Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

The final demise of the IJN...

Discussion in 'Naval Warfare in the Pacific' started by brndirt1, Sep 25, 2011.

  1. brndirt1

    brndirt1 Saddle Tramp

    Joined:
    Jul 7, 2008
    Messages:
    9,713
    Likes Received:
    1,501
    This why I made the point of the pine-nuts being distilled for an avgas substitute, not a heavy fuel oil or "bunker oil" used in the IJN's ships.
     
  2. lwd

    lwd Ace

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Messages:
    12,322
    Likes Received:
    1,245
    Location:
    Michigan
    I think it was over on the IJN board at j-aircraft. As I recall they sited some reasonably authoratative reference material.
     
  3. Takao

    Takao Ace

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2010
    Messages:
    10,103
    Likes Received:
    2,574
    Location:
    Reading, PA
    Sure, you can read through all the material pertaining to Japanese Fuels & Lubricants in the US Naval Technical Mission to Japan at the Fischer-Tropsch Archive. Here is the Link: REPORTS OF THE U.S. NAVAL TECHNICAL MISSION TO JAPAN
    The 10 articles are found in "Series X: Miscellaneous Targets", from JM-200-K, -L, and -M, look for X-38(N)-1 through -10. It is a lot of information, and some of the .pdfs are quite large, so you might want to save them first.


    As to the Yamato having plenty of fuel, that was first reported in Russell Spurr's book "A Glorious Way To Die"(which has recently been reprinted).
    Amazon.com: A Glorious Way to Die: The Kamikaze Mission of the Battleship Yamato, April 1945 (9781557042484): Russell Spurr: Books
     
    Colonel FOG and Tristan Scott like this.
  4. Tristan Scott

    Tristan Scott Member

    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2008
    Messages:
    168
    Likes Received:
    41

    According to Russell Spurr’s A Glorious Way to Die, even though they were ordered only to give them 40% capacity, the fuel yard commander gave the task force all their fuel which gave them about 60% capacity which may have been enough for a return to Japan. According to George Feifer’s The Battle of Okinawa: The Blood and the Bomb, the officers in charge of fueling felt that the Yamato could survive if she ran into two or even three US battleships, so it would be important for her to return home if that were the case.
    The Yamato was seen by many in Japan as an almost invincible ship. It also seemed that the surface sailors the world over were very slow to respond to the idea that the Battleship’s day as the supreme capital ship was over.
    Also-as to the fuel used by naval ships in WWII-they used what the US Navy referred to as Bunker C fuel oil, which was essentially crude oil that was only lightly screened. It was usually preheated to a relatively high temperature before being pumped to the burners on the boilers which helped prevent the nozzles from clogging.

    OH! On edit, I see that Takao has already made the Spurr cite on the fueling issue!
     
  5. firstnorth

    firstnorth Dishonorably Discharged

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2012
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    4
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    By any possibility were they collecting pine roots instead? Pine roots can be distilled for turpentine...

    From the other site:
    Axis History Forum • View topic - Japan and oil

    Japan ,in Manchuria, had been mining & extracting shale oil since 1929. although the 'fusan process" required steel retorts, it was pretty straightforward.I 'm not sure why it wasn't ramped up.
    Oil-Shale Development - Oil-shale Mining (TP 2359, Petr. Tech., May 1948) - Document Summary
     
  6. firstnorth

    firstnorth Dishonorably Discharged

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2012
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    4
    The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Oil

    Says it was pine roots - but the idea seems'nuts', so I'm all a- corny.....
    the Janitors of Japan would have had a bonus supply of Pine sol at wars end...
     

Share This Page