Yamato's injuries were fatal. At 1115, Yamatos radar indicated the two air groups were at 44 miles and closing rapidly. A 500-pound general-purpose bomb hit Suzutsuki and blew off her bow. YAMATO starts a sharp turn to port but three torpedoes rip into her port side amidships. It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. At 1302, Yamatos remaining air search radar detected a second inbound wave. 2 gun mount. Twenty Avengers attacked from the port side (concentrating torpedo attacks from the port side was deliberate, with the intent to capsize the ship). One Avenger was shot down, but three torpedoes went into the water. Yamato (, lit. Relive the super battleship's last moments in photographs. The Americans lost 10 aircraft, while one aircraft carrier, one battleship, and one destroyer were damaged. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. battleship's guns. 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. 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. Two eyewitness accounts of Yamato's last battle. By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost. I was a radioman on one of the VT23 Avengers participating in this strike flying off the Langley. Weighing 72,800 tons. Of the Japanese destroyers, Asashimo was sunk with all hands (about 330) and Hamakaze sank with a loss of 100 crewmen and 45 wounded (257 were rescued). Between then and 1000, a total of 14 Zekes would provide cover. But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. Many of those lost did so after the battle on their return to the carriers; ditching in the sea having run out of fuel. 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. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots. In a separate attack, compani Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. This image most likely to cause flooding and eventual sinking. Not long after the Hellcat sighting, two PBM-3 Martin Mariner flying boats began shadowing Yamato, maintaining discreet contact for the next five hours while mostly hidden in the clouds. Living Conditions. 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. One of the torpedo planes took a hit in the wing, pulled up in flames, then plunged into the sea. Baka, essentially a piloted cruise missile, made its debut at Okinawa. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. (They were right.) Both ships cease firing. Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. Ito and Captain Aruga went down with the ship. Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. A heartfelt salute from myself, a navy vet in the 70s! 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. The Attack Force briefly sights seven "Hellcat" fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. The first torpedoes pass by harmlessly, but the remaining two strike her port amidships. 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. Twenty Avengers make a new torpedo run from 60 degrees to port. The Attack Force turns towards Sasebo. 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. It would not be enough. 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. 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. 1000 hour - The Attack Force sights two large Martin "Mariner" PBM flying boats. Asashimo went down with all 330 hands. A U.S. PBM Mariner also rescued several Japanese survivors. He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. All ships increase speed to 25 knots and commence a simultaneous turn. It starts a fire that cannot be extinguished and rips a 60-foot hole in the weather deck. Before getting underway, the Surface Special Attack Force put ashore 67 recently arrived midshipmen of the Etajima Naval Academy Class No. I was so fortunate to have had that experience!!! The submarine radio traffic transmitted in the clear, reporting Yamato by name, and reported by Japanese radio intelligence, did nothing to improve the sense of foreboding felt by the senior officers on Yamato. This is a movie Yamato 2005. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? Fifty aircraft from ESSEX and BATAAN are sighted approaching from the SSW, range 18.5 miles. 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. About 120,000 were held at 10 camps because of fears that Japanese Americans were enemy sympathizers. Mitscher correctly assumed that the Japanese were operating without air cover and would be sitting ducks for his huge airwing. Although born a U.S. citizen, he had been studying in Japan when the war broke out and had the choice of execution or serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy.). The force would transit to Okinawa on 7 April (with only a few hours of minimal air cover), to arrive in daylight hours in the U.S. transport area off southwestern Okinawa on 8 April. 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. Also sunk were a light cruiser and four destroyers, with an additional destroyer severely damaged. Of firing 3,220-lb shells over 26 miles pilots and eight aircrewmen were missing and presumed dead how many planes were lost sinking the yamato. A near miss on Hamakaze disabled her starboard shaft and then, at 1247, torpedo hits amidships blew her in half. 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. settled on the seafloor 1,200 feet down and about 50 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. The ship was split in two and was found resting at a depth of 1,120 feet (340 m). She rolls slowly over her port side on her beam ends. YAMATO, despite hits by two bombs and one torpedo, maintains flank speed. 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. 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 torpedo strikes HAMAKAZE starboard, aft of amidships and she jackknifes. Some who were shot down were later picked up by seaplanes or submarines. VA-6B (1946) While the Americans' 1,000-pound bombs held fearsome destructive power, as seen in miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. The big carriers got all the credit. 1). The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. They pounced on her like sharks in the water. Fuyutsuki was hit by two dud rockets. The destroyers were Destroyer Division (DESDIV) 17 (Isokaze, Hamakaze, Yukikaze), DESDIV 21 (Asashimo, Kasumi, Hatsushimo), and DESDIV 41 (Fuyuzuki, Suzutsuki). THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ 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. naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. At 1014, the Yamato force sighted the two Martin Mariner PBM flying boats, and also noted that Hackleback was still trailing (the Japanese had made so many course changes during the night that the sub was able to cut the corner and maintain contact on the force). The Japanese also spot the HACKLEBACK trailing the Attack Force. 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. burning just prior to disappearing beneath the waves. My dads name is Ronald R. LeFebvre (Ding). 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. At 1407, she was struck by at least the seventh torpedo, this time to starboard. Of Yamato's crew of 2,747, all but 23 officers and 246 enlisted men were lost. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. Of the 3,332 crew members aboard the Yamato, only 276 survived the sinking. At 1417, she took an eighth and ninth torpedo, both to port. 1 magazine explodes and sends up a cloud of smoke seen 100 miles away. 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. At 0823, a Hellcat fighter off Essex (CV-9) sighted Yamato, a contact that the battleship reported at 0832. Listing heavily to port, YAMATOs exposed hull is hit by several more torpedoes. At 1830, destroyer Isokaze sighted Threadfin on the surface. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? (The Yamato force had a Nisei radio-intelligence operator. The shocked emperor then asked, But what about the Navy? heaviest and most powerful battleship ever built, carrying the most formidable John Carter, was in a perfect position to watch what unfolded. H-044-3: Operation Heaven Number One (Ten-ichi-go)the Death of Yamato, 7 April 1945. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. One strikes her port side near the forward windlass room. The sinking of the Yamato on April 7 conclusively signaled the end of the "all-big-gun" battleship era of naval warfare. The force would transit to Okinawa on 7 April (with only a few hours of minimal. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. 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. Additionally, aircraft damaged most of the . Japanese reports claim U.S. aircraft strafed survivors in the water, but also report that attacks ceased on destroyers that were picking up survivors. As Yamato continued to list to port, her starboard armor belt came out of the water and her vulnerable underside became exposed. The Yamato sank during a fierce battle for Okinawa on April, 7 1945. 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