CLYDESIDE UNPLUGGED
Why were the Nips so good at building ships?
If it wasn't for the Nips
Being so good at building ships
The yards would still be open
On the Clyde
Who pulled the plug on the Clydeside shipyards? What kind of historical reference is Roger trying to make? Well, Roger does give us a hint--a bit of a news program that occurs at the beginning of the song:
...It was announced today that the replacement for the Atlantic Conveyor the container ship lost in the Falklands conflict would be built in Japan, a spokesman for...
 May 25, 1982 Hit by an exocet missile, the Atlantic Conveyor burned badly and eventually sank several days later. |
Based on this hint, you may think that the Clyde shipyards verse is but a simple reference to the replacement ship for the sunken Atlantic Conveyor. And you would be partially right, for yes, this is true. But there is a deeper meaning.
From the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, from World War II to the Falklands War, Roger Waters' lyrics to The Final Cut are all over the map and all around the clock. In his pursuit to restore 'the post-war dream', Roger brings a multitude of historical references to bear. The adage says that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. So Roger lets go with full force to give everyone a reminder.
At the time Roger composed these lyrics, the loss of the Atlantic Conveyor was a current event. But now, some twenty years later, this event is but a molehill on the mountain of British history. I think it's an ironic twist that the double entendre's once-obvious meaning has switched places to become the hidden meaning.
The obscurity of this event is hastened by the second half of Roger's verse:
But it can't be much fun for them
Beneath the rising sun
With all their kids
Committing suicide
Where's the 1982 current events reference in this line? Is the enormous pressure the Japanese placed on their schoolchildren to succeed too much for them to bear? Well, perhaps. But, fifty-seven years after the fact, this reference to Japanese kamikaze attacks during World War II is still blatantly obvious. And herein lies the clue to understanding the other meaning in the first half of this verse. British shipbuilders losing their jobs to Japanese shipbuilders, this had all happened before...
For thousands of years the Japanese were isolationists, but thanks to that meddling Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, their eyes were opened to the ways of the West. They grabbed onto the Imperialistic ideology with both hands. But the Europeans had had a big head start. Although entering late in the game, the Japanese were determined to carve out an Empire of their own.
The key to success for this island nation was the same as that other champion empire-building island nation: a large modern navy. The quickest way to go from no navy to a large modern navy was to buy one. And the products of the British shipyards were the obvious place to go shopping.
 Built on the Clyde by John Brown and Company in 1899, Asahi would play a key role in the Japanese victory at Tsushima Strait. |
Fuji, the first battleship of the Japanese navy, was built by the Thames Ironworks, Blackwall in 1894. Joining Fuji were Yashima, Shikishima, Hatsuse, Asahi, and Mikasa; these battleships were the backbone of the Japanese fleet. All these battleships were built in Britain. And with his flag in Mikasa, Admiral Heihachiro Togo and his "made in Britain" fleet dispatched the Russian Baltic fleet in the Tsushima Strait, the deciding battle of the Russo-Japanese War.
With the defeat of the Russians, Japanese expansion moved into high gear. Korea was annexed in 1910, and Southern Manchuria came under their influence. Then came the biggest gift. Japan, aligning itself with the Entente, proceeded to occupy all the German-held territories in the Pacific. The Mariana Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Marshall Islands came quickly and easily to the Japanese flag.
At the 1922 Washington Conference, the world powers gathered to set naval arms limitations. These limitations were designed to avoid another naval arms race like the one that had preceded World War I. This treaty imposed a 5-5-3 ratio. For every 5 ships in a particular class that the British were allowed to have, the United States was allowed 5, and the Japanese were allowed 3.
Being on the short end of the stick left the Japanese feeling second-rate. But there was no way the other powers would allow Japan to have parity (5-5-5). The reason appeared to be obvious to the Westerners. Both Britain and the U.S. had two oceans to defend; Japan only one. With half of the U.S. fleet and half of the British fleet in the Atlantic, the Japanese would have the largest fleet in the Pacific (2.5-2.5-3).
But from the Japanese point of view, their fleet was still to be inferior in numbers to the combined Allied fleet (U.S. and Britain together). Thus, the Japanese were forced to play by the "quality, not quantity" axiom.
The Japanese stopped buying British ships and started building their own. They made them bigger. They made them faster. They put more and bigger guns on them. They made them more maneuverable. And yes, the Japanese became very good at building ships. By the time World War II came around, the Japanese fleet was the envy of the world.
 Yamato, the largest and most powerful battleship ever constructed. So valuable was this ship that the Japanese refrained from using it in battle for fear of losing it. Only as a last gasp, when the war situation was hopeless, did she finally see action (Leyte Gulf, October 1944). |
A side-by-side comparison of each ship's capabilities makes this clear. Proof that the Japanese ships were superior was readily apparent after the initial naval battles of the war. At Java Sea and again at Savo Island, numerically equivalent forces met with the same result: a crushing Allied defeat.
But in the end, the Japanese lost the war. With such a great fleet, how was this possible? First, the importance of the ship-of-the-line had been minimized by the airplane and the aircraft carrier. Second, the Japanese were far behind the British and the Americans in developing ship-borne radar. The Japanese tactic of slugging it out at close range under cover of darkness was useless against radar. The American ships would blow the Japanese out of the water before they could get close enough to even see their opponent.
Okay, history lesson over. Let's look at Roger's lyrics again:
If it wasn't for the Nips
Being so good at building ships
The yards would still be open
On the Clyde
But it can't be much fun for them
Beneath the rising sun
With all their kids
Committing suicide
Now, let me rephrase what Roger is saying:
We British used to build lots of ships
For the Japanese navy
But the freakin' bastards had to go and
Build their own
Putting all our shipbuilders
Out of work
But look what good that did them
They still lost the bloody war
 Still open today, the Govan shipyard on the Clyde. |