Friday, October 29, 2010

Fullbore Friday

I'm moody today.

When researching a larger story - in this case the week that was the Battle of Leyte Gulf - you can find a little vignette that in its own way is poignant. Even when it is the enemy - it makes you pause.

In less time than it took to develop the NWU, the Imperial Japanese Navy's Aircraft carrier
ZUIKAKU went from being one of the CV that attacked Pearl Harbor to - 2 years and 10 months later - the last of her kind.

She found herself at the rough end of
Halsey's Folly,
Ozawa's "Northern Force" comprised four aircraft carriers (Zuikaku — the last survivor of the six carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the light carriers Zuihō, Chitose, and Chiyoda), two World War I battleships partially converted to carriers (Hyūga and Ise — the two after turrets had been replaced by a hangar, aircraft handling deck and catapult, but neither battleship carried any aircraft in this battle), three light cruisers (Ōyodo, Tama, and Isuzu), and nine destroyers. His force had only 108 aircraft.
...
The force which Halsey was taking north with him — three groups of Mitscher's Task Force 38 — was overwhelmingly stronger than the Japanese Northern Force. Between them, these groups had five large fleet carriers (Intrepid, Franklin, Lexington, Enterprise, and Essex), five light fleet carriers (Independence, Belleau Wood, Langley, Cabot, and San Jacinto), six battleships (Alabama, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Washington), eight cruisers (two heavy and six light), and more than 40 destroyers. The air groups of the 10 US carriers present contained a total of more than 600-1,000 aircraft.
At the tactical level - the results came as expected.

Things that come to mind: the desperation of the conversion of the HYŪGA AND ISE as Japan did not have the industrial base to do as we did and build proper CV.

The shortage of good if any aircraft - not to mention pilots - and the sad death of a storied Flag Ship ZUIKAKU. More than anything though - the lesson I take away is in a photograph.

Picture what was going on in the minds of these Sailors. As their Flag Ship sinks, the flag is lowered. A crystal clear, blue Pacific day.

Just ponder.