Japanese battleship lost its "mum" also

[HFS]

The Imperial Japanese Navy may have only allowed "mums" on their battleships, but lots of Arisaka rifles had them too, until they were ground off.



Ex-crew recognizes photos of sunken Japanese battleship
TOKYO (AP) — A former crewmember on a Japanese battleship that sank during World War II said Thursday he recognized photos of wreckage discovered this week off the Philippines by a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Shizuhiko Haraguchi served as a gunnery officer on the Musashi, one of the largest battleships in history, when it was being fitted in Japan before it departed for the Pacific in 1943.
He said he recognized underwater photos taken by Allen's team of a large gun turret and a catapult system used to launch planes.
"I recognized that main turret, which I was assigned to," Haraguchi, 93, said in a telephone interview from his home in Nagasaki, in southern Japan, where the ship was built, fitted and tested. "I felt very nostalgic when I saw that."
Haraguchi said other details released by Allen convinced him that the wreckage was that of the Musashi. He said a round base shown in a photo of the bow was where a chrysanthemum decoration used to be, an Imperial seal that only battleships were allowed to carry.
Haraguchi left the ship just before its departure because he was transferred to an aviation unit in eastern Japan.
The apparent discovery on Sunday of the Musashi comes as the world marks the 70th anniversary of the war's end.
The Musashi sank in October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. About half of its 2,400 crew died, and only a few hundred eventually returned home alive.

http://news.yahoo.com/ex-crew-recog...panese-battleship-110025828.html?soc_src=copy

 

[rhodesbe]

Yeah, that's pretty inaccurate reporting there. It's awesome the Microsoft guy found that battleship, though. Seriously a massive battlewagon that eventually served mostly as a big-a$$ target for the USN's new carrier doctrine.

 

[rhodesbe]

Here's action pics of the a$$kicking in progress:

She looked good:

 

[SoonerP226]

Yeah, that's pretty inaccurate reporting there. It's awesome the Microsoft guy found that battleship, though. Seriously a massive battlewagon that eventually served mostly as a big-a$$ target for the USN's new carrier doctrine.

It may be very accurate reporting, as it appears to be quoting the old officer--and he may only be talking about naval vessels (though I don't know if it'd be true then).

Finding the Musashi is definitely cool, but you have to wonder why he'd do it; unlike civilian vessels, you can't do any recovery on military wrecks, as they're sovereign territory of their country, and they're usually war graves...