Rather than targeting specific vessels, Stump ordered his air group to attempt to cripple as many Japanese ships as possible. 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. Flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, she was lead ship of the Yamato class. At 1333, another 110 aircraft from TG 58.4 (Yorktown, Intrepid, and Langley), which had launched after the first wave of 280 aircraft, commenced their attack on Yamato. 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. 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. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. All these years later I remember each one of those men fondly and with great respect. 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. Barrett products are used by civilians, sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and more than 75 State Department-approved countries around the world. naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. Later that day, the battered destroyers ISOKAZE and KASUMI are scuttled and sink. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. 7. 1s USS HORNET (CV-12), HANCOCK (CV-19), BENNINGTON (CV-20), BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24) and SAN JACINTO (CVL-30) and from Task Group 58. More than 4,000 Japanese sailors were involved in the operation. [27] While navigating the Bungo Strait, Yamato and her escorts were spotted by the American submarines Threadfin and Hackleback, both of which notified Task Force 58 of Yamatos position. They were also instructed to The Americans lose 10 aircraft and 12 crewmen. 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. [25][26] Damage to the battleship, however, was light,[25] due in part to the base being defended by elite veteran Japanese fighter instructors flying Kawanishi N1K Shiden or George fighters. Sources include: NHHC Dictionary of American Fighting Ships (DANFS) for U.S. ships and combinedfleet.com for Japanese ships. Thank you to all our WWII vets. The Attack Force turns to course 205, towards Okinawa. Mitscher correctly assumed that the Japanese were operating without air cover and would be sitting ducks for his huge airwing. Her auxiliary rudder is jammed in position hard port. 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. Japan started the war with 63 ocean-going submarines (i.e., not including midgets), and completed 111 during the war, for a total of 174. Operation Ten-Go ( (Kyjitai) or ja: (Shinjitai) Ten-g Sakusen) was a Japanese naval operation plan in 1945, consisting of four likely scenarios. By 1420, the main deck was vertical and, at 1430, Yamato had rolled over and just gone under when the No.1 forward magazine detonated in a massive explosion that killed almost all of Yamatos crew who had survived to that point and raised a pall of smoke that could be seen for 100 miles. 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. Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. Being young, I took it all for granted. In the interviews below, meet two Yamato veterans still haunted by memories of the battle that took most of their comrades lives. Between then and 1000, a total of 14 Zekes would provide cover. Musashi and her sister ship, Yamato, were by a wide margin the largest battleships ever built. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. A total of 10 U.S. aircraft were shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the Japanese ships; some aircrews were rescued by seaplane or submarine. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. There are many stories about the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato. They were also given the option of not participating, an option none of them took. With the ship in danger of capsizing, the damage control parties counter-flooded the starboard engines and boiler rooms at 1333 hours, drowning hundreds of crew members who were unaware of the move. 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.". At 14:23, having taken 10 torpedo and 7 bomb hits, Yamatos forward ammunition magazines detonated. YAMATO turns hard to port. blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. WORLD WAR II. Even before the war, the Japanese understood that they could never match the U.S. Navy for quantity, but were convinced they could build a better battleship. The attack lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. 1300 hour YAMATO changes course to 180 degrees, due South. Another 110 aircraft from Task Group 58. The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. One bomb exploded in crews quarters, but the other bomb exploded near the aft command station and knocked out one of her two air search radars, the aft secondary gun director, several 25-mm gun mounts, and started a fire that killed all but one crewman in the after secondary (6-inch) gun turret and that couldnt be put out. The Japanese also noted eight Hellcats circling the force with impunity because of no Japanese fighter cover, and remaining outside anti-aircraft range. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. An astounding series of explosions onboard Two other destroyers were heavily damaged, one, the Hamakaze later sank. Both the U.S. Fifth Fleet commander, Admiral Spruance, and Vice Admiral Mitscher (commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force, TF 58), who had access to the Ultra communications intelligence and were expecting the sortie, immediately reacted to the submarine reports. With Yamato slowed, U.S. torpedo planes started to deliberately target her stern to knock out her steering, and she became stuck in a starboard turn. (They were right.) The morale aboard Yamato was described as not being very good, especially after the crews were informed they were on a one-way mission. aircraft's overhead view of its target. The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. The execute order for Operation Ten-ichi-go (Heaven Number One) was intercepted on 26 March 1945 and decrypted. How many planes were lost attacking the Yamato? So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). 3. Here, an At 1322, an Essex Corsair hit Yamato in the port bow with a 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb. The Japanese naval defense plan was code-named named Sho-I-Go ("Victory"), and its objective was simple: Sink the American invasion fleet, maintain the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and, by doing this, protect Japan from invasion. Turret #1 can also be seen upfront. [1] When the 1st Battleship Division was deactivated once again on 10 February, Yamato was reassigned to the 1st Carrier Division. Design and construction Main article: Yamato-class battleship The fighters attacked first, strafing the anti-aircraft guns on the decks with machine guns and rockets. . The commander in chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, resolved to send what was left of his force out in a blaze of glory. All ships increase speed to 25 knots and commence a simultaneous turn. She didn't even make it close to Okinawa. Weighing 72,800 tons. I stumbled on this article and I finally know a little about this battle. 1,000 watertight compartments couldn't save her, and her lower decks rapidly They unanimously objected, most of them arguing instead to be allowed to conduct independent raiding of the over-extended U.S. supply lines. The Japanese also spot the HACKLEBACK trailing the Attack Force. Then it was supposed to beach itself, run aground, and use the ship as a makeshift fort. With the steering locked to port and the ship doomed, Admiral Ito at 1402 hours ordered the crew to abandon ship. Posted August 23, 2013. this photo from 1941 shows the construction details of the Yamato's rear aircraft deck, side 6-inch guns that were replaced by AA guns later in the war, as well as the aft superstructure and main turret #3. 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. At 1407, she was struck by at least the seventh torpedo, this time to starboard. At 0823, a Hellcat fighter off Essex (CV-9) sighted Yamato, a contact that the battleship reported at 0832. Destroyer SUZUTSUKI wreathed in black smoke, burns furiously. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. A torpedo stopped her dead in the water and killed the entire engine compartment crew. How many Japanese submarines were lost in ww2? Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanese naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. Eggheads on this subject get "lost in the sauce" going over tables, charts, and math formulas done by researchers after the war shooting rounds into armor plate captured from Japan and Germany,. Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. Submarine Hackleback (SS-295) then picked up surveillance, issuing four contact reports during the night as Yamato transited southwesterly along the coast of Kyushu. By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost. Air search reports two groups of aircraft, range 44 miles, closing at high speed. Japans secrecy was due to her inability to match U.S. naval power ship for ship. She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. Support Veteran Journalism . By early 1945, the Japanese Empire was shrinking daily and the war had reached its home shores. How many Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in ww2? One-hundred aircraft were destroyed, and the Japanese death toll reached 4,137. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. 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. 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. The battleship and its sister, Musashi, were the only battleships ever constructed with 18.1" guns. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. Everyone of them, enlisted and officers, were a true gentleman. The escorts cannot defend the flagship either. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the largest and heaviest battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800tonnes at full load, and armed with nine 46cm (18.1inch) main guns. By this point, Yamato was firing main-battery beehive shells set to detonate after one second (about 3,000 yards) from the ship, which U.S. aircraft just blew through. Vice Admiral Ito and Captain Aruga went down with the ship. The fighter issued a contact report at 0832. The desperate measure worked, but, with insufficient time to give warning, several hundred Yamato crewmen were drowned as a result, and the ship was slowed to 10 knots, which made her an easier target. The destroyer Isokaze attempted to come to her aid but was heavily damaged and driven off. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. By this time, there wasnt much left of the Japanese navy that was still operational, and fuel was in critically short supply. This image At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. TG 58.2 was in the act of refueling and wouldnt get there in time. 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. seven torpedo hits within two hours of battle. SUZUTSUKI takes a 500-lb GP bomb hit to starboard, abreast her No. Instead, military leaders decided to build a secret weapon that could engage many enemy ships at once. (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.). At 1402, Yamato took three more bomb hits amidships, and Aruga gave the abandon-ship order. 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. [1], Operation Ten-Go was a deliberate suicide attack against American forces off Okinawa by Yamato and nine escorts, beginning on 6 April 1945. as she turns to avoid the onslaught from bombers. Operation Ten-ichi-go was the Imperial Japanese Navys plan to react to the U.S. invasion of the island of Okinawa, which Japanese intelligence correctly determined would occur at the end of March 1945. In the 1980s, shipwreck hunters found the Yamato 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest of Kyushu, one of the main islands of Japan. Have we no more ships?. In a separate attack, compani My Dad was one of the Hell Diver pilots from the Essex who scored a hit as was recorded in his NC. Just after 1240 on 7 April, Yamato maneuvers frantically under the initial attackby USS Bennington (CV-20)and USS Hornet (CV-12) aircraft as a bomb explodes offher port side. 1100 hour YAMATOs Type 13 air search radar operator reports contact with a large aircraft formation at his sets maximum range of 63 miles. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. Yahagi lost 446 of about 1,000 crewmen. 3s upper powder magazine. At 1417, she took an eighth and ninth torpedo, both to port. It. This force include battleships Massachusetts (BB-59), Indiana (BB-58), South Dakota (BB-57), New Jersey (BB-62), Wisconsin (BB-64), and Missouri (BB-63) (54 16-inch guns), the battle-cruisers Alaska (CB-1) and Guam (CB-2), five cruisers, and 21 destroyers. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. Two dud rockets hit FUYUTSUKI. Two more destroyers were lost: the Asashimo, which was raked by bomb hits as it was returning to Japan and sank killing its entire crew; and the Kasumi that was heavily damaged and later. While still a token of national pride, the sinking of Yamato also symbolized the sad end of the once invincible Imperial Japanese Navy. At 1000 hours he launched a total of 386 aircraft consisting of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. 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. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. The Attack Force briefly sights seven "Hellcat" fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. The visibility was highly variable, but often not very good due to cloud cover. My father, Donald Lennox, Sr. was an Avenger pilot on the San Jacinto whose torpedo is credited for striking the Asashimo. Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! Captain Aruga lashed himself to the binnacle to do the same. photographed the destruction. Living Conditions. The force would transit to Okinawa on 7 April (with only a few hours of minimal. The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. 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. VFA-25 (1983 and continuing). The carriers were among seven ships that went down in the Battle of Midway, a major air and . He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. About 120,000 were held at 10 camps because of fears that Japanese Americans were enemy sympathizers. 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. ship's aft turrets. I have his flight logs (as he never talked about the war except the death of his brother and his friends) so it is nice to get the big picture of this action. The Japanese fighters were unable to make contact before they left at 1000. At 0840, the Japanese reported seven Hellcats orbiting around the force. Around 3,700-4,250 men from Yamato and her escort ships were dead. AA guns and one hundred fifty-two 25-mm AA guns all open fire. A Japanese destroyer peeled off three times to keep Hackleback at bay. 2 gun mount. All Rights Reserved. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. With this contact information, Spruance ordered Deyo to ready the blocking force. Aboard the TF 58 carriers, the strike packages were remaining ready on deck while the searches were underway. Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. More U.S. aircraft may have been knocked down by the magazine explosion than by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. The arresting wire system can stop a 54,000-pound aircraft travelling 150 miles per hour in only two seconds, in a 315-foot landing area (a 24,500-kg aircraft travelling at 241 kph in a 96-meter landing area). Quickly spotted by Allied aircraft, Yamato and its consorts were subjected to a series of heavy air attacks that resulted in the loss of the battleship and most of its supporting ships. It was going on the attack totally outnumbered. A torpedo strikes HAMAKAZE starboard, aft of amidships and she jackknifes. Asashimo went down with all 330 hands. 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). When the U.S. invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Japanese had no naval answer to the invasion force. 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. He just didnt want to talk about the war. The element of surprise was gone for the Japanese. Musashi (? The extremely large number of antiaircraft guns, added during a refit, were meant to keep the ship afloat in the face of American airpower until it could close within striking range of enemy. 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. Design commenced in 1934, construction began in 1937 (in great secrecy) and Yamato was commissioned in December 1941 just after Pearl Harbor. I Was At Okinawa At This Time. Some of the Japanese survivors reported that U.S. fighter aircraft strafed Japanese survivors floating in the water. A bomb impact in the dispensary killed many of the wounded who had been gathered there, along with many of the medical personnel. But the mission was approved and the Japanese ships set sail for Okinawa. Orders to Commit Suicide The Yamato had unbelievable orders. As a Minnesota teenager when the war started,. ), 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. What sank the Yamato? 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The Yamato, completed in Kure in December 1941, was the largest battleship in the world at the time. 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. 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 eyewitness accounts of Yamato's last battle. miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. Of Yamato's crew of 2,747, all but 23 officers and 246 enlisted men were lost. The ship was split in two and was found resting at a depth of 1,120 feet (340 m). There were few Japanese survivors. The first torpedoes pass by harmlessly, but the remaining two strike her port amidships. Destroying American Monster Abrams: Pro-Russian Group Release A How-To Video, A Look at the Unconventional Tactics Used by Western Militaries Throughout History, Decorated Navy SEAL Died in HALO Training Accident, Remembering Andrew Peters: US Army Veteran Killed in Ukraine. And civilians Suicide the Yamato, a major air and informed they were on a one-way mission cripple as Japanese! Takes a 500-lb GP bomb hit to starboard attacks pummeled Yamato force sights large... The four destroyers are also lost be sitting ducks for his huge airwing was split in two main,! Ever constructed with 18.1 & quot ; guns KASUMI are scuttled and sink perhaps the largest to... Act of refueling and wouldnt get there in time little about this battle ( Operation Heaven one ) intercepted! Ordered Deyo to ready the blocking force an at 1322, an Essex Corsair Yamato. & quot ; fighters, but the mission was approved and the as. Men with herall but 269 of her crew it was supposed to beach itself, run,! 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