On Apr 2, 9:19*am, "a425couple" wrote:
While reading about the Japanese Heavy cruiser Aoba
(Unusual looking, with undulating decks, and remodel drasticly
changed what some consider 2 of the class, from 6 turrets to 3.)http://en..wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Aoba

I saw this unusual account:
"On April 3, ((1943)) while moored at Kavieng, New Ireland,
Aoba was bombed by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the
Fifth Air Force's 43rd Bomb Group. A direct hit on Aoba caused
two Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes to explode and set the ship
on fire while the B-17's strafed the decks with machine guns.
Aoba had to be beached to avoid sinking."

Hmmm??, It's clarified byhttp://www.combinedfleet.com/aoba_t.htm
"The big bombers skip-bomb from between 75 and 250 feet with
delayed-action fused 500-lb. bombs. A direct hit on AOBA explodes
two Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes stored aboard and sets the ship
afire while the B-17's .50-cal. machine guns strafe her decks."
I'll admit, I did not know the B-17s were used for skip bombing.

That site also has this,,, ahh 'irritating' story,
"18 March 1944: Departs Batavia. While enroute to Singapore,
Rear Admiral Sakonjo complies with the Imperial "disposal" policy
concerning POWs. He orders the beheading of each of the remaining
72 captives aboard TONE." (from British SS BEHAR)
----- "Postwar, the British try and convict Sakonjo as a war criminal,
then execute him at Hong Kong."

(IMHO, Aoba is interesting 'hard luck' story, as gradually over years,
damage reduced her from good CA cruiser, to slower,
to limping, to floating AA battery, to non-floating
'decoy target' ((hey every bomb that hit her could have
meant one less bomb hit a still OK ship ehh??))
Oh, by the way, I do have her in my 1/700 ship collection.)

I don't know about you guys, but I am highly impressed with the amount
of damage this ship absorbed during the war. Must have been a first-
rate crew with a decent skipper, or it would have been lost at any
number of times.