Battleship Yamato
April 6th of 1945, the Pacific War was about to end, and the Americans had occupied the last defense of the Japanese before their home islands, the crucial Okinawa Island.
A one-way mission is sent by the Japanese navy: suiciding battleship Yamato to try to regain Okinawa Island from the Americans.
7:30:
“Good morning, honored citizens of the Great Empire of Japan. We are excited to let you know of recent news: our glorified Imperial Navy defeating the evil westerners, the most abominable being, of course, the Americans.”
“Our Emperor Tenno recently approved sending out our world's largest battleship, Yamato, to the forefront. With Battleship Yamato’s superior firepower, we expect our Imperial Navy to kick the Americans out of the property of our great empire.”
9:00:
Akira wakes up, and prepares for the great mission of regaining the island of Okinawa.
10:00:
Akira walks into his battle unit. It is his second time seeing the monster: Battleship Yamato. It is an enormous, iron beast, about 263 feet long, with a displacement of about 72,800 tons. It is armed with nine 18.1-inch naval guns, the largest caliber ever put on a battleship. It is no doubt the greatest construction of the Imperial navy and Japanese shipbuilding industry. Everytime Akira looks up to see it, he wonders “How would this monster ever sink? What kind of weapon could ever penetrate its armor?” He and his unit walk on the battleship, ready to go.
12:50:
The naval battle group, led by the battleship Yamato and several frigates, reaches about 30 miles to the coastline of Okinawa. Everyone, including Akira, begins the highest alert status; the radars are fully operating, trying to detect the Americans approaching.
14:45:
Suddenly, piercing alarms are set off. Akira runs to his position, a heavy gunner whose mission is to shoot down planes. He hears the slight roar of planes approaching. Using his binoculars, he sees a swarm of them hiding in the nimbus clouds. He waits for the aircraft to reach the firing range. Missiles are already being sent. Akira sees the missiles flying out of the clouds like murderous demons, but they are intercepted by the dense fire coverage of the battleship. The planes have broken through the clouds; hundreds of planes of different sizes fly in a huge swarm.
The sounds of guns punctuate the air as Akira begins to return the favor, aiming at the nimble attackers. Suddenly, the enemy sends rows of bullets towards the deck of the ship. Akira hears the screams of other soldiers as their bullets defy expectations – they don’t penetrate, they break apart their bodies. In quick response, he shoots down a plane, but only one. By this time, the attackers have killed over half of the soldiers. As he casts his eyes across the deck of the ship, he can see the pain and suffering of his comrades, but his defenses are down, leaving him vulnerable. Akira is shot in the right shoulder, and the resultant pain travels quickly through his body.
He falls down.
Bombers above the battleship batter it from the high skies, over and over again. The deck is now filled with bullet holes and bomb craters. Flesh is thrown everywhere, and only a few guns are still resisting. Torpedos hit the ship’s sides. Instead of destroying the American planes, the battleship is now a huge target for the planes to attack, and the majority of the crew are now disabled or dead. It is just a matter of time before it is going to sink.
2:20 of the next day:
After being hit by a bomb right on the magazine, the whole battleship explodes. It eventually sinks. After being the glorious symbol of the Imperial Navy, battleship Yamato falters during its first actual combat. The beast takes hours to completely disappear in the sea. Thousands of crew and soldiers die.
Reports are sent back to the executives of Japan after a couple hours.
9:00:
Emperor Tenno appears on the television, standing in front of millions of anxious Japanese citizens. “I have exciting news for the honored citizens of the great empire. We have defeated the Americans, and kicked them out of our Okinawa Island! Battleship Yamato has shot down hundreds of American aircrafts, which guaranteed us this victory. Our battleship Yamato was severely damaged, so it needs to stay at Okinawa to be repaired before sailing back. Our thousands of courageous crew and soldiers will be settling down on the island and taking a good rest. Remember to support our Imperial navy, and our greatest battleship Yamato.”
On September 2nd of 1945, the Japanese surrendered.
