The mission was given to Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito, commander of the Japanese Second Fleet (pretty much all that was left of the Combined Fleet), embarked on the super-battleship Yamato. At 1017, Yamato opened fire with several of her special main-battery anti-aircraft shells (sanshikidan or beehive shells, somewhat like a giant shotgun shell), at the Mariners, which was equally futile, although the Mariners ducked back in the clouds. As luck would have it, he said, the big ship was turning to port, thereby exposing the full broadside expanse of, PO Box 1077 MURFREESBORO, Tennessee 37133 United States, P.O. The battleship received a 30-minute time-late report from an observation post on a small Japanese island north of Okinawa that 150 U.S. planes were headed in Yamatos direction. Additionally, aircraft damaged most of the . How many Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in ww2? photographed the destruction. Damage Control counter-floods both starboard engine and boiler rooms and almost entirely corrects the list. Three Japanese destroyers are nearby (80-G-413914). Japanese lookouts spotted the American air armada at 1232 hours and soon opened fire with Yamatos 18-inch guns firing San Shiki anti-aircraft shells that were wildly inaccurate. On May 6, 1945, a twin-engine kamikaze plane's bomb exploded beside the destroyer Luce, part of the radar picket ship screen surrounding Okinawa, and ripped her starboard side "like a sardine. The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. 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. 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. Senior U.S. Navy commanders in the Pacific, including Admiral Raymond Spruance, Commander U.S. Fifth Fleet, knew what the battleship Yamatos mission was before almost anyone on Yamato did. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. Embarking from Kure, Yamato was to beach herself near Okinawa, and act as an unsinkable gun-emplacementbombarding American forces on Okinawa with her 18.1-inch heavy-guns. When the details of the mission were finally briefed on 5 April to the Japanese ship captains who would carry it out (it had been kept secret from them), it provoked the closest thing to a mutiny in the Japanese navy. A Curtiss Helldiver bomber like the one seen at right The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. DesDiv 17s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. Although 16 warships were hit, Yamato sustained only minor damage from a number of near misses and from one bomb that struck her bridge. Yamato lies on the floor of the East China Sea, 200 miles north of Okinawa, blown apart by one of the most massive explosions ever to occur at sea. The first explodes in the crews quarters abaft the Type 13 radar shack. The age of the battleship was over forever. [1], Operation Ten-Go was a deliberate suicide attack against American forces off Okinawa by Yamato and nine escorts, beginning on 6 April 1945. A torpedo stopped her dead in the water and killed the entire engine compartment crew. She didn't even make it close to Okinawa. Over the next days, additional messages were intercepted and decrypted by Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC) and also OP-20-G in Washington that provided increasingly detailed information on the operations timing and made specific mention of Yamato on 5 April. (Based on erroneous San Jacinto report, Samuel Eliot Morison misidentifies this ship as Hamakaze, but a photo shows a Yugumo-class destroyer, which would be Asashimo, and which was also the one lagging behind.). The Avengers drop three torpedoes. They would not be needed. 1400 hour Three bombs explode port amidships, five minutes later a torpedo hits her starboard side amidships. most likely to cause flooding and eventual sinking. The destroyers were an assortment of different classes (what was left in operation, since the Japanese would lose 120 destroyers during the war), but all were armed with powerful Type 93 Long Lance 24-inch torpedoes. At 1115, Yamatos radar indicated the two air groups were at 44 miles and closing rapidly. The loss of these ships shocked the British government, and helped change procurement and employment strategies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost. The fire in the area ofher forward 6.1 inch turret can be clearly seen (L42-09.06.05). Itos chief of staff, Rear Admiral Nobuei Morishita, was the senior survivor of Yamato. Thanks for watching. It was going on the attack totally outnumbered. The rest of the Surface Special Attack Force consisted of the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers. Her secondary armament . Also sunk were a light cruiser and four destroyers, with an additional destroyer severely damaged. About 1,187 crewmen of Yahagi and the four destroyers were lost. Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. [1][26] Led by the man who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, Minoru Genda, the appearance of these fighters, which were equal or superior to the F6F Hellcat in performance, surprised the attackers, and several American planes were shot down. The Japanese opened up with everything they had, which looked terrifying, but U.S. pilots quickly figured out that Japanese anti-aircraft fire was wildly inaccurate. One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. Yamato fired her 18-inch guns at approaching American aircraft, Forced to wait out much of the war due to her vulnerability to air attack, Yamato was committed in a last, desperate gamble during the Battle of Okinawa in April 1945. Support Veteran Journalism . H-044-3: Operation Heaven Number One (Ten-ichi-go)the Death of Yamato, 7 April 1945. About 1,620 survivors of Yamato, Yahagi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi were rescued by the surviving Japanese destroyers. They pounced on her like sharks in the water. Yamato avoided two, but the third hit her port side at 1245. World War II would see the aircraft carrier emerge as the key to naval supremacy, supplanting the battleship. It said the wreck was in two main pieces, a bow-to-midships section about 560 feet long, and a 264-foot-long stern section. She continues to throw up a screen of desperate flak fire. The massive air group circled just out of range of the anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese. Both ships cease firing. 276 men are rescued including Rear Admiral Morishita Nobuei, Chief of Staff, Second Fleet (and former YAMATO skipper). What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. How many US planes were lost sinking the Yamato? TG 58.4 had just finished refueling and would arrive just in time. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944. Finally some detail1st attack vb82 loses a helldiver (my uncleensign jack Carl fuller and chas. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. The Attack Force changes course to 100 degrees. This Is A Great Article Of An Historic Event. XIV: Victory in the Pacific by Samuel Eliot Morison, Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1969; Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara, New York: Ballantine Books, 1961; Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II by John Prados, New York: Random House, 1995. Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. The real story of the Yamato sinking March 06, 2008 On April 7, 1945, three southern boys were above the clouds north of Okinawa, 125 miles from the southernmost tip of the main Japanese islands searching for "the largest, heaviest and most powerful battleship ever constructed." The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. battleship's aft secondary magazine caused tons of ammunition to ignite almost simultaneously, [1] By 14:00, two of Yamatos escorts had been sunk. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. U.S. aircrew claimed additional bomb and torpedo hits in this first wave, but these were mostly near misses. Her auxiliary rudder is jammed in position hard port. He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. 3s USS ESSEX (CV-9), BUNKER HILL (CV-17), BATAAN (CVL-24) and CABOT (CVL-28). The others kept coming. The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. WORLD WAR II. However, in order to keep up with Yamato, these forays were short-lived. after the Yamato first took to the sea. strafe the battleship with bullets and drop 1,000-pound bombs. As Yamato and escorts were transiting the Bungo Strait between the Home Islands of Kyushu and Shikoku on 6 April 1945, submarine Threadfin (SS-410) sighted the force at about 1745 and issued a contact report in the clear that was intercepted by Yamato. At flank speed, YAMATO commences a right turn but two 1000-lb AP bombs hit her. So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). Lieutenant J.G. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. Around 2:00pm all power was lost and permission was given to abandon ship. (Video: Reuters) When the Japanese fleet approached Midway, the Americans were lying in wait. According to the plan, Yamato, light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers would form a Surface Special Attack Force (the term special attack was understood to mean suicide) and sortie on 6 April 1945. Far more effective was the extraordinary skill of Japanese ship captains in making evasive maneuvers to throw off aim and avoid numerous bombs and torpedoes. At 0823, a Hellcat fighter off Essex (CV-9) sighted Yamato, a contact that the battleship reported at 0832. Despite the destruction, the majesty of the ship is unmistakable, symbolized by a six-foot-wide chrysanthemum crest, icon of the Japanese imperial family, still gracing Yamatos prow like a figurehead. The Yahagi was too tempting a target for the hundreds of attacking aircraft. Yamato and her sister ship Musashi, sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, were, at 65,000 tons displacement (72,000 tons fully loaded), the largest battleships ever built. 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