HistoryTube
  • Blog
  • YouTube
    • Ancient America
    • Ancient China
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Rome
    • Holocaust
    • Tudors
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • History Meets English
    • History Meets Geography
    • History Meets Reality TV
    • History Meets Science
    • Royals
    • Time Team
    • YouTube Channels
    • Bettany Hughes
    • Tony Robinson
    • Lucy Worsley
  • About Me
    • Portfolio
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me

History Docs

Need a Documentary for a Class?  Check out my reviews!

Unsinkable! Japan's Lost Battleship - World War II

11/8/2021

0 Comments

 
To continue with our World War I and World War II theme for November, I will feature a documentary about the Japanese battleship Musashi.  Unsinkable! Japan’s Lost Battleship is about the biggest battleship that was built in the world.  She was over 800 feet long and was over 70,000 tons.  She had 18-inch guns.  Her builders boasted that, much like the Titanic, she was unsinkable.  Unfortunately, she did sink in her first battle.  Her wreck was missing ever since.  This documentary is about the search for her wreck.

David Mearns, who found the Hood, leads an expedition to search for the wreck.  He spent years gleaning clues from the US and Japanese military records to determine the location of the wreck.  Mearns’ team has three weeks to look for the wreck.  The late Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, inspired the search for the Musashi.

The Musashi was the pride of Japan.  The Japanese government did not inform the people that the Musashi went down.

At the start of the expedition, the team has no luck in locating the Musashi.  They used the coordinates used by the Japanese Navy.  Mearns concludes that they have to expand their search.  So they use the records from the American Pilots that sunk the Musashi.  Mearns has a series of photographs that he uses for clues.

In the 1930s, Japan is attempting to expand its influence in the Pacific.  However, the Washington Naval Treaty attempted to put a stop to them.  Japan could only have 60 battleships in comparison to the 100 the United States was allowed.  As a result, they decided to with quality over quantity.  The idea behind that was if they could produce high-quality battleships, they could counteract the high numbers of the enemy navy.  The Yamamato class was born from this idea.

The Japanese started building these “super battleships.”  The large cranes that were used to build these battleships are still used today.  They hid the building progress behind curtains that way nobody could see what they were building.  Locals were advised to not even look at the shipyards.  In 1941, the Musashi started undergoing secret sea trials.  The men who served aboard the Musashi believed that the ship was unsinkable.  They believed that she was the King Kong of the Seas.

The expedition thinks they may have found something.  They do further scans and then conclude that it was a natural formation.  At the end of the three weeks, they find nothing.  However, the team had mapped 1,400 square feet of the ocean floor.  This mapping will be valuable for others in the future.

Pearl Harbor was a lesson to both Japan and the United States.  While the Japanese focused on building battleships the United States embraced ariel warfare.  The Japanese believed in a decisive battle at sea with battleships.  The United States developed new weapons and planes for this type of warfare.  As the United States battled in the Pacific they started gathering intelligence on Japan’s big battleships.  Naval intelligence badly underestimated what Japan had produced.

The following year Mearns and his team go back to the search area with a more sophisticated radar.  They get a hit and send down an ROV, a robot that will be able to take photographs of the site.

To learn more about the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the search for the Musashi continue to watch this YouTube Video. 

If I had an independent study student with an interest in World War II or battleships I would share this documentary with them.  It would also be a great filler when your students study World War II.

You can access the YouTube Video here.
0 Comments

    Author

    I'm a librarian with an active imagination who likes to create.  Genealogist and Researcher.

    Like what you see?  Don't forget to smash the bookmark button!

    Blogs posted five days a week for the school year September-May and for summer blogs posted three days a week June-August!

    If you can, try to purchase these documentaries to support these historians!  If you can't purchase, subscribe to their channels or podcasts!

    Worksheets

    My Teachers Pay Teachers Store!  Worksheets available as a Word Document.

    Lulu Store

    I am also on Lulu!  If you're interested in genealogy I have several books available!

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020

    Categories

    All
    1065
    1066
    1900's Island
    Abandoned
    Abraham Lincoln
    Africa
    Alexandria
    Alex Langladas
    Alfred The Great
    Amazon River
    America
    Ancient Egypt
    Ancient Rome
    Ancient World
    Ancient Worlds
    Andes Mountains
    Angkor Wat
    Anne Boleyn
    Athens
    Australia
    Austria
    Bath
    Battleships
    Beatrix Potter
    Bernadette Banner
    Bettany Hughes
    Biographics
    Biographies
    Bismarck
    Britain
    Caitlin Doughty
    Caligula
    Cambodia
    Castles
    Central America
    Charlemagne
    China
    Christmas
    Cleopatra
    Cornwall
    Dam Busters
    Dame Patricia Routledge
    Dan Snow
    Denmark Strait
    Edwardian Farm
    Edwardian Home
    Edward The Confessor
    Egypt
    England
    Ethiopia
    Experimental History
    Exploration
    Farm
    Fashion History
    First Nations
    Flintstones
    France
    Franz Joseph
    French Revolution
    Full Steam Ahead
    Genealogy
    Genetics
    Geographics
    Geography
    Georgian Period
    Germans
    Germany
    Greece
    Greeks
    Gus Casely Hayford
    Gus Casely-Hayford
    Hastings
    Helen Castor
    Helen Of Troy
    Henry VIII
    Hidden Killers
    Highway
    History
    Holocaust
    Home
    Hood
    Ice Cream
    Immigration
    Irish Palace
    Jago Cooper
    Jane Austen
    Japan
    Joann Fletcher
    John Gater
    Judith Flanders
    Kathleen Martinez
    Kew Gardens
    King George III
    Knights Templars
    Korea
    Lady Jane Grey
    Leyte Gulf
    Lincoln Highway
    Lithuania
    Lost Kingdoms
    Lost Legions
    Lucy Worsley
    Lusitania
    Mammoths
    Marco Polo
    Marie Antoinette
    Mary Beard
    Mary Boleyn
    Maryland
    Medieval Period
    Meet The Romans
    Mick Aston
    Middle Ages
    Minoans
    Monarchy
    Musashi
    Napoleon
    Neil Oliver
    New Zealand
    Nicholas II
    Paul Mearns
    Pearl Harbor
    People Of The Clouds
    Peter Ginn
    Phil Harding
    Pompeii
    Portsmouth
    Prince Philip
    Prince Regent
    Prussia
    Pyramids
    Queen Elizabeth II
    Queen Luise
    Queens
    Railroads
    Reality TV
    Ronald Hutton
    Royal Fibs
    Royal Myths
    Royal Secrets
    Royalty
    Royal Women
    Russia
    Russian Revolution
    Ruth Goodman
    Salem
    Serbia
    Simon
    South America
    Spain
    Sparta
    Spy
    SS Atlantic
    STEAM
    STEM
    Stewart Ainsworth
    Stonehenge
    Stuart Peachy
    Suzannah Lipscomb
    Tales From The Green Valley
    The Family
    The Vikings
    Time Team
    Time Travels
    Time Walks
    Tirpitz
    Titanic
    Tom Pinford
    Tony Robinson
    Top 10
    Tracy Borman
    Trains
    Trojan War
    Tudor
    Tudor Monastery Farm
    Tudors
    Turn Back Time
    United-states
    USS Indianapolis
    Varus
    Victorian-bakers
    Victorian-bakers
    Victorian-farm
    Victorian-farm
    Victorian-home
    Victorian-pharmacy
    Vikings
    Warsaw Ghetto
    Wartime Farm
    White Palace
    White Star Line
    Who Do You Think You Are?
    Wilhelm Gustloff
    William The Conqueror
    Winston Churchill
    Witches
    Witch Hunting
    World War I
    World War II
    YouTube

    Privacy Policy

    HistoryDocTube will not collect any personal information and will not sell any personal information to a third party.  We will not request any personal information. 

    ​The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. 

    The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such.  I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms.

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Blog
  • YouTube
    • Ancient America
    • Ancient China
    • Ancient Egypt
    • Ancient Rome
    • Holocaust
    • Tudors
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • History Meets English
    • History Meets Geography
    • History Meets Reality TV
    • History Meets Science
    • Royals
    • Time Team
    • YouTube Channels
    • Bettany Hughes
    • Tony Robinson
    • Lucy Worsley
  • About Me
    • Portfolio
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me