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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

Japanese Suicide Demolition Boat

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Type: Japanese Suicide Demolition Boat
Length: 19 feet, 2 inches
Beam: 62 inches
J.M. “Boats” Newberry, founder of PT Boats, Inc., located this Suicide Demolition Boat in Kerama Retto, Okinawa, and arranged for its transport back to the United States. In 1972 Newberry placed the boat at Battleship Cove. The design appears to be that of a semi-submersable.

A US Army report in PT Boats, Inc.’s archives indicates that 1000 of these boats were to attack Allied Forces assaulting Okinawa. They were concealed in artificial and natural caves. These one-man boats were made of light plywood with reinforced wooden beams. Many were powered by US made Gray Marine four and six-cylinder engines. Horsepower was between 70-80. They carried two depth charges, 260 pounds each, which were released by hand or on impact with their targets. They were painted green.

Elaborate attack plans were found in the caves along with information indicating that many amphibious units had been set up in out-of-the-way coastal installations. When discovered, none of the amphibious squadrons’ personnel were located, leading G-2 of the 77th Division to call the discovery “mysterious.”

On display in an original Quonset Hut, the Demolition Boat has been compared to Japanese “Shinyo” (meaning “seaquake”) boats but does not match a Shinyo’s characteristics.

“Special Attack” was the Japanese phrase used to describe tactics that generally involved the loss of a human operator. Laden with explosives, special attack boats were used in a suicidal fashion against American vessels in the Pacific during World War II. However, very few attacks were successful, as these boats were easily spotted and were frequently destroyed before they were deployed.

The Japanese Suicide Demolition Boat is on display at Battleship Cove, the world’s largest collection of historic naval ships, and is owned by PT Boats, Inc., headquartered in Germantown, Tennessee.
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

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A captured Japanese suicide boat, sans explosives, is piloted
by a U.S. Navy sailor. Designed to be driven into Allied ships,
the boats were outfitted with depth charges
that would detonate upon impact.
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

Just another pic:

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Tanaka
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Post by Tanaka »

cheers for that mate, im slowly gather more info on these fascinating craft
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

Will see if i can find some more info on it.
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von papen
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Post by von papen »

did they attack mainely at night, otherwise they could shoot it up, and im guessing those things were pretty volitile, were there many accidents?
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

They were quite fast and didn't come out alone.

What do you mean by accidents ? accidental explosions :lol:
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Tanaka
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Post by Tanaka »

yeah night operations where the most common to try and hide there presence.
alot of there bases were in natural caves around the islands they were defending but because of the second hand automobile engines being crap, crews were often poisioned by the fumes but sometimes the engines either burst in to flames or sparked up, causing a chain reaction explosion amongst the boats killing most of their crews, this happened several times.
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

Don't read or speak russian.
But maybe ome interesting info on this site ?

http://www.vrazvedka.ru/main/history/af ... o-03.shtml
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Tanaka
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Post by Tanaka »

great photos mate, especially of the suicide frogman, looks an interesting bit of kit
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jdeleur
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Post by jdeleur »

I knew you would like it :D
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Tanaka
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Post by Tanaka »

in fact i wonder if its possible to make a set, would be different at shows :lol:
JRA site http://www.japanesereenacting.co.uk/

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