Parks Stephenson

@DodgerWing @virgil0621 @CynicalPublius We are the Pirate of the Pacific. Our most recent namesake, USS KIDD (DDG-100), has inherited and fully embraced our pirate legacy…they call themselves the Pirates (plural) of the Pacific and fly a huge-ass pirate flag.

@ParksStep3 @virgil0621 @CynicalPublius Arrrr!

OK, since it appears that today is the day to discuss weird cultural differences between Japan and the USA, may I strongly recommend to all of my military history nerd followers that you watch “Girls und Panzer”? It’s anime from Japan. You can find it on Amazon Prime. Bear with me while I explain the insane premise. It’s about Japanese all-girls schools that engage in the sport of “tankery.” These schoolgirls ride around in historically accurate, WWII-era armored fighting vehicles and engage in active combat that appears to include actual HEAT and sabot rounds, except when there is a hit nobody gets hurt and a little white flag pops out of the dead tank. So there is this big tankery tournament. But here’s where it gets even weirder: each school has the vehicles, resources, tactics and uniforms of a WWII combatant. So the US-style school has wayyyyy more logistics than anybody else, the Soviet school goes roaring across the steppes (see the video one comment post below) and the German school has the best tanks that break down a lot. Also the British school takes war breaks to drink tea. Why would I recommend such a silly concept? Because whoever did it went to a fanatical level of detail on the vehicles themselves and the associated tactics and employment, as well as very accurate propaganda themes from the era. It’s so incongruous—highly accurate military history and Japanese schoolgirl anime. And I love incongruity in entertainment. It’s so silly, but in a weirdly addictive way. And I don't even watch anime.

@AutisticActuary @DodgerWing @CynicalPublius I have been aboard (and slept aboard) SLATER many times. I consider the Executive Director of SLATER as my mentor. He was responsible for my getting my current position at KIDD.

@ParksStep3 @DodgerWing @CynicalPublius She is getting an overhaul? Great! I visited a few years ago, had a great time and my daughters enjoyed it as well. ( I have dragged them to every US ship on the east coast except the Massachusetts (i had to choose one, Mass or Groton) come up by me and visit the Slater in Albany

@erikichijo あなたの意見に同意します。若い人々の大半は、たとえそれが栄光ある行為として宣伝されていたとしても、死にたくはないものです。

@ParksStep3 そういった人も少数ですが確かにいました。本当の意味で志願して飛んだ人。 ですが割合で言えば極めて少ないというのが、私の印象です。いくつか博物館をまわっただけで、特別詳しく調べたわけではありませんが。

At 1410 (local time), Sub-Lieutenant Yaguchi Shigehisa, Commander of the 5th Kenmu-tai, flew his Mitsubishi A6M5 Rei-sen aircraft into the starboard side of USS KIDD (DD-661), then patrolling the waters off Okinawa. Upon impact, the plane disintegrated, killing Yaguchi immediately. The plane’s debris tore through KIDD’s forward fire room, rupturing steam lines and killing everyone in the space. The 500kg bomb carried by the Rei-sen detached and continued through the ship, exiting out the port side and detonating close aboard. The explosion flayed open the port side of KIDD, killing and wounding more, including the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Harry G. Moore. Thirty-nine men (including Yagushi) were killed in that moment, another 55 were wounded. Had he not died that day, Yagushi would have celebrated his 23rd birthday less than 2 weeks later. The Americans he killed that day also never got the chance to grow older. Today, only the USS KIDD, still scarred herself from that attack, remains to tell the story. A single frame salvaged from the burned camera used by KIDD’s doctor during the attack run captures Yaguchi’s last moment of life. Most kamikaze pilots died in anonymity. We know about Yaguchi thanks to the thorough and dedicated research of a Japanese-American lawyer from San Diego, California, Katsumi Hiragi, who happened to visit the USS KIDD Veterans Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while on a research visit for another topic. Hiragi began his search with KIDD crewmembers who were there on that day in April 1945 and his investigation led him to Kanoya Air Base in Japan, the airfield from which Yaguchi launched to conduct his attack, and ultimately to Yaguchi’s younger brother, who described the bright engineering student from the Ibaragi province who willingly sacrificed his life for his country. For many years, the USS KIDD Veterans Museum could not tell Yaguchi’s story because the memory of the attack and lost shipmates was too painful for the surviving crewmembers who made the Museum their home. But as those veterans faded away, one in particular stated that after they were all gone, the Museum should recognize Yaguchi because, in his words, “he didn’t want to be there any more than we did.” When I became Executive Director of the Museum in 2022, I put together as respectful a display as we can currently afford – spending thousands of dollars of my own money to re-create Yaguchi’s flight gear – with plans to expand the display when we can raise more funding. Telling Yaguchi’s story is just as important as telling KIDD’s. There are two sides to every conflict and rarely is one side “good” while the other is “evil.” Everyone who died or was wounded aboard KIDD that day was fighting to protect their home, their way of life. Good men who were divided only by propaganda and political machinations would in another time be staunch friends and allies. This is the lesson that we should all learn that makes Yaguchi’s sacrifice still relevant and profound to this day. @USSKIDD_DD661

@kurousaskiy その点は理解し、同意しますが、私は画家ではなく、使用できる芸術的なレンダリングはごくわずかしかありません。この絵には、その艦に関する他の誤りもあります。

@ParksStep3 展示へのご配慮ありがとうございます。ただ、画像3枚目のイラストに描かれている特攻機、零戦52型(Zeke A6M5)じゃなくて彗星33型(Judy D4Y3)です…

@RengohKantai I understand that and agree, but I was not the artist and there are only a few artistic renderings that I can use. There are other errors in this painting about the ship, as well.

@ParksStep3 I'm sorry, but this is a Suisei carrier-based attack aircraft, not a Zero fighter.

そのご意見には、敬意をもちつつ異を唱えさせていただきます。あの日、もしその艦が沈没していたならば、矢口氏は匿名で亡くなられ、戦争も同じように終結していたことでしょう。しかし、まさにその艦が生き残り、現在では博物館として保存されているおかげで、矢口氏のお話は徹底的に調査され、明らかにされ、多くの人々に共有されることが可能になりました。あの日、もしキッドが沈没していたならば、あなたはこの物語を知ることはなかったはずです。

@ParksStep3 沈まなかったのが残念です⋯⋯😭。

あなたの言う通りだと思いますが、矢口さんは特に任務に非常に献身的でした。彼は最初に桜花（おうか）プログラムに志願しましたが、桜花が非効率だとわかると、今度はより効果的な零戦A6M5を飛ばすために志願しました。彼は特攻隊に強制されて入ったわけではなく、通常の戦闘装備を満載して出撃し、まず戦闘を優先し、任務を完全に成功させられないと判断した場合にのみ、自分を犠牲にするつもりで飛行していました。

@ParksStep3 本当に喜んで特攻作戦に命を捧げた、などというパイロットはほとんどいません。 多くは１５歳から２０歳の若者。生き残った人の手記を読むと、彼らが考えていたのは「お母さんに会いたい」だけです。 戦争を企図し命令を下す人間は決して戦死しません。 死ぬのはいつも若者ばかりです。

@fumihikotanaka1 矢口が最後の別れの挨拶を交わしたことを願っていますが、研究者・平木氏が矢口をパイロットと特定する際に用いた無線ログには、そうした通信は記録されていません。

@ParksStep3 矢口機は駆逐艦キッド突入直前、仲間の飛行機と共にドッグファイトを偽装しながら徐々に接近して米軍からの攻撃を制御したらしいですが、それと同時に旋回しながら仲間と最後の別れを交わし合ったのではないかという気がします。

@virgil0621 @DodgerWing @CynicalPublius はい、船が造船所での修理を終えて戻ってきたら、また旗を掲げます！

@ParksStep3 @DodgerWing @CynicalPublius Hello, Mr. Stephenson. USSキッド(DD-661)といえば、海賊駆逐艦ですね！ まだ海賊旗は掲げているのですか？

@GO73318766 I am currently working through a translation of this book:

@ParksStep3 出羽さんのキラがウソと言うのでなく、石川電信員の日誌に書かていないことが謎ということです。

In August 2007, I had completed a Titanic expedition with James Cameron and was looking for something new to explore. I had met film producer Kirk Wolfinger and the “Deep Sea Detectives,” John Chatterton and Richie Kohler, in 2005 as Titanic expedition crews were swapped aboard the Russian deep-submergence support vessel Keldysh. A couple of years later, our discussions were focusing on submarines. Discussion started around John and Richie’s find, the wreck of the German sub U-869, but my mind was drifting toward another subject that had fascinated me since my teenage years…the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A little-known aspect of the attack was the use of five Type A Special Attack 2-man submarines in an attempt to penetrate the harbor and add a finishing blow to the aerial assault. One mystery particularly intrigued me: 4 of the 5 “midget subs” were accounted for, where could the 5th sub be? What happened to the “Yokoyama boat” launched by the fleet boat, I-16?

@GO73318766 I would smile to see that book!

I am afraid that I am forced to respond in English because my translator daily limit has been exceeded. I agree about the Furuno and Hiro-o boats, there is not enough evidence. There is evidence for the Iwasa boat in testimony given to Pearl Harbor investigations after the attack and after the war.

@ParksStep3 残り岩佐艇、古野艇は、確定する物証ものがありません。

@GO73318766 I have exceeded the daily use of my translator. Forgive me, but I will need to reply in English for now. I talked with Dewa-san at length at his home about this. He gave me more detail. I will send a transcription of our discussion to your email address.

@ParksStep3 この信号キラについて、I-16の電信員が出した本には、一切書かれていません。 戦闘詳報に佐々木半九が書いた2時間通信したもウソです。 また、植田さんが言った消去法で横山艇になるも、大いに疑問があります。なぜなら、誰が乗っていたか確定してるのは酒巻艇だけです。濃厚は広尾艇となります。

@GO73318766 その情報、どうもありがとうございます。

@ParksStep3 この艇は甲標的甲型（TypeA）ではなく、甲型を改造した特型格納筒なのでTypeA model1にとするべきです。

@GO73318766 @itisikizousen 通常はおっしゃる通り、軍はあらゆることについて報告書を作成するものです。しかし、横山艇と岩佐艇のどちらについても報告書が存在しません。岩佐艇の発見、回収、廃棄については分かっていますが、公式報告書は見つかっていません。作成された唯一の報告書は、酒巻艇についてのものでした。

@ParksStep3 @itisikizousen なんでも報告書を作るアメリカなので、当然作っていると思います。 ちなみに、この艇の報告書はありますか?

@GO73318766 @itisikizousen 多くの証拠を見つけましたが、秘密の報告書は見つかりませんでした。それが存在するなら、まだもう一つ見つけるべきものがあります。

@ParksStep3 @itisikizousen まだトップシークレットが解けないのでしょうかね？

@GO73318766 @itisikizousen 残念ながら、そのチューブの回収や処分に関する報告は一切見つかりませんでした。 それは依然として完全な謎のままです。

@ParksStep3 @itisikizousen お久しぶりです。 一緒に潜ったいた奥本剛です😀 この特型格納筒の引き揚げの報告書、海洋投棄の報告書は発見出来ましたか? それが、謎を解くカギとなることになるはずです。

@GO73318766 またお連絡いただけて嬉しいです、友よ！ あなたから本当にたくさんのことを学びました！ またいつか一緒に仕事ができる日を楽しみにしています！

この調査に参加した日本の研究家です（笑）