As World War II raged, the Pacific Ocean was full of American and Japanese Navies looking to battle against one another. Acquired by Japanese sources, this behind-the-scenes footage shows what it looks like when a Japanese submarine scrambles to use its top-deck gun to attack Allied forces. While it’s hard to say if this was a test or a real emergency, watching the Japanese crew scramble to make the gun ready is a reminder of the horrors of the war.
Calm Waters
Moments before the Japanese crew swarmed the deck, there was the “calm before the storm.” It’s hard not to feel a brief moment of peace before chaos inevitably breaks out.
Sailor on Deck
In the full video, you see this still image when the first sailor jumps onto the deck out of the submarine. The sailor’s first action is removing the deck gun coverings that help keep water out of the barrel when submerging the submarine.
Removing Gun Coverings
This still image shows the sailor removing the first gun covering at the end of the barrel. As the first person on the submarine’s deck, the sailor’s first official action is to remove this covering.
Lots of Crew
It only takes moments after the first sailor is on deck for additional crew to appear. At this point, the crew rushes to the weapon, removes other coverings, and begins getting the weapon ready to fire.
Moving the Gun
As soon as the initial stages of preparing the gun were finished, the crew moved the gun into the firing position. This position is almost assuredly based on the enemy’s position, as the gun needs to point directly at an enemy ship.
Loading the Shell
With this image, you get the appearance of one Japanese crew member loading what appears to be a shell into the barrel of the weapon. This is the actual munition that will be fired at an enemy ship.
Sighting the Weapon
Once the shell is loaded, the same submarine crew member inspects the weapon to ensure the barrel is pointed in the right direction. The crew’s last desire is to fire the weapon in the wrong direction and waste limited ammunition.
Loading the Bursting Charge
A bursting charge was also loaded to assist the projectile or ammunition in traveling longer distances and more effectively hit and destroy targets.
Securing the Weapon
With the ammunition and bursting charge loaded, one sailor had to seal the weapon to be ready to fire. In this image, you can see the crew member closing a steel door at the tail end of the gun.
Resighting the Weapon
Now that the gun is ready to fire, one crew member is pictured here, resighting the weapon and ensuring it’s on target. As every submarine only has limited ammunition, missing a target because of careless aiming was not an option.
Firing the Weapon
In this image, you can see the smoke coming out of the 220-inch barrel of the deck gun, indicating it had just fired. At this point, the crew has to decide whether to reload or secure the weapon for submerging the submarine.
Watch the Full Video
To understand how quickly this action takes place, watch the full video to see everything happen in under one minute. It’s incredible how quickly submariners can act to defend their position and crew.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©United States Government.
