Kamikaze Footage

[Legioneod]

Interesting footage of various Kamikaze attacks.

 

What's surprising to me is just how devastating the aa fire was from the ships. I knew it was severe but never realized just how insane it could get.

0:24 and 1:19 are pretty eye opening imo on just how much lead these ships put out.

[Jaws2002]

Yep. Starting in 1943 US navy dramatically increased the AAA defenses of it's fleet. The biggest killers were actually the 40mm Bofors and 20mm Oerlikon guns, that were being introduced in huge numbers on all ships and replaced all the medium and light AAA on ships.  the 5 inch guns were also effective, with about 30 % of the kills. 

  Radar targeting, advanced directors and proximity fuses also helped a lot. But when you look at naval anti aircraft defenses, US was heads and shoulders ahead of everyone else. 

 

 Here's a good summary of the ww2 naval AAA action and tactics.

 

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/a/antiaircraft-action-summary.html

 

Edited January 9, 2022 by Jaws2002

[No_Face]

There are not only kamikazes in these images.
But yes, the AA defense is impressive. Besides, when I see the AA shots near the water, I say to myself that there must have been friendly fire.