Midget subs and me

[Roger Long]

Even if you are not interested in Pearl Harbor or WWII history, some of you might wonder what I look like

Tuesday, January 5 at 8:00 EST you can see me on "Nova" for about 5 minutes blowing up models of Japanese midget subs I designed and had built for the show. Info and trailer here:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/killersubs/

You can see me in the trailer if you look quickly. I'm the guy in the red jacket just before the boom.

 

[biggio]

A question for you. Looking at the endurance of these battery powered subs. Do we know when they were launched and from where?

 

[Roger Long]

Do we know when they were launched and from where?

Yes, and that will be covered in the show.

 

[Sumner]

Ok we saw the red jacket and hat, but how do we know that was you ? Couldn't see a face:cry:, but we saw you on your site so that isn't a problem.

It took a while to find who had Nova on our Dish programming, but Ruth was successful after I wasn't and we have it down to record.

c ya,

Sum

Our Trips to Lake Powell, UT - Kootenay Lake, Canada - Priest Lake, ID

Our Mac Pages

Mac Links

 

[Bob Poff]

Well that I'll need to watch. I'm always a fan of blowing up things.

By the way Roger, I'm reading Titanic's Last Secrets. Quite interesting.
When I first ran across your name, thought, "Hmmmm.... is that....".
Then looked up your profile.

I stand before you (figuratively) impressed and humbled.

 

[Rick Webb]

Why Blow Them Up?

I remember climbing all over the one that washed up on the beach and was on display at Bellows AFS in HI.

 

[dvideohd]

the story from friends...

I am glad you had a part in helping to make this show!!! It's a story that deserves to be told!!!

When growing up, a close friend's father would, sometimes, tell stories of being in a destroyer off the mouth of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He was in the engine room - and they were making a LOT OF VERY HIGH SPEED RUNS and TURNS... They knew something serious was happening, but not all of what was going on..

He told a story of looking for subs that day.....

--jerry

 

[Honeyman]

Hey, we've got one here in Tejas at the Nimitz museum out in Fredericksburg. Probably the best Naval Museum in the country that covers WWII. Too bad the "kids" of today don't have a clue as to what WWII was all about or the sacrifices that were made so that the French and most of Europe don't have to speak German today.

 

[BobM]

ID you know that the US attacked Japan first in the 1850's?

Apparently they had a long memory of these events. No doubt they played some role in the desire of Japanese commanders to go to war with us in the 1940's.


Japan's policy of isolation lasted for more than 200 years. In 1844, William II of the Netherlands sent a message urging Japan to open her doors, which resulted in Tokugawa shogunate's rejection.[16] On July 8, 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy with four warships — the Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna — steamed into the bay at Edo, old Tokyo, and displayed the threatening power of his ships' cannons during a Christian burial, which the Japanese observed. He requested that Japan open to trade with the West. These ships became known as the kurofune, the Black Ships.


The following year, at the Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854, Perry returned with seven ships and requested that the Shogun sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing formal diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other western countries. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858. These treaties were widely regarded by Japanese intellectuals as unequal, having been forced on Japan through gunboat diplomacy, and as a sign of the West's desire to incorporate Japan into the imperialism that had been taking hold of the rest of the Asian continent. Among other measures, they gave the Western nations unequivocal control of tariffs on imports and the right of extraterritoriality to all their visiting nationals. They would remain a sticking point in Japan's relations with the West up to the turn of the century.

 

[BobM]

Midget Subs

Roger, this looks very interesting. The role of the midget subs has always been portrayed as minimal. When did you find time to fit all this into your busy schedule?

 

[Ron20324]

And what became of all the midgets? ... I'm looking forward to the show, Roger

 

[RAD]

Saw a show on discovery channel about one of these subs in Pearl Harbor....will look forward to your show

 

[Dave Groshong]

Hey Roger, I went to the link, but can't find the trailer, maybe I'm just blind?

 

[Roger Long]

Hey Roger, I went to the link, but can't find the trailer, maybe I'm just blind?

http://video.pbs.org/video/1350159011/

 

[RichBone]

Were the midget subs the same as the one-man suicide subs that Japan used?

Rich

 

[Roger Long]

Were the midget subs the same as the one-man suicide subs that Japan used?

No. Highly trained two man crews with explicit instructions to try and survive and get back so their training wouldn't be wasted. Getting back might involve going ashore and disappearing into the local Japanese population which was expected to be much more supportive of the Japanese war effort than they turned out to be. One of the issues raised in the show is whether some old guy in Hawaii will be watching this show with a smile on his face.

 

[Dave Groshong]

Thanks Roger, pretty interesting!

 

[Rick Webb]

Roger, That Reminds Me of a Story A High School Teacher Told

As the story went the guy in the sub dumped his torpedos and then sat out the war with relatives who had a watercress farm in Pearl City. Maybe just a story or maybe he knew somthing nobody else did?.

 

[Ron20324]

Roger's Show is on at 8- get off the computer and go watch:dance:

 

[Deadhead]

Nice Job Roger

Very cool. BTW - my father worked at NWS Earle & we used to fish off the pier back in the 70's.