Thursday, December 29, 2005

Sinking the Yamato 大和 (戦艦)

Link dump featuring the end of the battleship era in modern naval warfare.

PBS first aired it in Oct, then I got to know that a Japanese production (「男たちの大和/YAMATO」) on it is set to hit the big screen in Nippon (or has it already?) this month. I wonder when it will be shown here. (I can't find the DVD on Amazon.com)

Ironically, it was the Japanese who showed the world that battleships with no air cover are vulnerable against aerial attacks (at Pearl Harbor and against Prince of Wales and Repulse of the RN's Force Z). 大和 would never have stood a chance against the carrier-based bombers of the US navy.

Found (from flickr) the (almost life-sized) mock-up of the ship used in the movie. Check out the 25mm/60 caliber AA guns...

A 1/10 scale model can be found in the Yamato museum in Kure. This flickr set shows you various angles of the ship.

2 comments:

-ben said...

I actually dove the HMS Repulse in 2003. She's lying on her portside at a depth of 55m. It was quite a sight. If memory serves, there are the remains of 700 sailors inside. The decompression obligation of 89 minutes was quite a chore though.

Mr and Mrs Kuek said...

For your info, 大和 is already available in the theatres here. Haven't had the chance to see it though...