Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Widewing on June 11, 2002, 04:26:59 PM
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(http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g410000/g414423.jpg)
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Battle of Midway (http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/midway.html)
"On June 6, 1942, USS Yorktown (CV 5) was attacked by Japanese "Vals" and "Zeros". Intense antiaircraft fire greeted these planes as they approached Yorktown but three "Val" divebombers scored hits, each sending a bomb into the carrier. One bomb blew a 10-sq. ft. hole in the flight deck and started fires. The second pierced the flight deck and exploded in the lower part of the funnel. The third ripped through the number one elevator and exploded on the fourth deck. Within an hour, the crew had the fires sufficiently contained and were refueling aircraft.
The fueling had just begun with the ship's radar picked up more attackers. In minutes, Japanese torpedo planes were attacking. Although the ship was maneuvering radically, two torpedoes tore into her port side and she went dead in the water, listing to port. Without power, the list worsened and all hands were order to abandon ship.
When the ship stubbornly remained afloat, a salvage party was organized to save Yorktown. Power was supplied by USS Hammann (DD 412).
Just as it looked like the Yorktown could be saved, a Japanese submarine fired four torpedoes at the carrier and her assisting destroyer. One torpedo hit Hammann directly amidship and broke her back. She jackknifed and went down rapidly. Two torpedoes hit the carrier, and moments after Hammann's stern slid beneath the waves, her depth charges exploded, killing men in the water and further damaging Yorktown. Although the carrier stayed afloat throughout the night of June 6, men on the ships nearby noted her port list increasing rapidly. At 0701, the valiant flattop rolled over on her port side and sank in 3,000 fathoms of water, her battle flags flying."
Wow.
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Who's the ack dweeb shooting below 3,000 ft?
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This goes way beyond "Wow!".
However wrong war may be, however sad all the needless loss of lives, war always shows men at their worst and their best. Worst because they are willfully killing other human beings due to political decisions made my men that never face the war they cause. Best because they valiantly risk and lose their lives under the worst of conditions to protect each other and their families back home.
Imagine you were one of the Japanese pilots that had to fly through that all that flak watching his fellow pilots and friends get obliterated by it. Or one of the American sailors struggling to keep the Yorktown afloat in the midst of repeated attacks while many of his best friends are either dead or screaming in the ongoing fires.
The Battle of Midway was IMHO certainly as heroic as the Battle of Stalingrad. Both of which were pivotal in the outcome of WW2 and in all the history that has followed.
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I smell a pacifists :eek:
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Naw, that's the smell of Reason.
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The explosion/splash from a torpedo hit is clearly undermodelled in AH.
Oh HTC!!!!!!!....................
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I need a torpedo hit sound too!!! :D
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From the Forward of the book “Echoes: an Anthology of WarBirds Fiction,” by Jernejcic and Eager, Burbank’s Books 1999:
“My 13-year old daughter asked me why I’m so fascinated by war, why anyone would want to watch movies or read books on such a terrible subject? Doesn’t war bring out the worst in human beings? Isn’t it the most obvious and horrible manifestation of the dark nature of the species Homo Sapiens? Indeed, when the movie “Saving Private Ryan” was released, it sparked quite a bit of controversy because of its graphic and shocking portrayal of the horrors of war. I remember reading one comment on an Internet bulletin board (BBS) that suggested everyone, even children, should review it to remind us of why war is something to be avoided. My answer to my daughter was the same as my answer to that BBS post. To whit, that while it can reveal the most craven vices of humankind, war also demonstrates the heights of courage and self-sacrifice humans are capable of.”
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Originally posted by SFRT - Frenchy
Who's the ack dweeb shooting below 3,000 ft?
I think it's Ripsnort dad. See, genetics do prove dweebism is pass on... :D
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The really amazing thing about Yorktown was that she'd been holed by a bomb at the Battle of Coral Sea, returned to Pearl with damage estimated to take 3 months to repair.
Knowing the Japs were going to hit Midway in a few days, the Navy ordered immediate repairs and the ship sailed out of drydock a mere three days later on the way to Point Luck. Amazing.
Another thing: After the Japs hit the Yorktown at Midway the first time their pilots were convinced she was a goner. When they returned for the second strike, the ship's flight deck was repaired and she was underway again. The second strike pilots thought they were hitting a different ship.
An amazing ship and crew
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http://www.ah.wakwak.com/~mitsu/il2/il2_torp.avi
Torpedo Attack! :)
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Originally posted by Sachs
I smell a pacifists :eek:
Well this "pacifist" spent 8 years in the Navy serving on submarines prepared to kill any assigned target.
I just don't think the word "wow" captures the full magnitude of the events captured in that photo. Imagine how much history was affected in that one instant. Children that never got to meet their fathers and the effects that this had on their lives. Young men that never got to have a family of their own, whose children might have been important in later history.
There have been many events in history that were more significant than the sinking of the Yorktown, but there have been far more events that weren't. It is very fitting that we are still looking at that photo over 50 years later and amazed by everything it exemplifies.
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The most amazing photograph I've ever seen--and in a way, the most horrible--is one taken from the USS Enterprise (I forget exactly when, sometime during the later part of WW2). The photo is of a bomb explosion a few yards away.....the cameraman must have snapped the shutter just as the bomb hit the ship and exploded--doubtlessly he was killed instantly. Somehow the film survived the blast. If someone knows what photo I am talking about, please post it--it's truly eerie.
J_A_B
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(http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g10000/g17489.jpg)
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"Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 1942
A Japanese bomb exploding on the flight deck of USS Enterprise (CV-6), just aft of the island, on 24 August 1942.
Note: According to the original photo caption, this explosion killed the photographer, Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Robert F. Read. However, Morison's "History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II" (volume 5, page 97) states that Read was killed by the bomb that had earlier hit the after starboard 5"/38 gun gallery, which can be seen burning in the upper left. Morison further states that the bomb seen here exploded with a low order detonation, inflicting only minor damage."