The bombardment of Honshu 7/14/45

This iconic photo, taken from the battleship USS South Dakota, shows battleships USS Indiana and USS Massachusetts followed by heavy cruisers Quincy and Chicago (and 9 destroyers not shown) on their way to bombard the Kamaishi Iron Works on northern Honshu. They will hurl 802 16-inch shells, 728 8-inch shells and 825 5-inch shells at this major industrial target destroying 65% of it.
I've always liked this photo and sure wouldn't want to be on the recieving end of all those big guns.

Interesting, thanks for posting this, they did indeed "waken a sleeping giant".

I seem to remember reading that at that point in the war the Japanese were so used to air raids that they thought the bombs were coming from the sky and never had a clue that they were from ships.

As A Navy Vet, those pictures showing a battle line of ships always stirs something inside me, be it pride or thankfulness to those who put it on the line, God bless all who served!

I posted on this before, but that's old school you see here. "Ships of the Line", an old naval tradition dating back to the days of the square riggers and their battle formation.....line up in a line, sail by the enemy (likewise postured) and let your 48 or how ever many you have that don't have the outer doors closed to keep the water out, and blast away.

Similar to the absolutely stupid battle philosophy that said to line up your troops, march the line in broad daylight, with no cover, at your enemy and hope you kill off more of his than he does of yours. What's even more stupid is to have your CIC at the front of the line on his shining white horse, saber in the attack mode, and charging the enemy. Geez who could be so crazy!

Glad we got a lot smarter in what we use and how we use it "beins" I had one of them (CIC) in front of me for 9 years......figuratively speaking.

Open field battle, because real men stood up and met their fate proudly, not cowering behind a tree.

Of course once someone figured out how to mass produce accurate rifles, whoever shot first ended up winning, so that pretty much ended the practice. With smooth bore muskets, you almost had to have the other side line up in front of you to have a hope of hitting anything, and before that you had arrows and swords.

I always like seeing that picture. It's interesting to note that Germany was able to maintain production levels until their factories were actually captured or just about. But with Japan their industry was just about shut down by wars end. Not so much due to bombing or shelling but because we succeeded in strangling them by sinking most of the merchant fleet. You don't have the materials to make something the factory isn't much good.


Texasmark1: The battle line, while it appears dumb both on land and the water was dictated by weapons of the day. After muskets became the standard weapon they put big sharp pointy things on em. Once they fired a couple of times they charged now using that empty musket as a pike. That was dictated because of reload times. And the guy on the horse? he wasn't out front except in pictures. At least not while on that horse. But officers did lead, not follow. At least that's what happened through the end of WWI. Even after repeating arms were in the hands of soldiers that had decent accurate ranges. For some odd reason once weapons that made fire an maneuver tactics possible, the repeating rifle with decent range, the machine gun and rapid fire artillery, the brass still insisted on lining the troops up and duking it out. A lot of that was the officers thought that the soldiers had to be kept under strict control and that they shouldn't think for themselves. That desire to keep the soldiers under control lead to trench warfare instead of fire and maneuver in WWI.

Naval warfare back in the day of throwing bullets at each other more or less dictated the battle line. It was the only way to bring the massive firepower to bare on the enemy. Once the aircraft carrier became the primary strike weapon they, still even today, cluster the rest of the fleet around to protect the carrier. New tactic generally come about because of new weapons.

Rick

That is a great photo. The waves look pretty big too. Dumb question: In rough seas is it easier or smoother for large ships to travel in another ships wake than for each ship to bust through the waves on their own?

(quoted from post at 06:08:55 07/14/17) Open field battle, because real men stood up and met their fate proudly, not cowering behind a tree.

Of course once someone figured out how to mass produce accurate rifles, whoever shot first ended up winning, so that pretty much ended the practice. With smooth bore muskets, you almost had to have the other side line up in front of you to have a hope of hitting anything, and before that you had arrows and swords.

Click to expand...

LOL, true! The British officers thought the militias using the rifle, with over twice the accurate range of the "brown Bess" musket, firing from behind trees wasn't fighting properly like gentlemen in the American revolution.

Accurate rifles were available from the mid 1700's on. Even after armies were equipped with repeating rifles they still wanted to line them up and go at it. Heck, the lever gun was available and in civilian hands around 1855, 6 years before the American Civil War began. Yet both armies went into battle armed with muzzle loading rifles. The cost of the "new" rifles was the deciding factor. Heck, by the time WWI broke out most armies were equipped with rifles that had over a 500 yard accurate range yet they went into the trenches 50-100 yards apart and still put sharp pointy things on the muzzle.

Rick

Nice pic, I am a history and WWII buff. My grandpa proudly served on the Mississippi as a gunners mate. He said it was a dangerous job, even in peace time. The ship suffered a magazine explosion and many of his friends were killed.

Indeed, an iconic photo, UD.

The United States was once a truly great country.

Dean

FWIW, OF, the Mississippi hold a special place in world Naval history, a distinction that will almost certainly never be relinquished.

The Mississippi, well back in Jesse Oldendorf's battle line of old WWI super dreadnoughts, had older fire control equipment and it took her gunners longer to find the range as the battle line opened up on the remainder of the pitiful Japanese force sailing up the Surigao Strait. She got off one salvo before there were no more targets to be found on the radar. Though no one yet knew it, her salvo would remain the last salvo fired in anger by a battle ship upon an enemy battleship.

Dean

Sure is most interesting picture. My dad was on this ship that got hammered in 1917. I can only say "War is he double hockey sticks. Thanks for the picture.

Warmest Regards, LOU.

Love the BB's Big Eloquent Monsters. Before my time but would have loved to serve on one.

1962 - 1966 VA-216 attached to the USS Hancock CVA-19

Mark,
These ships are not in a battle line.
They are in a cruising disposition. These ships are in the center and are screened (encircled) by the destroyers. The destroyers are looking for subs and would try to take a torpedo before it hit these more valuable ships. The destroyers would also be sent off like a pack of dogs to sink a sub if one was detected. If there was an air attack the destroyers would come in much closer and try to protect these ships with AA fire.

Yup ,Custer found out about repeating rifles. Something to the effect
the indians had 23 different types of rifles. You dont ride into an
indian camp to surprise them. This is a Battlefield Detective history
show. Pretty good watch.
Custer

Admiral Yamamoto knew that kicking the Americans was a really bad idea. He had been to America many times and saw the industrial power. The Japanese screwed up buy not launching a third wave at pearl. 5hey could have made the base a smoking non functional heap. Another thing the Japanese had at the time were the Yamato and the Musashi. Eighteen inches are awfully big guns. The guys who start the fight, if you can't get things done before the other guy starts makeing MORE stuff, you are toast!

Well sir now that you mention it. Buttttt every time I see a "battle line" makes me think of the square riggers.....and yes you did mention the escorts. Problem with the escorts was/is they got/get whacked from the enemy and the weather. The big ships they were/are protecting could/can weather storms and high seas better. I have been asea in high seas and the only way I survived was to lock my eyes on the horizon and think about something pleasant, not having to do with food.