Japanese Aircraft-Carrying Super Submarine From WWII Located Off Hawaii 123
Freshly Exhumed sends this story from Reuters:
"Scientists plumbing the Pacific Ocean off the Hawaii coast have discovered a Second World War era Japanese submarine, a technological marvel that had been preparing to attack the Panama Canal before being scuttled by U.S. forces. The 122-meter 'Sen-Toku' class vessel — among the largest pre-nuclear submarines ever built — was found in August off the southwest coast of Oahu and had been missing since 1946, scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa said. The I-400 and its sister ship, the I-401, which was found off Oahu in 2005, were able to travel one and a half times around the world without refueling and could hold up to three folding-wing bombers that could be launched minutes after resurfacing, the scientists said."
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:5, Informative)
Had nothing to do with "giving it back".
The USA and USSR had an agreement during the War that they would share in the spoils of war (like this submarine), and the USA didn't want to turn two of them over to the USSR (because the USSR didn't enter the war against Japan until after the Nagasaki bombing, but more importantly because we didn't want the USSR to get any "free" technology transfers). The USSR was a land power and not a sea power, we wanted to keep things that way....
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:5, Informative)
The US actually sank three of these subs to keep them out of Soviet hands.
Only four where ever started, one was bombed in the ship yard and abandoned before it was finished and the other three where scuttled by US forces in various locations to keep the Soviet's from inspecting them. The end of WW2 was an interesting time to say the least.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-400-class_submarine [wikipedia.org]
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:3, Informative)
North Korea was enslabed by ... a north korean dictator, or by China, but certainly not by Russia!
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:2, Informative)
There's a very interesting take on the Soviets entering the war against Japan. They did it very very late, and were actually still fighting the Japanese for a few days after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The details on these engagements, from the Soviet perspective, can be found here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAAb8Plf20I [youtube.com]
That whole series on the Soviet perspective is amazing.
The Soviets were late entering the war against Japan because their entire war economy was geared towards defeating the Germans in Europe. It's the Soviets that liberated the continent of Europe, the Americans/English only came for the ride. And even fighting only one enemy and what an enemy, that ended up costing the USSR a whole lot more than what the US lost in the war fighting on theaters.
HuffPost has video (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/02/japanese-submarine-world-war-ii_n_4375090.html [huffingtonpost.com]
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:5, Informative)
Kim Jong Il was born in the Soviet Union, where Kim Il Sung commanded a Soviet military unit. Those two countries had a very strong relationship for many decades.
Toyota and Honda are NOT owned by banks ! (Score:4, Informative)
Unlike Ford or GM, Toyota and Honda are definitely NOT owned by banks !
Toyota is owned by the group of inter-connected companies that is controlled by the Toyoda clan of Japan.
Same with Honda - owned by the group of inter-connected companies that is controlled by the Honda clan of Japan.
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:5, Informative)
No.
Stalin stalled as long as he could about attacking Japan (we started nagging about it right after VE Day), but suddenly changed his plans when Hiroshima was destroyed. He ordered an attack with whatever was available as soon as possible so he'd have some justification for an occupation role in Japan (Uncle Joe wanted to divide Japan the way Germany wa divided).
Then the Nagasaki bomb was dropped. Shortly after, the Russians crossed the border into Manchuria to beat up on already beaten Japanese troops.
Then Japan surrendered.
And when Stalin said he wanted to station troops in Japan, MacArthur (who was effectively Shogun at the time) told him to pound sand....
Re: Toyota and Honda are NOT owned by banks ! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Captured at the end of the War (Score:5, Informative)
North Korea was enslabed by ... a north korean dictator, or by China, but certainly not by Russia!
Are you serious? Are you familiar with the history of Korea post WW2 and leading up to the Korean War? Japan occupied Korea until the end of WW2. After their surrender, the US and Soviets split occupation at the 38th parallel (much like how Germany, whose history I hope you are familiar with, was divided). In brief, the Soviet Union installed the Communist system and Kim Il-sung in power.
North Korea could not have been more directly enslaved by the Soviet Union.
Engineering the I-400 SuperSub (Score:5, Informative)
PBS has a great documentary [pbs.org] about its design and construction. You can even watch it online for free. (Cookies probably required.)