1). I was so fortunate to have had that experience!!! The sky is still overcast and visibility is poor. Itos chief of staff, Rear Admiral Nobuei Morishita, was the senior survivor of Yamato. The Americans lost 10 aircraft, while one aircraft carrier, one battleship, and one destroyer were damaged. At 14:23, having taken 10 torpedo and 7 bomb hits, Yamatos forward ammunition magazines detonated. American aviators received orders to drop their The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. Fuyuzuki suffered light damage from dud rockets, suffered 12 dead and 12 injured, and was repaired, but had her stern blown off by a mine after the August cease-fire. According to Morison, there were only 23 officers and 246 enlisted sailors who survived, which doesnt exactly match, but is close. While YAHAGI jams their sighting messages, YAMATO receives a report from a Japanese scout plane that Task Force 58 has been located east of Okinawa, 250 nautical miles from the Attack Force. Very interesting or happy to read about the Yamoto sinking as I was there as radioman aboard an Avenger off of the USS Langley. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. John Carter, was in a perfect position to watch what unfolded. At 1246, she took a direct torpedo hit in the engine room that killed the entire engine room crew and left her dead in the water, unable to avoid further hits. Yamato would have appeared indestructible. The Mariners were subordinate to Patrol Bombing Squadron 21 (VPB-21), operating from the tender Chandeleur (AV-10), which had arrived at Kerama Rettoon 28 March. Meanwhile, the dead-in-the-water Yahagi had soaked up at least 12 bombs and seven torpedo hits before she finally capsized and sank at 1405. One Avenger is shot down. The Hell Divers then plummeted straight down dropping armor-piercing bombs, clearing the way for the Avenger torpedo bombers that came in low and slow to try to put torpedoes on the target. He just didnt want to talk about the war. Spruance was informed of it only after the aircraft had taken off. Hatsushimo suffered only three wounded on 6 April, but, on 20 July, struck a mine and was the last Japanese destroyer sunk in the war. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. The pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Yamato was said to be the most powerful warship in history, but it was also beautiful, "like something in a tapestry.". This was taken as a yet another bad omen. As waves of kamikazes took to the sky to defend the island, Yamato was ordered to sea on a mission to emulate the suicide planes and take out as many American ships as possible. The age of the battleship was over forever. 3s upper powder magazine. Have we no more ships?. Fuyutsuki was hit by two dud rockets. At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. She takes on a heavy list to port and her speed drops to 18 knots. A Japanese destroyer peeled off three times to keep Hackleback at bay. How many planes were lost attacking the Yamato? In addition, sick sailors and also the oldest sailors were sent to shore. The fighter issued a contact report at 0832. The attack of hundreds of US air force against Japan made Japan's biggest battleship Yamato sink. She slips under followed by an underwater explosion. Vice Admiral Ito retired to his stateroom to go down with the ship. Some of the Japanese survivors reported that U.S. fighter aircraft strafed Japanese survivors floating in the water. Light cruiser Yahagi steered away from Yamato in an attempt to draw attention away from the battleshiptoo successfully. However, in order to keep up with Yamato, these forays were short-lived. In a separate attack, compani ), U.S. submarines were already waiting for Yamato, with orders to report rather than attack, although with the force transiting at 22 knots and frequently zig-zagging, successful attack in all but the luckiest circumstances was unlikely. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. Agroup of five low-flying Avengers (VT-17) from HORNET (CV-12) start a torpedo run from the port, bearing 70 degrees. one-third of which were torpedo bombers that hit from low altitudes. The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of the largest battleships ever built. The first U.S. attack wave ended about 1250. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. Yamato maneuvers while under attack by U.S. Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945, maneuvering evasively at a brisk 15 to 20 knots. The Attack Force briefly sights seven Hellcat fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. A torpedo stopped her dead in the water and killed the entire engine compartment crew. About 1,620 survivors of Yamato, Yahagi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi were rescued by the surviving Japanese destroyers. The Americans bloody island-hopping campaign, which had begun in the southern Solomon Islands in 1942, had grown as the Americans swept across the Gilberts, the Solomons, and, after the battles in Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea, were on the cusp of Japan herself. The others kept coming. At 1430 on 7 April 1945, more than 300 nautical miles north of Okinawa, Yamato blows up after capsizing. Yamato was commanded by Captain Kosaku Aruga (spelled Ariga in some accounts). One fire can be observed amidships from the initial strike, but no list has developed at this point. Note the fire in one of the aircraft's overhead view of its target. The largest battleships ever built were Yamato and Musashi of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Ito and Captain Aruga went down with the ship. Two dud rockets hit FUYUTSUKI. Box 378 Red Hook, New York 12571 United States, a battle group of eight aircraft carriers, her enormous hull to the converging torpedoes. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. [1] By 14:00, two of Yamatos escorts had been sunk. Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Numerous Helldivers from Bennington and Hornet attacked from Yamatos port side and numerous near misses splashed all around the battleship, which was moving at flank speed (27 knots), before she was finally hit by two 1,000-pound armor-piercing bombs at 1240. Where is the wreck of the Yamato? Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. In total, the U.S. lost 12 men. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. I Was At Okinawa At This Time. Yahagi was commanded by Captain Tameichi Hara (the only Japanese destroyer skipper at the start of the war who was still alive at the end of the war), with Rear Admiral Keizo Komura, commander of Destroyer Squadron 2, embarked. Legendary Lost Japanese WWII Battleship Found by Billionaire Paul Allen.The search was funded by Paul Allen, the Microsoft co . TOKYO Seventy-six years ago, on April 7, 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy vessel Yamato, the world's largest battleship, was sunk by U.S. military aircraft. The task force was spotted south of Kyushu by US submarines and aircraft, and on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers with the loss of most of her crew. as she turns to avoid the onslaught from bombers. Baka claimed its first victim, the destroyer USS Abele, in the seas off Okinawa on April 12. Most of the battles in the Pacific dont mention anything about the small carriers that were involved. The escorts cannot defend the flagship either. The Attack Force changes course due south to 180 degrees. At 1017, Yahagi commenced jamming the Mariners communications, but by then it was too late. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. In the interviews below, meet two Yamato veterans still haunted by memories of the battle that took most of their comrades lives. The first wave of the attack resulted in two bomb and one torpedo hits on the Yamato which had increased her speed to flank in an attempt to make her a harder target to hit. Ito's last order was to cancel the operation and have the remaining destroyers rescue whoever they could before he joined the 3,055 of 3,332 crewmen who went down with Yamato. Almost all of the nearly 400 American fighters and bombers They would launch the worlds largest battleship, the Yamato with its enormous 18-inch guns, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers against the enormous American fleet. LtCdr (later Captain) Herbert Houck, the leader of 43 TBM Avengers of VT-9 from YORKTOWN, detaches Lt Thomas Stetsons six Avengers in a final torpedo attack from the ships starboard side. The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. Built in total secrecy and launched just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamato may have been almost twice the size of her American counterparts, with the largest guns ever mounted on a warship. two Japanese aircraft carriers Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. seven torpedo hits within two hours of battle. How many Japanese submarines were lost in ww2? The American invasion fleet had, besides a heavy battleship contingent consisting of six battleships (Massachusetts, Indiana, New Jersey, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Missouri), seven cruisers (including the large cruisers Alaska and Guam) and 21 destroyers. A torpedo strikes HAMAKAZE starboard, aft of amidships and she jackknifes. On 19 March 1945 Yamato came under heavy attack when American carrier aircraft from Enterprise, Yorktown and Intrepid raided the major naval base of Kure where she was docked. 10 aircraft Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. More than 4,000 Japanese sailors were involved in the operation. Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane (NH 62581). Twelve Helldivers claim several hits near the bridge and main gun turret No. Deployment: In the fall of 1941,. Ito was posthumously promoted to full admiral. A 500-pound general-purpose bomb hit Suzutsuki and blew off her bow. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ , When the U.S. invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Japanese had, So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). Jan 6, 2019 Conan White, Guest Author. At 1423 as she began to capsize, the raging fires onboard ignited her magazines and the resultant explosion unleashed a huge mushroom cloud that rose to 20,000 feet and took out a few American planes that were overhead. (They were right.) Throughout 1943, Yamato continually transferred between Truk, Kure and Brunei in response to American airstrikes on Japanese island bases. But the Americans also had, The Ultimate Gunfighters! They were also given the option of not participating, an option none of them took. Her main armament consisted of three triple 18.1-inch gun turrets that could hurl a 3,200-pound shell (compared to 2,700 pounds for the U.S. 16-inch shells) to a range of just over 22 miles. The rest of the Surface Special Attack Force consisted of the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers. Thanks!!! Instead, Yamato was obsolete the day she was launched, as the Japanese themselves proved at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere by sinking Allied battleships with airpower. Thus, its possible Aruga was selected, but not yet promoted. In keeping with Japanese practice of posthumous promotion for death in battle, he was promoted to vice admiral after Yamato was sunk, that much is fact. An attack of 36 Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes against the heavily protected USS Hornet with her escorts took down over 20 Japanese planes. As luck would have it, he said, the big ship was turning to port, thereby exposing the full broadside expanse of her enormous hull to the converging torpedoes.. YAMATO starts a sharp turn to port but three torpedoes rip into her port side amidships. Around 3,700-4,250 men from Yamato and her escort ships were dead. [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. Their solution was to bolt a shit load of 25mm open AA gun mounts where ever they could which left the sailor's firing them very exposed to enemy MG's. The USN would rake the hell out of just one side of a BB like Yamato and soften up the AAA for the torpedo planes and dive bombers to attack. With only three twin 6-inch gun turrets, she was no match for U.S. light cruisers with their four triple-turret, rapid-fire 6-inch guns. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. With the steering locked to port and the ship doomed, Admiral Ito at 1402 hours ordered the crew to abandon ship. One of the surviving destroyers did not have a bow. U.S. losses were 10 aircraft and 12 pilots and aircrewmen. The executive officer reported to Captain Aruga that the damage control officers were dead and that counter-flooding could no longer correct the list, and recommended the ship be abandoned. YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. A heartfelt salute from myself, a navy vet in the 70s! Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." Most of her engineering drawings have disappeared and few photographs survive, making Yamatos exact dimensions and design a mystery. She lists about seven degrees to port. My dads name is Ronald R. LeFebvre (Ding). Around 2:00pm all power was lost and permission was given to abandon ship. Listing heavily to port, YAMATOs exposed hull is hit by several more torpedoes. 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? 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