When it came to the United States’ desire to defeat Japan during the Second World War, it seemed that no scheme, no plan, no secret weapon was too outlandish to be considered.
In their bid to land a knock out punch on the forces of Tojo, American and Allied researchers envisioned everything from loosing millions of bomb-laden bats high above Japan to releasing boatload upon boatload of trained attack dogs onto the shores of the home islands — anything to surprise and demoralize the Japanese people was on the table. In fact, as recently as last week, the media reported a newly discovered plan by the U.S. military to swamp Japan using man-made tsunamis.
The far fetched sounding gambit, which was reported in the Friday edition of Canada’s National Post newspaper, was dubbed Project Seal. It involved using enormous underwater explosions to create massive and destructive tidal waves large enough to destroy Japanese cities and port facilities.
Conducted in cooperation with the government of New Zealand, American researchers tested the plan by detonating more than 3,000 charges in the waters off Auckland and the nearby island of New Caledonia.
Experts believed that 10 charges totaling two million lbs. of high explosives strung out on the ocean floor approximately five miles off shore could produce a 33-foot sea swell. By comparison, the 2004 tsunami that killed a quarter million people around the rim of the Indian Ocean was as high as 100 feet in places, while the wave that devastated Japan following the 2011 earthquake was estimated to be more than 130-feet tall.
The plan for the American super-weapon was recently unearthed by a New Zealand author and film maker by the name of Ray Waru. According to his research, the scheme wasn’t as outlandish as it may seem.
“It was absolutely astonishing,” Waru was quoted as saying by The National Post. “First that anyone would come up with the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami — and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to the degree that it might have worked.”
The plan was abandoned in early 1945, presumably as the American atomic bomb project neared its completion.
The bat project also reached fruition when the government just stopped short of approving it. I also understand there was an “accident” at a facility caused by the rash actions of an officer…proving the efficacy of the weapon. 😉
I remember reading that they tested the incendiary bats in Utah and California, but during one of the tests, the bats got loose and some nested in various points around the base… with predictable results.