Yorktown was towed by Hammann, not Hayman.

 

She shouldn't have been in a position to be towed. After three Japanese carriers were already on the bottom of the Pacific, she was hit by the strike from Hiryu. The first strike hurt her badly, but the crew was able to get the ship back under way. She was able to get up to full steam, but she was badly hurt, in addition to the fact that the damage from Coral Sea hadn't been completely repaired.

 

At that point she should have hauled ass back to Pearl. It was a 2-1 US advantage at that point in carriers on scene minus Yorktown, and her deck was needed for future ops more than it was needed on the scene at the moment.

 

(Yeah, I know, hindsight is 20-20)

 

Anyone alive?

Sure. I've been busy, what would you like to discuss?..

Hi Herald,

 

   You seem to know about what you are discussing here.  You back up your statements with sources and I like that.  I have a question for you...  Do you happen to know the source of the steel used in Yamato's construction?   I have heard various answers but can't find any sources to verify.  Someone said that the steel came from ships purchased from Russia (which were originally purchased from the U.S.) thus making that the Yamato was made of American steel!  I highly doubt this.  The Japanese had their own smelting process (copied after the British) and I find it hard to believe the steel is U.S. sourced.  Any info?

 

Thanks,

 

Scott

Herald

 

Sorry, now I was busy.... It was mentioned that Yamato got basic horn radar months after commisioning? How it performed compared to radar Enterprise got in 1942?

 

From accounts at Samar, rain blinded it. How it compares with Enterprise in 1942?  Maybe half the effective air search range.and almost equivalent surface search.

 

Thanks for the reply.  I heard most of the materials to build the Yamato came from all over Japan and it's colonies.  I am in a debate with someone on YOUTUBE who purports that Iowa had no chance against Yamato and after I source-proved that Iowa not only stood a chance but a good chance in a duel with Yamato, this guy started making absurd statements (that he can't back up) and one of them was that Yamato was made entirely of U.S. origined steel.  My position (based on what little I can find) is that Yamato was made of scrap steel and ore from all over the place (including U.S.) and was smelted using techniques taught to them by the British.

 

I have over 30 books on the IJN and even five focused on Yamato and there is nothing in my library or even web based that discusses this topic.

 

If you can dig and find something it would be appreciated.

 

Scott

It's not clear to me what his point with this is. The  raw steel might have been US sourced, but the armor plates certainly weren't. The US did bar exports of scrap steel to Japan in '40, but I believe that was after the Yamato was finished.

 

You did remember to ask him "If the Yamato was so deadly, why couldn't it wipe out Taffy 3 at the battle of Samar?". I mean seriously, if it couldn't take 4 DD, 3 DE and 6 CVE backed up by 3 other battleships, 6 heavy, 2 light cruisers and 11 or so DD. How was it going to handle an Iowa?

 

The fact that it landed so few shells in that fight does not speak well of it's fire control. The DD/DEs are a lot smaller than a BB admittedly, but the CVEs aren't that much smaller and they didn't mange to land many hits in something like an hour and a half of shelling.

 

Look to that section that deals with steels.

 

Herald

 

In their smelting processes for PL10-13 plates, for additives, the Japanese were known to use up to 65%-75% scrap steels, sources unknown. The raw stock iron base however is almost certainly Manchurian. 

 

Data 1. 

 

Data 2. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Herald!  Wow that is an amazing document.  Where did you dig that up at?  Many thanks again!

 

Scott

That I don't know. The iron Japan imported came from many sources, North American scrapped cars and industrial products was one source, and what the Japanese dug out of Manchuria was another . I would have to really dig to see how much recycled steel went into Yamato. My guess is that it would not be much as armor plate of that era usually started with raw stock steels.