RedBear87

Legendary expensive? Legendary luxurious (by Japanese standards)? Legendary useless? There are many reasons to call her legendary, let's just agree on that. P.S.:@migg1973:I gave you a negative feedback by mistake so I gave you a positive one in the previous post to compensate, sorry for the silly mistake (that was really silly).

Nice idea, another ship from South America: Veinticinco de Mayo-class cruiser The only cruisers built for a South American navy after the London Naval Treaty, they were two (out of three initially planned) heavy cruisers built by the Italian company OTO around a scaled-down Trento class design. They were fairly peculiar heavy cruisers from more than one point of view, first of all they didn't use the standard 203mm (8 inch) main guns typically used by heavy cruisers, instead they used ad-hoc built 190mm main guns in three twin mounts, few details survived about their performances; these guns were selected to reduce the top weight of the cruisers but it was decided to reduce their number from the planned four turrets to three because they still proved to be too heavy for this design. They carried more secondary guns than typical Italian cruisers, twelve DP 102mm guns in twin mounts as opposed to the typical four to eight. These secondary guns are also fairly mysterious, because they're usually said to be 102mm but there wasn't a similar gun in the Italian navy, it's possible they were actually 100mm or ad-hoc guns based on that design. The secondary guns didn't have shields to reduce the overall weight. Light AA armament consisted of 6 Vickers-Terni 40/39 mm (QF 2-pounder Mark II) guns in single mounts. Torpedo tubes were on fixed mounts amidships firing abeam, which made aiming quite problematic. The last peculiar arrangement was the catapult which was mounted on the foredeck, but this was rather an Italian peculiarity also adopted on Zara class. Armour was by light cruiser standards, 70 mm armoured belt from the first to the last main turret, 60 mm for the command turret, 50mm on turrets and barbettes, and only 25mm on the armoured deck and above aft machinery. After the war the 102mm secondaries were replaced with 40mm Bofors, one for each twin mount, this was done because the ship was still judget too top-heavy, the old six 40mm were also replaced with four 40mm Bofors. The catapult was moved amidships (the photograph refers to this post-war configuration as you can see from the floatplane's position). They also received radar and American Mk.53 radar directors. They were almost "hybrids" between light and heavy cruisers, or better, they were modern cruisers that were built without regard to the distinction between light and heavy cruisers because it didn't apply to Argentine. Sources are wikipedia and navweaps. EDIT: I'm reading on this Russian website that actually the catapults were moved in 1939; radar type is stated as British Type 268.

I'm not a naval engineer but exchanging two twin turrets for triple ones and mounting two twin 105mm mounts in place of cranes could seriously compromise the stability of this vessel. The triple 203mm turrets did exist in drawings, but as far as I can understand their intended usage is unknown and I can't find if the barbettes could accommodate these triple turrets in the first place (does anyone know it?).

Thanks for the question! The Navy didn't operate dedicated landing ships before Guadalcanal, it was instead the Army that built/converted dedicated "landing craft carrier", which were extremely advanced when introduced, they were equipped with a floodable well deck like modern amphibious assault ships and they combined landing capabilities with, somewhat limited, aircraft capabilities (the prototype Shinsu Maru was equipped with seaplanes, Akitsu Maru and following ships had a short flight deck, all their ships seemed to disregard the concept of recovering and resupplying aircrafts which were optimistically supposed to land on captured airfields). They were only a handful of ships though, that after the 1942 offensive ended up being used mainly as troop transports. There were small SS class beachhead landing ships, but they were produced in few numbers and they were still in development in 1943, after Guadalcanal they were substituted with the new No.101 class. In short there was no direct predecessor of the No.1 class, as consequence of this lack of transports during the Guadalcanal campaign the IJN ended up using regular destroyers and a few other ships (like the large and fast seaplane carriers) as improvised fast transports with disastrous results.

OK, finally it's (almost) finished! I plan to expand more the sections of some individual ships for which I have enough material, especially No.9., but for some ships there's apparently little records left, for some ships like No.20 there are war diaries on JACAR but unfortunately I can't do much with hand-written Japanese text, but for others all records seem to have disappeared, like Japanese also wikipedia says. Thanks a lot man. Well, they were a pretty solid design, produced in large numbers and quite capable, I think they did their job pretty well, considering the complete aerial superiority of the allies and the fact that they were thrown in battle one after another few weeks after completion. Indeed, I fully agree. Thanks for the compliments and sorry for the long elaboration of the article, initially I was just thinking of covering the general characteristics of this class, but I changed my mind as I became more interested into them.

Maybe your browser's cache was messed up by some temporary connection issue, try to force reload it (shift+reload on firefox) or open it from another browser or flush your cache.

You're not the only one who can't stand it, but it's probably better to ignore him and let the mods deal with it, otherwise we just risk to escalate the matter. In topic: Thonburi class coastal defence ships, their very low (15 knots) speed probably means they'd have to be low tier material.

Transport No.16 (ship No.2916) was completed at Yokohama on 31 December 1944. On 16 February 1945, while sailing near Nii-jima en route to Iwo Jima for a resupply mission, she was attacked by around 80 carrier-based F6F, during the battle she shot down seven aircrafts, but she received heavy casualties (twenty-three dead and seventy-one injured), both her AA batteries and steering were damaged. She was beached at Nii-jima, where the dead sailors were buried; she was later repaired and put back in service. She was stricken from the navy list on 15 September 1945. After the war she was used as repatriation ship and later in 1947 she was operated for some time as whaling mothership off the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands) together with No.19. On 30 August 1946 she was transferred to China at Qingdao as reparation. Renamed Wu Yi (武彝), she was formally recommissioned as transport ship, but her damaged boiler tubes were never repaired and she wasn't rearmed, she was decommissioned on 1 February 1950. Transport No.16 after the war Transport No.16 at Qingdao on 30 October 1944 Same as above, disembarking Japanese crew Same as above, detail of the bridge Transport No.17 (ship No.2917) was completed at Kure on 8 February 1945. On 2 March she departed Kurahashi-jima to transport Koryu Type D midget submarines HA-209 and HA-210 to Unten, Okinawa. She successfully unloaded her cargo on 8 March. On the evening of 31 March she departed Sasebo for Amami Oshima, escorted by kaibokan CD-186, subchasers CH-17, CH-49 and accompanied by transports No.145 and No.146, her cargo consisted mainly of 2 unidentified Type D midget submarines. On 2 April she was sunk together with kaibokan CD-186 by planes from Task Group 58.4 shortly after unloading her two Type D midget submarines at Amami Oshima. Stricken from the navy list on 10 May 1945. Transport No.17, note the 13-Go radar on the main mast which was absent in previous units Transport No.18 (ship No.2918) was completed at Kure on 12 February 1945. On 13 March she took the members of the Kaiten Group Hakuryu (white dragon) at Hikari (base of the Second Special Attack Force), commanded by Lieutenant Fujio Kawai (23 years) and later she loaded eight Kaiten human torpedoes at Sasebo. On 16 March she departed Sasebo for Okinawa, but on 18 March she was torpedoed by two torpedoes from a salvo of four fired by USS Springer (SS-414) west of Okinawa (N 26° 39, E 127° 13) and she started burning, after one hour Springer finished her off with another torpedo. She sunk with all 225 hands, including her captain Lieutenant Masaru Otsuki and the whole Kaiten Group. Stricken from the navy list on 10 May 1945. After her sinking no more attempts were made at deploying Kaiten human torpedoes from surface vessels. Transport No.19 (ship No.2919) was completed at Kure on 16 May 1945. Survived the war, she was stricken from the navy list on 5 October 1945 and she was used as repatriation ship afterwards. Between 1947 and 1948 she was loaned by the 2nd Demobilisation Ministry to Taiyo Fisheries Co. that operated her as whaling mothership off the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands) together with No.16. On 11 November 1947 she was assigned as reparation to the United Kingdom, later she was sold for scrap to a Japanese broker and she was scrapped between October-December 1948 at Uraga. Transport No.20 (ship No.2920) was completed at Kure on 23 April 1945. Survived the war, she was stricken from the navy list on 5 October 1945. She ran aground at Penghu on 15 September 1946. Transport No.21 (ship No.2921) was completed at Kure on 15 July 1945. On 9 August 1945 she sailed from Kure for Wakeyama to load a cargo of kaiten, when on the morning, at around 11:00, she was attacked by planes from the 318th Fighter Group. She was repeatedly strafed until navigation becomes impossible and she ran aground at Tsuwaji-jima; even after running aground she was repeatedly strafed by the P-47s of the 318th. During the night she capsized in shallow waters. There were sixty death and around one-hundred injured, the civilians of Tsuwaji-jima rescued and nursed the survivors. Stricken from the navy list on 15 September 1945. Later in 1948 she was raised and scrapped. Video recorded from one of the 318th fighters strafing transport No.21 on 9 August 1945 Transport No.21 in 1948 after being raised Transport No.22 (ship No.2922) was under construction at Kure when work on her was stopped on 23 June 1945, she was around 80% completed at the time. There were plans to complete her after the war as a special transport ship, but they never came to fruition. She was scrapped between February and June 1948. Incomplete transport No.22 at Kure on 16 October 1945, she was already fitted with main guns, 22-Go and 13-Go radars when work on her was stopped Sources: English and Japanese Wikipedia The Special fast landing ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Warship X Ships of the World special issue Vol.47 Japanese Naval Vessels at the End of World War II Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships: 1922-1946 Report of the U.S. Naval Technical Mission to Japan Royal Australian Navy Monthly Naval Warfare Review Combined Fleet's articles about TA Operations: 1, 2, 3 Combined Fleet's TROMs Combined Fleet's article about midget submarines operating at Okinawa Navypedia for additional infos about No.13 TO7002's blog for No.16's engagement on 16 February 1945 Chinese Warship History Monthly for the story of No.16 in Chinese service and related pictures Kaiten Special Attack Forces website for infos about No.18 Inteview to Hosoya Takayoshi, a former IJN submarine navigation officer that served as navigation officer of No.19 during her whaling service postwar Guncamera's blog for the video showing No.21 being strafed by American planes Naval Database website for some infos about individual ships Imperial Japanese Warships by Takeshi Yuki, Kihachiro Ueda & Y. Mizuno for the painting irootoko_jr's blog for the colourised photograph Maxhel41's blog for some photographs Yamato Museum's database for some photographs

It's somewhat old news, but just in case you missed it, I-400 has been found off Hawaii. I think that between the famous Japanese submarines sank near Hawaii during Operation “Road's End" only I-203 is left unaccounted for, as you probably already know I-401 was found in 2005 (maybe this documentary has been already linked somewhere else before, I can't remember): While I-201 and I-14 were found in 2009.

Transport No.9 (ship No.2909) was completed at Kure on 20 September 1944. Starting from 24 October she was part of several successful TA operations during the Battle of Leyte, emerging always unscratched except for some damage sustained by air attacks during TA-5. From January 1945 she was engaged in transporting supplies to Japan via Hong Kong. From 21 February to 29 July she was engaged in twelve successful transports from Yokosuka to Hachijo-jima and Chichi-jima. On 12 August she was transporting Kairyu midget submarines to Saiki but she aborted this mission and returned to Kure after receiving word of Japan's surrender. Stricken from the naval list on 15 September 1945, after the war she was demilitarised and used to repatriate Japanese personnel. In 1947 she was handed over to the United States as reparation, but the American government loaned her back to Japan and she was used as whaling mothership in the Pacific Ocean for a while. She was finally sold for scrap in June 1948. She scored the most impressive record between her unlucky sisters during her dangerous transportation runs at Leyte first and around the shrinking Japanese Empire later. Transport No.9 Transport No.9 at Kure on 3 September 1944, the ship on her left is kaibokan Okinawa Same as above Same as above, for a close-up of the bridge click here Transport No.10 (ship No.2910) was completed at Kure on 25 September 1944. She departed Sasebo to Manila on 23 October together with No.9. On 23 October she departed from Manila to Ormoc Bay (TA-1) together with No.6, 9, 101 and 102. While the landing operation was a success on 26 the escorts Kinu and Uranami were sunk by air attacks, No.10, 6 and 9 rescued the surviving crew, including Rear Admiral Sakonju Naomasa who transferred his flag to No.10. Later she took part in the successful TA-2 and TA-4, but her luck ended during TA-5 when she was sunk by carried-based planes on 25 November. Stricken from the navy list on 10 January 1945. Transport No.11 (ship No.2911) was completed at Kure on 5 November 1944. She was sunk in shallow waters at San Isidro by American planes during operation TA-8 on 7 December 1944. She was later briefly boarded and examined by the Allies for intelligence purposes. Transport No.11 at San Isidro One page from the March 1945 issue of the Royal Australian Navy Monthly Naval Review featuring the intelligence report about transport No.11 Transport No.12 (ship No.2912) was completed at Kure on 11 November 1944. She was sunk by USS Pintado (SS-387) south-east of Kaohsiung in the night between 12 and 13 December 1944. Stricken from the navy list on 10 February 1945. Transport No.13 (ship No.2913) was completed at Yokohama on 1 November 1944. Survived the war, she was stricken from the navy list on 20 November 1945. She was used as repatriation ship and in 1947 she was refitted as a whaling mothership, operated jointly by Kyokuyo and Nippon Suisan Kaisha. On 8 August she was transferred to the Soviet Union as reparation. In the USSR she was renamed Tyumen'-Ula (Тюмень-Ула) and recommissioned as netlayer until 1948. Transport No.13 after the war Transport No.14 (ship No.2914) was completed at Kure on 18 December 1944. Sunk at Kaohsiung by American planes on 15 Janurary 1945. Stricken from the navy list on 10 March 1945. Transport No.15 (ship No.2915) was completed at Kure on 20 December 1944. While en route from Kure to Kagoshima she was sunk by USS Tautog (SS-199) on 17 January 1945 (N 31° 8, E 130° 28). Stricken from the navy list on 10 March 1945. Continue reading here

True, but Yamato herself was built around this flawed strategy, to some extent her usage as floating base was the best possible assignment. Kure, where she was built, there's the famous Yamato Museum there, as well as a more obscure Yamato altar nearby the docks.

And this sinks my idea of Unryu being placed at a higher tier than Soryu/Hiryu because she was theoretically capable of operating larger planes...

There's already quite a number of topics about Hotel Yamato, the previous one is here and it's still open to new comments.

Still a silly weapon and I got the idea we were talking about the carrier because of "gun" rather than "guns".

But the idea of an aircraft carrier firing against other ships with such a huge, slow and single barrel gun is laughable, the chances of hitting something are probably under the single digit. Actually the idea of early carriers firing guns against other vessels was already flawed to begin with, but I'm really curious about the chances of similar engagements in the restricted maps of the game; still it makes more sense to use DP guns or quick fire low angle guns, rather than a silly 18 inch single barrel monster.

From Hybrid Warships: Nor did she ever have an opportunity to fire her big gun in anger. This was probably just as well, for the retention of this weapon, intended for shore bombardment, was more and more regarded as a mistake. Its test firings shook and strained the ship severely, and the chances of hitting a moving target with single shots from such a ponderous piece of ordnance can best be described as remote.

First of all, welcome aboard! The TV series is ended actually, almost one week ago and we already have a thread about it here. The manga is still in prosecution instead and it's definitely more interesting imho.

And (part of) the wreck is still at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

Did you ever hear something about a torpedo boat called Tomozuru?

Am I the only one who's reminded of Evangelion's Leliel? "Inexcusable" is an exaggeration, but she was really a fighting lady for a short time when the Royal Navy lacked enough carriers.

Wait a moment, she took part in one of our few naval victories in WWII, Operation Harpoon!

Well, they noticed it in 2010, but apparently deleting the construction of Prince of Wales is more expensive than actually building it because of heavy penalty clauses (courtesy of BAE and Thales capable legal staff).

Dat tumblehome, someone forgot what happened at Tsushima.... Nice video nevertheless, thanks for sharing it.

But Langley and Sangamon have around twice that number of planes.