Ships on the forestry. The death of the Imperial Fleet of Japan Losses of the Japanese Fleet in World War II

115 years ago, the Russian-Japanese war began 1904-1905. The war remaining in the shadow of the subsequent crucibles in the history of Russia of events - several revolutions, the First World War and the Civil War. Castaclisms of the twentieth century led to the fact that the memory of the participants in the war in the Far East began to be actively recovering only today.

1126 fallen

In total, 52.5 thousand Russian soldiers and officers died and died. Among them are more than a thousand hundred officers of the army and a separate corps of the border guard. Throughout the whole century, the names of many of them remained forgotten. And only in 2018, finally, managed to perpetuate the memory of almost all officers who fell in the Russian-Japanese war in the biographical reference book, and, in fact, in a full-fledged memory book 1. Historians, local historians, genealogy, the descendants of the participants of those events received a unique reference publication, changing the ideas about the events of that conflict.

This happened due to the painstaking work of specialists of the Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA) - the main repository of documents on the history of the Russian Imperial Army. The leading role in the project belongs to the researcher of the history of the Russian-Japanese war and the heroic defense of Port Arthur, the author "Motherland" Dmitry Nikolaev. The work demanded great efforts and stretched for several years, and even descendants of officers took part in the preparation of the book.

This is not just a new, socially significant reference edition. This is the real bike of fate of the whole generation that took place of the formed people of the beginning of the last century. In total, the reference book shows the biographies of 1126 officers.

Archive search

Identification of officers reminded a detective investigation. After the war in 1907-1909. The lists of the dead were published on the pages of the magazine "Military Collection", but they contained many inaccuracies, until the fact that some of those mentioned were alive, and others were distorted. Another difficulty presented the identification of personal data of some officers. As a rule, in the documents of that time, only the rank of officer and the name was indicated that, if there were named after the names, led to errors. The draft directories managed to correct inaccuracies, prepared full biographical references for each, and, moreover, they found 47 previously unknown officers. It is also important that more than five hundred biographies of the fallen officers are equipped with portraits, which allows you to submit images of the dead participants in the war. Part of the portraits were not previously known to even specialists, these images managed to detect in the Foundations of RGVIA and in the family archives of descendants. Unfortunately, the directory did not include information about the fleet officers (such as 284 people died in the Russian-Japanese war 2).

An indicator of the demand for the book was the fact that after its release, the compilers began to receive responses of descendants and various additions, including more than three dozen new portraits. Collection and systematization of information continue.

Death chose young

The officers on that unsuccessful war for us showed a real sacrifice. After entering the directories, accurate figures appeared, brighter only testifying to it. In total, no more than 10,000 officers took part in the war, consequently, 11.2% of them were killed. The general losses of the land forces amounted to 5.9% of those participating in the fighting 3.

A thorough analysis that the authors of the reference book made it possible to make a collective portrait of the dead officers. To a large extent, these were people of noble origin or children of Ober officers who did not have the rights of the offacarious nobility. About half were bachelors. The overwhelming majority served in the infantry (85.8%), a smaller part of the dead - artilleryrs and representatives of the Cossack and irregular parts.

There was an opportunity to assess how losses were distributed. 725 officers died in battles, died from the Russian Academy of Sciences 286, 115 were missing. Most often, death found the youngest - Ober officers. They usually turned out to be on the front line. Average age killed 33.4 years. The youngest - 19, the most elderly - 57-58 years. In the lists of the dead, there are seven generals, but only six of them died from the hands of the Japanese. One of the generals, inspector Hospitals of the 3rd Manchurian Army V.M. Timofeyev, cruelly killed his own soldiers (wounded by two bullets and a bayonet), when, during the retreat from Mukden, he tried to stop the looting of army warehouses 4. The world's largest battle of war was Mukden, which took the lives of almost a third of officers. Almost as much died in battles on the Shahoe River.

"My hand struck him a fatal blow ..."

For each digit - human destiny, adopted or lost decision, and often a feat, self-sacrifice.

Sotnik 2 of the Chita Regiment of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Troops Alexander Aleksandrovich Zinoviev, 24 years old, the son of the St. Petersburg Governor, graduate of the Prazki Corps, officer of the Guards Cavalry, a volunteer went to the war in the ordinary Cossack regiment. Killed on May 10, 1904 in a skirmish with the Japanese. As I remembered the eyewitness, "Sotnik Zinoviev set forth in order to emerge the main forces of the Japanese under Fynhuanne, and there are two of his reports showing that, indeed, he managed to look at the guard's guard. The train was twice fired; then the officer went on foot With two Cossacks, ordered the rest of the enemy to diverge and gather outside the sphere of [Fire]; he himself still broke through the shelf line, but then he was surrounded from all sides ... the Japanese staged a cloud on him ... Zinoviev was discovered, shot from Revolver and was killed ... The roadside survived due to the caringness of his boss; risking himself, he did not want to lose less brotherhood in vain ... Glory and eternal memory of the real hero! As I see his noble face in front of him ... for this person was not Compromises; the authorities ordered, and he could only or execute, or die "5.

About Zinoviev recalled his classmate B.A. Engelgardt: "Young Connogwarder with a serious pale face. He will also go to the war in Manchuria Volunteer and put on the Trans-Baikal Chekmen 6.

Will go to intelligence and ... will not return.

It was a peculiar and touching story.

The Cossacks who were with him were told that the Sotnik rose alone on the hill, the shots rang there, they do not know what happened to him ...

His parents were trying by all their forces to collect information about his fate, turned into various embassies, to the Orthodox clergy in Japan, in the international red cross ...

Suddenly the parcel came: the drawers from the black tree of Japanese work, and in it a scroll-letter from the Japanese soldier of MINOMIDANY Sataro: "Your son died by the death of the hero - there was a lot of us, he was alone and did not want to give up.

My hand inflicted a death blow to him, but I had the honor to be a wounded Hero's hand ... "

At the same time, a letter came from Sataro's parents. They also wrote about the valiant death of the Russian warrior, expressing confidence that his soul, the soul of the hero, found the honored peace and happiness in the sky. They sent a luxurious, flayled gold cover, which the Japanese on custom put on the altar, praying for the souls of those killed in war.

Finally, after a while, I came a photo of the grave, an obsession, in the mountains of Manchuria and the message that the grave is under the auspices of the emperor and the desecration of it is punishable by the death penalty "7. The body of the hero was transported to Russia and buried in the village of Koporne St. Petersburg province in the village .

The Russian breakdown of the last century did not spare this family. The younger brother of the hero, George, died in battle near Kouchen at the very beginning of the First World War. Father and four other brothers emigrated from Russia after Civil War. Another brothers committed suicide.

With a revolver in one hand and with a stone - in another

The circumstances of the death of the headquarters of the 34th East-Siberian Rifle Regiment of Alexander Alekseevich Samoilova, the father of two children killed on August 18, 1904 under Liaoyan. Rota Samoilova did not receive an order for a retreat, the battalion, in which she entered, went away. The arrows were surrounded. Samoilov "Being early in the morning in the foot and in the jaw, did not leave his post, did not leave his company, the remnants of which, among 20 people, remained in their trenches, not knowing that they were surrounded by the enemy. Seeing herself sliced, pcs [ABS ] -Kap [ITAN] Samoilov ordered his arrows to go behind him - to hit the enemy to the bayonets, and 20 Russian shooters, having a twice of the wounded officer twice, went to the bayonets on the hundredth masses of the enemy. PC [ABS] -Kap [ITAN] Samoilov The first jumped out of the trench and rushed forward with the revolver in one hand and [s] a stone - in the other, the arrows rushed after him, immediately pcs [ABS] -Kap [ITAN] samoilov fell, then grabbed, rose, snatched his checker and fell again and The dead rolled into the trench. The Japanese, who did not expect the presence of our shooters in the trenches, lay for the spray round of the 12th company and shot on the remains of the 3rd battalion of the 34th in [Occno] -C [Ibirsk] shelf, so when the handful of our soldiers came out against them, first the extreme backed, but the wave approached The infantry absorbed the bunch of our bravets "8.

The heroes of the forgotten war, thanks to this amazing and very necessary book, acquire their place in our memory.

1. Officers of the Russian Army who died in the war with Japan 1904-1905. Biographical reference. Cost. D.K. Nikolaev, O.V. Chistyakov, M.V. Abashina, N.G. Zakharova, S.A. Haritons. M.: Old Basmannaya, 2018. 772 S.: Table., Il.
2. Nazarenko K.B. Sunset of the royal fleet. Sea officers of the First World War. M., 2018. P. 266.
3. Officers of the Russian Army. P. 17.
4. ibid. P. 21.
5. Ibid. P. 231.
6. Chekmen - Mundir Cossack officer.
7. Engelgardt B.A. Memories of the camera / parub. V.A. Avdeev // Military Historical Journal. 1993. N 12. P. 57.
8. Officers of the Russian Army. P. 554.

Before the beginning of World War II, knowing that they could not compete with the Navy of the US Navy, the Imperial Fleet of Japan secretly began to build the two largest warships in the history of War "Musasi" and "Yamato".

The origin of these two giants can be traced before the release of Japan from the League of Nations in 1934. Among other things, this allowed Japan to ignore the rules established by the Washington Maritime Agreement of 1922 and the London Maritime Treaty of 1930, both of which were aimed at limiting the size of the battleships, as well as the rights of the participating countries for their construction.

Almost immediately after Japan's release from the League of Nations, the team who worked at the Japanese Naval Technical Department under the guidance of the Keiji Fuwo engineer, presented projects for the class of battleships that were superior to the size and firepower all that ever was created.

And although it was originally planned to build five packages, as a result, only two of them were completed, and the third was transformed into an aircraft carrier in the middle of construction.

Two completed ships, "Musasi" and "Yamato", weighed about 73 thousand long tons with full equipment. For comparison: American linear vehicles type "Iowa", created about the same time, had the same length, but weighed 40% less.

As one Japanese officer Naoshi Isis wrote: "What is it huge! When you come inside, you see the arrows pointing where the front of the ship, and where is the rear in otherwise You do not figure it out. For a couple of days I did not have time to remember the way to your cabins. And I was not one such, I understood that it was a very powerful battleship. The guns were huge. "

Linear ships "Musashi" and "Yamato" also possessed the nine largest instruments in the world with 460 mm stems, each of which weighed 3000 tons. All nine guns, combined, weighed about as much as American linkers of the Wyoming type, New York and Nevada.

These guns were able to shoot with projectiles who weighed 1450 kilograms in other words, as much as weighs a typical full-size sedan. They were able to hit the target at a distance of more than 40 kilometers, while they shot at approximately once every 40 seconds.

The shock wave created by one of these guns, as noted, was quite powerful to disrupt the skin from the body of a person who was not lucky to be 15 meters from it without proper protection. This shock wave could also damage nearby anti-aircraft guns, which, in view of this, needed special armor.

If we talk about anti-aircraft guns, then ultimately these ships were equipped with approximately 150 25-millimeter cannons. In addition to them, battlers also had six 155-millimeters and 24,127-millimeter guns.

In addition, in case there was no need to hit ships, which were at a distance, with 460-millimeter cannons, these battleships could use the so-called "Five shells". In a nutshell, these shells were filled with almost thousands of incendiary tubes and hundreds of steel fragments. The projectile also turned on the wick and explosive. After the explosion, incendiary tubes ignited, creating a wall of flame and molten steel for the complete destruction of enemy aircraft. In fact, the idea was to turn these guns into ridiculous huge guns capable of shooting any enemy "bird" in the air.

As for the armor, each ship had an external protective layer with a thickness of about 40 centimeters.

While you might think that all this, taken together, slowed down the ships, it turns out, they could develop the maximum speed of up to 31 kilometers per hour. And although it was not the fastest battleship in the world, for example, it was possible to compare with the aforementioned Iowa military vessels, which weighed 40% less, but could move only six knots faster.

Despite the impressive power and full confidence Japanese military commanders are that each ship was "incomparable and unspecified", none of them were tested in battle. In fact, "Yamato" spent so much time defending Japanese ports that he was called the "Hotel Yamato".

The unwillingness of the Japanese navy to take into service any of the ships was motivated as a lack of fuel in Japan during the war and the fact that military leadership believed that the loss of these battleship would bring a huge blow to the moral spirit of the country's army.

Of course, in recent months of World War II, when its forces were almost completely destroyed, Japan reluctantly began to connect both lincard to naval battles. Unfortunately, at that time, the enemy battleships many times exceeded these super ships in the number in battles, so they mainly functioned as seating ducks.

In particular, they were especially vulnerable to air attacks. Even the aforementioned "Five shells", which, according to the Japanese, had to exterminate aviation at times, turned out to be no more than a visual deterrent.

Moreover, at that time, Japan had very few combat aircraft, which could not provide good air cover and protect massive battleships.

Ultimately, Musasi was lost during the Battle of Leyte Bay in October 1944. It took 19 torpedoes and 17 bomb shocks to sink it.

As for the "Yamato", his last fight took place in April 1945. It was the Operation of Ten-Go, which turned out to be a deliberate suicidal mission. Yamato was the last hope to reflect the American offensive. His crew was ordered to plant a ship stranded near Okinawa and use it as a major battery for destroying as much as possible of invasion. In fact, the ship was supposed to function as a base on the island, and the crew members of about 3,000 people had to maintain ground fight with the enemy.

However, the mission plan initially contained many shortcomings and was met by a protest from the military of the Japanese fleet, which they noted that they would not even be able to achieve the target Island due to the lack of support from the air and the time of day, when they had to fulfill the task (in broad daylight).

They were right: on April 7, 1945 "Yamato" and a handful of accompanying ships were completely and quickly destroyed as a result of the attack of six cruisers, 21 destroyers, seven battleships and several hundred aircraft.

One of the most surviving members of the crew "Yamato", Junior Officer Josid Mitsur, so spoke about the battle, which was a suicide mission from the very beginning: "How many times during the exercises we conducted such a monitoring of me covered the illusion that we have already encountered the same Conditions, with the same combat positions and even with the same configuration.

What happens in my eyes is undoubtedly a real fight but how can I convince myself in this fact

Bright points on the screen of the radar is not an imaginary enemy, but the enemy, ready to kill. Location: Not our training waters, and hostile waters.

More than a hundred enemy aircraft attack us! It screams a navigation officer

Battle begins

My body covers the thrill, I observe my own excitation; Griing your teeth, I wake up in a smile. The sailor who stood next to me was killed by Shrapnel. In the midst of deafening noise, I distinguish the sound of his skull hitting the partition; In the midst of the smell of gunpowder around I feel the smell of blood

Torpedoes leave beautiful white traces on the surface of the water; They fly to Yamato from different directions and silently intersect. Evaluating the distance and angle, we change the course, and we can hardly dare from them.

First we cope with the nearest and most urgent threat; When we avoid collisions with one torpedo, we go to the next. This requires vigilance, correct calculations and accepting a clear decision that these pilots repeated their attacks with accuracy and composure, was a clear manifestation of the incomprehensible, unimaginable strength of our enemies. "

In the end, the American troops took only two hours to destroy the most powerful ship built during World War II, as well as most of the tiny fleet accompanying it. When the smoke was dissipated, it turned out that the Japanese lost about 4,000 people, while the number of those killed by America was only about a dozen.

Bonus fact:

At the beginning of World War II, the imperial fleet of Japan planned to build battles that would be even more than the "Yamato" and Musasi, and belonged to the class of ships called "Super Yamatos". These ships, if they were built, would have 510-millimeter cannons, we would have weighed to 82 thousand tons and moved with the speed approaching 30 nodes. However, the lack of resources prevented Japan to build these ships.

"I will die on the deck of" Nagato ", and by this time Tokyo will be bombed 3 times"
- Admiral Isoroka Yamamoto

Japan's defeat in World War II is so natural that there can be no options and discrepancies. Total superiority of the United States in natural, human and industrial resources, multiplied by the mighty economy and high level The development of science - in such conditions, the victory of America in the war was only a matter of time.

If, with general reasons, the defeat of the Japanese Empire is extremely obvious, then genuine interest is the purely technical side of the nautical battle in the Pacific: The Imperial Fleet of Japan, once one of the most powerful fleets in the world, died under the blows of numerically superior enemy forces. He died in terrible agony, suffering and flour. Armor crushed, and curtains fluttered, the sheathing was burst, and the flows of fucked water came across the roaring of the shroud on the decks of the doomed ship. The Japanese fleet went to immortality.

However, in front of its tragic death, the Japanese sailors marked the bright victories. "Second Pearl Harbor" from the Islands of Savo, the pogrom in the Yavansky Sea, the bold raid of aircraft carriers in the Indian Ocean ...

As for the famous attack on the VBM Pearl Harbor, the role of this operation is largely exaggerated by American propaganda: the US leadership needed to rally the nation in the face of the enemy. Unlike Soviet UnionWhere every child understood that a terrible war goes on the territory of his own country, the United States had to lead a maritime war on other segregs. Here, a fairytale about the "terrible attack" on the American military base was useful.

Memorial on the hull of the victim "Arizona" (the battleship was laid on the water in 1915)

In reality, Pearl Harbor has become a clean failure of the Japanese deck aircraft - the whole "success" was to surfacitate the four strand battleships of the seasons of the first world (two of which were raised and restored by 1944). The fifth damaged battlefield - "Nevada" was removed from the Mel and returned to service for the summer of 1942. In total, 18 ships of the US Navy were saved as a result of the Japanese plaque, while the significant part of the "victims" was separated only by cosmetic defects.

At the same time, no bomb fell on:

Power station, ship repair enterprises, port cranes and mechanical workshops. This allowed the Yankees to start recovery work hour after the end of the plaque.

Giant dry dock 10/10 for the repair of battleships and aircraft carriers. An unforgivable error of the Japanese deck aviation will become fatal in all subsequent battles in the Pacific: With the help of its superdock, Americans will restore damaged ships in the days.

4 500 000 barrels of oil! The capacity of the tanks of the US Navy Power Planner in Pearl Harbor at that time exceeded all fuel reserves of the Imperial Fleet of Japan.

Fuel, hospitals, pier, ammunition repositories - Japanese pilots "presented" the US Navy all the infrastructure of the base!

There is a legend of the absence of two aircraft carriers of the US Navy on the day of the attacks of two aircraft carriers of the US Navy: Say, if the Japanese were sinking "Lexington" and "Enterprise", the outcome of war could be different. This is an absolute misconception: during the war years, the US industry has passed the fleet 31 aircraft carriers (many of which did not even have to participate in battles). Destroy the Japanese all aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers in the pearl harbor, together with Pearl Harbor and Hawaiian Islands - the outcome of the war would be the same.

It should be parted separately on the figure of the "Architect of Pearl Harbor" - Japanese Admiral Isoroka Yamamoto. There is no dispute, it was an honest military and competent strategist, who has repeatedly warned the leadership of Japan on the futility and the destructive consequences of the coming war with the United States. Admiral argued that even with the most favorable development of events, the Imperial Fleet of Japan will last no more than a year - will follow the inevitable defeat and death of the Japanese empire. Admiral Yamamoto remained faithful to his duty - if Japan is destined to die in unequal battle, he will do everything that the memory of this war and the exploits of Japanese sailors entered forever in.

Japanese aircraft carriers on the way to Hawaii. In the foreground - "Zhinka". Ahead - "Kaga"

Some sources are called Yamamoto by one of the most prominent fleets - the image of the Eastern Wise Mudra, whose decisions and actions are filled with genius and "incomprehensible eternal truth" around the admiral figure. Alas, real events showed the opposite - Admiral Yamamoto turned out to be absolutely founder in the tactical issues of the fleet control.

The only admiral planned operational operation is an attack on Pearl Harbor - demonstrated a complete lack of logic when choosing the goals and disgusting coordination of Japanese Aviation actions. Yamamoto planned a "stunning blow." But why were intact fuel and a base infrastructure? - The most important objects whose destruction could really make it difficult for the US Navy.

"They do not keep a blow"

As the Admiral Yamamoto predicted, the Japanese military car was uncontrollably moving forward for six months, bright outbreaks of victories one after another lit a Pacific TVD. Problems began later - the continuous strengthening of the US Navy slowed down the pace of Japanese offensive. In the summer of 1942, the situation was barely out of control, the tactics of the admiral Yamamoto with the crushing of the forces and the allocation of the "shock" and "anti-workers" groups of deck aviation led to a catastrophe at Midouei.

But the real nightmare began in 1943 - the Japanese fleet suffered a defeat one after the other, the shortage of ships, airplanes and fuel affects everything sharper. I made it necessary to know the scientific and technical backwardness of Japan - while trying to break through the US Navy, Japanese planes sat down from heaven, as if cherry petals. At the same time, the Americans confidently flew over the most masts of Japanese ships. Lack of radars and hydroacoustic stations - more and more often, Japanese ships became victims of American submarines.

A Japanese defensive perimeter cracked on the seams - the colossal reserves allowed the Americans to land the landings simultaneously in different regions of the Pacific Ocean. In the meantime ... All new and new ships appeared on the expanses of the Pacific TVD, the United States daily handed over the fleet on a pair of new combat units (destroyers, cruisers, submarines or aircraft carriers).

The ugly truth was opened about the Imperial Fleet of Japan: the Admiral Emamimo rate on the aircraft carrier flew crashed! In the conditions of the total superiority of the enemy, the Japanese aircraft carriers died, barely reaching the combat zone.

Japanese deck aviation sought notable success in raid operations - raid on Ceylon or Pearl Harbor (if not taken into account the imposed opportunities). The factor of surprises and the large combat radius of aviation allowed to avoid a response fire and return to the database after successfully completing the task.

The Japanese had equal chances of winning as squadrons with the US Navy (battle in Coral Sea, Midway, Santa Cruz). Here, everything solved the quality of the training of pilots, crews of ships and, most importantly, his majesty is the case.

But in the conditions of the numerical superiority of the enemy (that is, when the probability of falling under the retaliatory fire was equal to 100%), the Japanese fleet did not even have a ghostly hope for how a favorable outcome of the situation. The principle of "to win is not a number, and the ability" was useless - any fire contact ended with the ambulance and imminent death of the aircraft carrier.

It turned out that once the formidable aircraft carriers perfectly "do not keep the blow" and weave, like puppies, even with a weak effect of the enemy fire. Sometimes, for the acceleration of the aircraft carrier there were enough seizures of ordinary air bombs. It was a deadly sentence to the imperial fleet - aircraft carriers and deck aviation turned out to be extremely ineffective in the defensive war.

On the disgusting survivability of aircraft carriers, the battle of the Midway atoll was best of all: the broken group of 30 donantless bombers under the command of Captain McClocks literally burned down two Japanese shock aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga (burnt covers ). A similar fate has suffered on the same day, the aircraft carriers "Soriy" and "Hiry".

American shock aircraft carrier "Bello Wood" after attack Kamikaze

Everything comes with comparison: in October 1944, the Japanese squadron of 12 batches and cruisers went a few hours under continuous attacks of more than 500 American deck aircraft. Without any aircraft and with primitive air defense systems. The result was only the death of the cruiser "Supersua" and severe damage to the pair of other ships. The rest of the squadron of Admiral Tayo Chicitis safely left the area of \u200b\u200bthe American aviation zone and returned to Japan.

It is even terrible to imagine what would happen, be on the site of the Linkorov "Yamato" and "Nagato" large aircraft carriers - a hail of small-caliber bombs would cause uncontrolled fires on flight and angry decks, and then the ambulance of ships from the internal explosions.

The reason for the poor state of the "Nagato" add-on is a nuclear explosion of 23 CT.
Old Japanese battleship was stronger than nuclear fire!

The squadron of Admiral Chuts happily avoided death. And at this time, a real slaughter was happening on the expanses of the Pacific Ocean:

On June 19, 1944, a heavy aircraft carrier "Thai" was sweeping. The only torpedo hit with the "Albacor" submarine did not cause significant damage, but caused the depressurization of the fuel line. A small inconspicuous problem turned into a catastrophe - 6.5 hours after the torpedo attack "Thai" was broken into the shreds by the explosion of gasoline vapor (1650 dead sailors).
The focus was that the new aircraft carrier "Thai" was destroyed in his first combat campaign, just three months after descent.

After a day, on June 20, 1944, under similar circumstances, the drum aircraft carrier Hiyo was killed. With the only difference that the fateful torpedo dropped a deck plane.

Fantastic mining of the Sinano superavasian after 17 hours after its first exit to the sea - just the usual curiosity in the history of marine battles. The ship was not completed, the bulkheads are not sealed, and the crew is not trained. However, in every joke there is some jokes - eyewitnesses have reported that one of the torpedo hits had accounted for precisely to the area of \u200b\u200bthe tank of the aviation fuel. Perhaps the crew of the aircraft carrier was tightly lucky - at the time of the Sinano Sneakers walked.

It seems that the aircraft carrier "secca" problems with flight deck

However, aircraft carriers were out of order and at least reasons. During the battle in Coral Sea, three aircraft carriers "Syukaku" have long brought three aircraft carriers for a long time.

A song about the rapid death of Japanese aircraft carriers would not be complete without mentioning their opponents. The Americans collided with the same problem - the slightest impact of the enemy fire caused terrible fires on board aircraft carriers.

In October 1944, a light aircraft carrier "Princeton" completely burned out of two 250 kg.

In March 1945, the Franklin aircraft carrier was seriously damaged - only two 250 kg of air bombs got into the ship, which became the cause of one of the largest victims of the US Navy. The bombs fell in the center of the flight deck - the fire instantly embraced 50 fully charged and ready to leave the aircraft. Result: 807 dead, fully destroyed aircraft, uncontrolled fires on all ship decks, loss of travel, 13-degree rolls on the left side and willingness to flood the aircraft carrier.
"Franklin" was saved only thanks to the lack of nearby the main forces of the enemy - in real battle the ship would certainly flooded.

The aircraft carrier "Franklin" has not yet decided - to remain afloat or sink
The survivors pack suitcases and prepare for evacuation

Kamikadze got an aircraft carrier "Interpid"

Fire on the aircraft carrier "Saint-Lo" as a result of attack Kamikadze (the ship will perish)

But real madness began with the advent of Japanese kamikaze. Falling from the sky "Live bombs" could not damage the underwater part of the body, but the consequences of their fall on the flights of the flights of the flight deck were simply terrible.

The textbook was the case at the drum aircraft carrier "Banker Hill": May 11, 1945, the ship was attacked by two Kamikadze near the shores of Okinawa. In a terrible fire, "Banker Hill" lost all its advocate and more than 400 crews.

Of all these stories, it is necessary to obviously:

The Imperial Fleet of Japan was doomed - the construction of a heavy cruiser or linkor instead of the aircraft carrier "Thai" would not have any meaning. The enemy had a 10-fold numerical advantage, coupled with overwhelming technical superiority. The war was lost at that time when Japanese aircraft struck on Pearl Harbor.

Nevertheless, it can be assumed that having high-breeded artillery ships instead of aircraft carriers, the imperial fleet, in the situation in which he found himself by the end of the war could extend his agony and cause additional damage to the enemy. The American fleet with ease robbed Japanese aircraft carriers, but whenever it is a meeting with a heavy Japanese cruiser or a linker, the US Navy accounted for pretty "tinker."

The rate of Admiral Yamamoto on aircraft carriers was destructive. But why did the Japanese continue to build aircraft carriers to the very end of the war (even rebuilt the last battleship type "Yamato" in the aircraft carrier "Sinano")? The answer is simple: the dying industry of Japan could not build any harder than the aircraft carrier. It sounds incredible, but 70 years ago, the aircraft carrier was pretty simple and cheap, much easier than the cruiser or battle. No electromagnetic supercapult or nuclear reactors. The simplest steel box for servicing the same small and simple aircraft.

True, the aircraft carrier will pick up even from the bombs of a small caliber, but the aircraft carrier crew hopes that they will have to fight only against an obviously weak and unprepared enemy. Otherwise - manor "Overkil".

Epilogue

Low vitality is laid in the very idea of \u200b\u200bthe aircraft carrier. Aviations need a space - instead, it is driven into close decks of the swinging ship and force the take-off operations at the time of WFP three times shorter than. The dense layout and the crowded aircraft inevitably serves as a source of increased aircraft carrier accident, and the overall lack of security and permanent work with light-sensible substances lead to a natural margin of a serious sea battle.

8-hour fire on board Oricani aircraft carrier (1966). The explosion of the magnesium alarm rocket (!) Led to a voluminous fire in the hangar, with the death of the entire aircraft in him and 44 sailors from the crew of the ship.

A terrible fire at the Forrestol aircraft carrier (1967), which became the largest tragedy in the number of victims in the post-war history of the US Navy (134 killed sailors).

Repetition of similar events on board the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" (1969).

Measures were agreed to increase the survivability of aircraft carriers, the automatic root irrigation systems appeared, etc. Special equipment. It would seem that all troubles behind.

But ... 1981, an unsuccessful landing of the EA-6B Reb Plane "Prauler". On the flight deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier "Nimitz" thunder explosions, flame languages \u200b\u200brise above the superstructure of the ship. 14 victims, 48 \u200b\u200bwounded. In the fire, in addition to the "Puler" and its crew, the three interceptor F-14 "Tomcat" burned down. Ten attack aircraft "Corsair II" and "Intruder", two F-14, three anti-sidelines "Viking" and a helicopter "SI KING" are seriously damaged. "Nimitz" at one point lost a third of his aircraft.

A similar case on the Midway aircraft carrier

An inexperienced problem with safety and vitality will chase aircraft carriers as long as there is a circus called "Deck Aviation".

October 23-26, 1944 in the Gulf of Leuting Fleet Japan suffered a crushing defeat from the American squadr, and the countdown began to the final defeat of the Empire. In the photo - battle "Yamato" Under the bomb strike of aviation USA, October 24, 1944

After the fight in the bay, the Japanese fleet conducted only tactical operations. During one of them, the Yamato battlefield hit 227 US Fleet aircraft, received 3 airbabes and up to 20 torpedo hips and exploded. The fire post shot at 2 kilometers up, and a smoke mushroom 6 kilometers high with a little yielded atomic. In the photo - the explosion of Lincard "Yamato", April 7, 1945

The last hike "Yamato" marked the end of organized actions of Japan on the sea. After that, the Japanese ships finished where they fell into the sight. In the photo - the linear cruiser "Haruna", sunken in Harbor Kura, October 1945

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

The light cruiser "Odo" lying on the side in the water area of \u200b\u200bthe Navy base in Kura. The photo is made from the aircraft of the American aircraft carrier "WOSP". "OEDO" sank on July 28, 1945 after eight bombs

And yet the war that no longer had a strategic meaning continued. Western historians put the desperate determination of the Japanese to fight the last person to the last aircraft and the ship. In the photo - Linear Cruiser "Haruna" in a combat campaign

While the emperor did not cancel the order to fight - Japan fought. When he ordered to fold the weapon - the nation obeyed, despite the record number of cases of suicide among the military. In the photo - IEE battleship in a combat campaign

Source: KURE MARITIME MUSEUM

Heavy cruiser "tone" sank nearby from Hiroshima July 23, 1945

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Esmynets "Akisimo", who died in the harbor of Manila under the blows of US aviation on November 13, 1944

Escort aircraft carrier "Kayo" in the Bay of Beppu. Destroyed by bombers in the 25th Mitchell with aircraft carrier "Ticanderoga" July 24, 1945

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Aircraft carrier "Amagi". Attacked with raised on Kura on July 28, 1945, sank on July 29

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Aircraft carrier "Amagi" in the forests before disassembling the metal. June 1, 1946

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

Linkor "Nagato" on the Ride of Yokosuchi. It was captured by the Americans as a trophy and sent to the Bikini Atoll to participate in the tests of nuclear weapons - an underwater explosion within the Crossroads Operation ("Crossroads"). Photo 1946

Source: U.S. Naval Historical Center.

An explosion of a 40-kiloton atomic bomb at a depth of 27 meters at the Bikini Atoll. At the foot of the Water "Mushroom" are visible silhouettes of ships. Even "Yamato" did not die so spectacularly