Navy Helldivers Strike Hyuga (July 1997)

The article starts by talking about Task Force 38.0 which was under the command of Admiral Halsey. It also starts out on July 23, 1945, and refers to a planned attack for the next day on the Japanese battleship-carrier Hyuga.

The ship was a battleship that had a flight deck on her stern, making her basically a hybrid ship. Helldiver planes would be used in the attack. Each plane carried a 1000 pound general-purpose bomb, and a 260 pound fragmentation bomb.

The article also tells how things don't always go well on launching, as one of the Helldivers crashed right after getting off the carrier. The article also goes into details of the confrontation between the planes and the ship.

Sinking the ship was costly, however, as only 5 of the original 13 bomber and torpedo planes returned from the mission.

An excellent example is given of military doublespeak when it refers to the damage to the Hyuga. The report said that, due to the holes left in the ship from the attack, the ship “lost buoyancy...and sunk.” Pretty much what happens to a ship that is bombed in that way.

An example of the type of very excellent graphics that the magazine uses at times.

The battleship-carrier after it's sinking. The water it was in wasn't very deep, so a person could still have walked on the deck without getting their feet wet, although the ship was definitely out of commission.



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