone would have ensured they knew Yamato had no chance. It was a suicide mission.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

The very success of the Japanese in 1941 in sinking the British Repulse and Prince of Wales with air power alone would have ensured they knew Yamato had no chance. It was a suicide mission.

I believe they did. If I recall right, the intent was to beach it and use it to defend against a US invasion. If they had succeeded, it would have meant high casulties for the US.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Sorry. Closest I've found so far is Region 2:

http://www.yesasia.com/us/otokotach...n-japan-version/1004191989-0-0-0-en/info.html

Or BitTorrent:

http://www.torrentreactor.net/torrents/1784047/Otoko-tachi-no-Yamato-By-Mega-Seeders-Jp

Thanks.
I tend to avoid bittorent though. might be time to pick up an external dvd drive and hack the region dohicky.

 

[grydth]

I believe they did. If I recall right, the intent was to beach it and use it to defend against a US invasion. If they had succeeded, it would have meant high casulties for the US.

No, it would only have been a beached whale on Okinawa, vulnerable to destruction by both carrier aircraft and massed B-29s.

The Yamato could indeed have gone out in 'glory', taking thousands of Americans with her - a year earlier at Leyte Gulf. Instead of turning away, had the Yamato force finished blowing through the valiant Taffy group and steamed into the invasion anchorage with guns blazing...... who could measure the damage and destruction, and the havoc to the reconquest of the islands?

But the Japanese turned away..... as they had years before when Mikawa turned away in the Solomons after destroying the 4 protecting heavy cruisers..... by the time the Japanese decided on an unconditional one way trip for Yamato it was too late for it to be of any use. The ship and its crew then died for virtually nothing.... I leave others to mourn the ship, perhaps it would be better to reserve any feelings for the hundreds of families whose men should have survived - or died when it would have done some good.