Nov 12: Washington Opens the Naval Holiday, Dambusters Sink the Tirpitz

Host 1 Welcome to This Day in Military History. On this day, November 12th, imagine the world's most powerful militaries agreeing to take their biggest, most expensive weapons and just throw them in the trash.

Host 2 Yeah, it sounds impossible, but on this date in 1921, that is well, pretty much what happened.

Host 1 Right. Right before the world swung violently in the opposite direction. So today we are doing a deep dive into this historical pendulum, looking at the tension between ambitious attempts at peace and, you know, the rapid deployment of terrifying new weapons.

Host 2 And we are using a stack of historical accounts, casualty figures, and treaty records for our mission today.

Host 1 Yeah. So why does military history so frequently bounce between trying to outlaw weapons and then rushing to build bigger ones?

Host 2 Well, to answer that, we have to look at the Washington Naval Conference. US Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes shocked the diplomatic world.

Host 1 He didn't just propose a pause on building ships, right?

Host 2 No. He offered to scrap 30 American capital ships. I mean, that is 845,740 tons of steel.

Host 1 Which for you listening is kind of like inviting delegates to a luxury car show only to suggest everyone immediately crush their most expensive sports cars.

Host 2 That is a very apt comparison. It was a revered model for arms control, actually. It slowed an arms race for over a decade.

Host 1 Because they established that five to three tonnage ratio for Britain the US and Japan

Host 2 Right, but it was fragile Japan abandoned the treaty by 1934 and you know when arms treaties fail nations return to building behemoths

Host 1 which brings us to November 12th 1944

Host 2 Yes the RAF launches Operation Catechism in Norway targeting Germany's largest remaining battleship the Tirpitz

Host 1 Right with around 30 Lancaster bombers I know sources dispute the exact number putting it somewhere between 29 and 32 but they were carrying these 12,000 pound bombs known as Tallboys.

Host 2 And Wing Commander James Tate spotted the ship from 20 miles away.

Host 2 He described her as looking like a spider in her web.

Host 1 Oh, wow.

Host 2 Yeah. Between 941 and 949 in the morning, two bombs pierced the armored deck. By 952 AM, the ship had capsized.

Host 1 The human cost is just staggering to think about, about 971 of the 1700 men aboard died.

Host 2 Yes, though over the next day rescuers miraculously cut 87 men free from the upturned hull but you know historians still debate the physics of it.

Host 1 Oh whether it was direct hits or near misses that actually caused the capsizing

Host 2 yeah because dropping a 12,000 pound bomb in the water next to an armored ship creates an enormous underwater cavity the water rushes back in basically blowing out the underside and flipping the ship

Host 1 wait really

Host 2 yes the physics of a near miss can be far more devastating

Host 1 I have to push back a bit on the military necessity here though I mean historians argue the ship was already crippled so was dropping 12,000 pound bombs a strict military requirement or was it just a psychological message to the enemy

Host 2 Well, I'm not sure it is an either or scenario. Dropping your largest bomb on an already damaged target sends a chilling signal about what you were capable of achieving from the air.

Host 1 Yeah, that makes sense. And that unbridled destruction leads directly to the next swing of the pendulum, right? We go from seeking peace in 1921 to absolute devastation in 1944 and then a desperate return to accountability.

Host 2 Which brings us to November 12th, 1948. The Tokyo Military Tribunal sentenced 25 Japanese defendants, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, to death or life imprisonment.

Host 1 And just a quick note for you, also on this day in 1942, the Ninth Air Force replaced the US Army Middle East Air Force.

Host 2 Right. So this single date encapsulates the full spectrum of modern conflict. We see hopeful diplomacy, sheer destruction, and then restructuring.

Host 1 Which leaves us with this to ponder. When we look at attempts to regulate modern technology and weapons today, you know, are we just repeating the 1921 Washington Naval Conference, destined to eventually build our era's equivalent of the 12,000 pound tall boy?

Host 1 Thanks for tuning in. See you back here tomorrow.