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On June 8, 1943, the Japanese battleship Mutsu was rocked by a violent explosion that split the ship in two sections while moored in Hiroshima Bay. The larger front section sank immediately while the aft section remained floating for 14 more hours with its stern pointing toward the sky before it too sank. This led to some lives being spared but the death toll was already high coming in at 1,121 lives lost. Although visibilty at the time was low, a search of the area found no allied craft or submarines in the immediate vicinity. Also eyewitness statements that were made shortly after indicate a magazine explosion in the vicinity of turret number 3. Since Allied war records make no claims of a successful attack in this area all evidence gathered by divers after the fact points to a internal explosion. The final report issued by the Imperial Japanese Navy idicates the explosion was caused by human interference, and leans towards sabotage either by a ring of saboteurs or a disgruntled crewman in the number 3 turret who had been recently been accused of theft. Over the years (1949-1978) portions of the ship have been salvaged and restored where they are now on display in a memorial museum in the city of Towa Cho.
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Bill Murray
Why do we press harder on the remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?
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