Cherry Blossom Season At Yasukuni Shrine

[CaptBeefheart]

In my experience Korean men can outdrink Japanese men, although the culture of getting sloshed with your co-workers every night is fading. Quite some time ago I had a summer gig at an investment bank in Tokyo and I noticed the gals could definitely slug down the namas (draft beers) better than their male peers. Soon after that I had a gig in Korea where it was me and 30 Korean helo engineers in one bullpen. I had to exchange glasses of soju with every one of those gents (and the secretary) one night at a promotion party for three of us and the good thing about that was they assigned a junior guy to make sure I got home OK. Koreans also have a soju bomb, which is another version of the boilermaker.

One thing you won't see is Koreans drinking much during the day or outside. If you look around a park on the weekend and you see a group of people drinking beer, it's likely to be expats.

Cheers,
CB

[fcooke]

I'm sure the beer dispensing machines could deliver room temp beer. One of most distressing experiences when I lived in London was when colleagues of mine would order Budweiser.....[8|]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

I'm sure the beer dispensing machines could deliver room temp beer. One of most distressing experiences when I lived in London was when colleagues of mine would order Budweiser.....[8|]

I guess you could call them Busch league beer drinkers ...[;)]

[fcooke]

Indeed. The locals were impressed with a Yanks ability to hold my booze. Then one night one of them 'hang on you are Irish too' Made them all feel better that a 'standard' Yank could drink them under the table. At the expense of an Irish stereotype.

[fcooke]

First generation, but do carry both passports. Comes in handy.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy

ORIGINAL: fcooke

I'm sure the beer dispensing machines could deliver room temp beer. One of most distressing experiences when I lived in London was when colleagues of mine would order Budweiser.....[8|]

I guess you could call them Busch league beer drinkers ...[;)]

I have enjoyed good Budweiser Bier. But it came from Czechoslovakia . . .

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

ber 1944, a desperately lucky 5-inch shot from the fleeing escort carrier White Plains (CVE-66) hit the heavy cruiser Chokai in the torpedo bank and she had to be scuttled.

It does not matter the size what of hits you if it lands in a vulnerable spot! [X(]

not really. but I love the pic.

[fcooke]

Good old Budvar. Though if you go to a Prague beer hall you get the really good stuff.

[fcooke]

And other than the Chokai didn't a few other IJN CAs suffer from their own torps? Big warheads and oxygen propulsion made them a bit volatile. Maybe Mikuma at Midway? I'm sure someone knows the 'events' off the top of their head.

[anarchyintheuk]

Suzuya also suffered from friendly torpedoes at Samar. The same battle as Chokai.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

And other than the Chokai didn't a few other IJN CAs suffer from their own torps? Big warheads and oxygen propulsion made them a bit volatile. Maybe Mikuma at Midway? I'm sure someone knows the 'events' off the top of their head.

The classic picture of Mikuma at Midway shows some torpedoes hanging from the torpedo tubes - a failed jettison attempt. But that means that particular bank of torps did not explode. Since Mikuma had four torpedo banks some of the others could have exploded, but my understanding is that the engine rooms were hit by bombs and the ship was scuttled as the Allied carriers were expected to strike the next day as well. Better to save the crew and lose the ship than lose both trying to save the ship.

[fcooke]

And the Americans seemed to have started the kamikaze trend - was it Henderson who crashed his damaged plane into the rear of Mikuma?

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

And the Americans seemed to have started the kamikaze trend - was it Henderson who crashed his damaged plane into the rear of Mikuma?

Not sure about that. Henderson was a Marine pilot who died at Midway. I am not sure if the USN had any Marine units on their carriers or if Midway's Marine air units could have reached Mikuma.

[RangerJoe]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

Good old Budvar. Though if you go to a Prague beer hall you get the really good stuff.

Well, at the time, it would have been difficult for me to go to Prague.

Although my stepbrother did go all over Europe and even to the Middle East in the 1960s.

[Buckrock]

It was apparently the torpedoes in Mikuma's interior torpedo storage room rather than those in her tubes that exploded so devastatingly after being roasted by uncontrolled fires for over 45 minutes. Mogami and the CL Abukuma both would suffer similar incidents with uncontrolled fires and their torpedoes during the closing stages of the Battle of Surigao Strait in '44.

And the Mikuma was apparently not kamikazied by any US aircraft at Midway. That story came from a mis-remembered Japanese claim and some creative interpretation of a pile of wreckage on the Mikuma from the same famous photo mentioned earlier. Shattered Sword makes mention of it in the footnotes.

As for the Chokai, her wreck was discovered and investigated recently. The story of her torpedoes detonating on-board during the Battle off Samar appears to have been incorrect. You can find a discussion on it at the Nihon Kaigun site that includes comments from the person who came up with the original theory, Anthony Tully.
https://propnturret.com/tully/viewtopic ... 9&start=15

This was from one of his posts in the discussion....
"What the wreck already tells us is that bomb damage is certainly present, but so also is shell fire holes it appears, and evidence of some fire -- but none of the torpedo tube mounts proper exploded. In fact, they don't look to have been loaded and fired, or had fired already, and not yet reloaded. But all are empty. So whatever made CHOKAI un-navigable -- it was not a MIKUMA (or SUZUYA) level of torpedo mount explosions -- despite that having seemed the most likely explanation to date. (Just shows how crucial examining a wreck is if you get that luxury!)".

[Nikademus]

ORIGINAL: fcooke

And other than the Chokai didn't a few other IJN CAs suffer from their own torps? Big warheads and oxygen propulsion made them a bit volatile. Maybe Mikuma at Midway? I'm sure someone knows the 'events' off the top of their head.

Aoba
Furutaka
Mogami
Mikuma
Suzuya

Abukuma

[Nikademus]

Agreed on Chokai. Finding the wreck was the Cherry on top. There had previously been reasonable doubt based on several source materials including Lacroix. Hornfischer "suggested" it was due to torps but his opinion turned out to be based on the eyewitness account you cited from the pursued TG.

speaking of found wrecks, still waiting for a detailed update on the Midway wrecks found recently.

[spence]

According to "Shattered Sword" the difference between the fates of Mikuma and Mogami at Midway was the decision by the DCA (damage control assistant) on Mogami to jettison his torpedoes even though they were (expensive and) the "BB killers" which by doctrine were the raison d'etre of heavy cruisers. I guess he either got his wrist slapped hard for that decision or he got transferred before the Battle of Surigao Strait.

[Nikademus]

SS did indeed suggest that. However I've not seen this view substantiated. Certainly there were numerous other situations where torpedoes were jettisoned if the ship was threatened.

[Sardaukar]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus

SS did indeed suggest that. However I've not seen this view substantiated. Certainly there were numerous other situations where torpedoes were jettisoned if the ship was threatened.

Well, in Shattered Sword, that was eyewitness account by the said damage control officer, so that might be pretty well substantiated.

They also had to shut the hatches, which did lead to death of lot of their shipmates, to control the fires.