This interesting silent 16mm home movie was shot by an unknown American during WWII. The film starts with images in what appears to be Hawaii, with a sign “Hale-Punaluu” appearing at the 11 second mark. U.S. personnel are seen milling about and drinking beer, and at 1:24 someone climbs a coconut palm. The scene is likely towards the end of the war, or immediately after. At 1:54 a pair of swim trunks are shown off and at 2:02 a cross-dressing sailor puts on a wild dance show.

At 2:33 the scene switches to the Yokosuka Naval Base in Occupied Japan. At 2:47 an I-400 class Japanese submarine is seen at anchor, and at 3:03 the boats I-40i and I-14 are seen. The Japanese submarine I-14 was a Type AM submarine built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. These Type AM submarines were versions of the preceding A2 class-class with the command facilities replaced by an enlarged aircraft hangar were fitted for a pair of Aichi M6A1 floatplane bombers. The hangars are clearly seen on the deck of the submarines. At 3:18 the I-400 boat can be seen in the rear.

At 3:55 are images of an aircraft carrier as seen from a small boat, and at 4:11 a battleship. At 4;32 what appears to be a Japanese battleship is seen. This ship is seen up close at 4:48. This is most likely the Hyuga and the scene is Kure, Japan. Hyūga (日向) was the second and last Ise-class battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1910s and considered obsolete during WWII. She was sunk by American airstrikes in 1945. The ship was raised and broken up by the Kure Dockyard of the Harima Zōsen Corporation from 2 July 1946 to 4 July 1947.

At 6:46 parts of the victorious American fleet are seen in a busy harbor. At 7:02, sailors are seen leaving their ship. At 7:24 an aircraft carrier is seen on the horizon. This is apparently CV-31, Bonne Homme Richard, one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. At 8;29 a distinctive building is seen — but we have no idea where it is. At 8:54, quite a bit of rubble is evident in the streets of a Japanese city and at 9:07 a child is seen surveying the wreckage. At 9:18 more decimated city blocks are seen. At 10:14, U.S. occupation personnel have lunch amidst the ruins.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com