Top-Secret 1943: The Fuse That Made Flak THINK

A top-secret “smart” fuse changed naval AA overnight. The VT proximity fuze—“radar in a bullet”—survived ~20,000 gees, made its first combat kill at sea with USS Helena (Jan 5, 1943), and multiplied effective bursts 3–5× versus time fuzes. Kept off land until the Ardennes (Dec 1944) to avoid capture, VT turned near misses into kills from Leyte and Luzon to Okinawa—when picket destroyers faced Kikusui I–X and the sky arrived in waves.

What you’ll see
• How a tiny radio listened and chose the burst moment
• Why time fuzes failed in the last second—and how VT fixed it
• CIC → Mk 37 director → 5”/38 workflow (no guesswork at the muzzle)
• Leyte & Luzon: escort carriers, convoys, and VT going fleet-wide
• Okinawa: the picket line—fighters + 5” VT + 40mm walls vs saturation
• Myths & limits: rain, sea clutter, no VT on 40/20 mm, and why fighters still mattered

Fact integrity
Dates & figures follow USN wartime docs and museum archives. Where historians differ, ranges are noted in-video.

Sources (shortlist)
NHHC (U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command); NARA (80-G/26-G); Naval Ordnance reports on VT; HyperWar/ibiblio scans; SDASM archives; Smithsonian & National Air and Space; JACAR/NDL (JP) where applicable.

Visuals & music
Archival/public-domain photos where indicated. Some shots are reenactments/AI in archival style; Fact Cards reflect documented numbers. Licensed music.

Call to action
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Hashtags
#WW2 #ProximityFuze #VT #NavalHistory #PacificWar #Kamikaze #Leyte #Luzon #Okinawa #USNavy

Keywords
VT proximity fuze, proximity fuse, radar in a bullet, Mk 37 director, Mk 1A rangekeeper, 5 inch/38, Leyte Gulf, St. Lo, Lingayen Gulf, Ommaney Bay, Okinawa picket line, Kikusui, kamikaze defense, CIC, air search radar SK/SC, Mk 12/Mk 22, flak, anti-aircraft, destroyer screen