This was taken as a yet another bad omen. 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. Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. 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. Though incredibly powerful, Yamato suffered from a relatively low top speed as its engines were . The Yamato sank during a fierce battle for Okinawa on April, 7 1945. April 7, 1945 Sinking of the Battleship Yamato. On April 7, 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamato, one of the greatest battleships of its time, is sunk in Japan's first major counteroffensive in the struggle for Okinawa. Altogether, more than 2,700 men went down with the ship or drowned after it sank, making the loss of the Yamato one of the greatest naval disasters of all time. Her main guns were designed to attack at an unprecedented distance of 25 miles, well beyond the range of American battleships. YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. Williams)vt17 loses a torp.third attack a torp is lost.I know hornet lost a helldiver in that first attack alsostill trying to identify the 12 Americans lost (10 planes4 sb2c, 3 tbm, and 3 f6f. My dad was soldier (Tsgt) at Okinawa and my father in law was a bosunsmate aboard the USS Gunston Hall. VFA-25 (1983 and continuing). Yamato (), named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The Americans lost 10 aircraft, while one aircraft carrier, one battleship, and one destroyer were damaged. The Imperial Japanese Navy ceases to exist as a fighting force. 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.). producing the blasts that tore the ship in half and sank her. Still kicking but dont know why. 7, 1945 south of Kyushu. She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. guns ever mounted at sea. Being young, I took it all for granted. Though many Japanese naval leaders considered Operation Ten-Go to be a waste of their remaining resources, it moved forward on April 6, 1945. Two immense catapultsas tall as six-story buildings when raisedlaunched the planes, and an equally enormous crane lifted them from the water upon their return to the ship. The Yahagi was too tempting a target for the hundreds of attacking aircraft. The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. 3. The chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, Vice Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, flew in from Tokyo to ensure that Ito would comply with Admiral Toyodas orders. With this contact information, Spruance ordered Deyo to ready the blocking force. When the U.S. invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Japanese had no naval answer to the invasion force. How many ships does a Yamato sink have? Yamato But the mission was approved and the Japanese ships set sail for Okinawa. Turret #1 can also be seen upfront. The shocked emperor then asked, But what about the Navy? Half of the dead at . Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. [1] When the 1st Battleship Division was deactivated once again on 10 February, Yamato was reassigned to the 1st Carrier Division. of the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck). The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy targets was in October 1944, but was ordered to turn back after attacks by destroyers and aircraft of the Taffy light escort carrier task groups managed to sink three heavy cruisers during the Battle off Samar. About 1,620 survivors of Yamato, Yahagi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi were rescued by the surviving Japanese destroyers. After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's 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. YAMATO starts a turn starboard to course 230 degrees. Torpedoes dropped from their bellies, slashing through the water toward Yamato. 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. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944. A Japanese destroyer peeled off three times to keep Hackleback at bay. Sieber was officially credited with two bomb hits on the Yamato and received the Navy Cross for his part in helping sink the huge ship that day. Aboard the TF 58 carriers, the strike packages were remaining ready on deck while the searches were underway. All these years later I remember each one of those men fondly and with great respect. Twenty Avengers make a new torpedo run from 60 degrees to port. In addition, sick sailors and also the oldest sailors were sent to shore. YAMATO, despite hits by two bombs and one torpedo, maintains flank speed. YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. 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. Lagging behind the main force, destroyer ASASHIMO is attacked and sunk by aircraft from SAN JACINTO. The ship captains were then assembled on Yahagi and briefed. The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. The final phase of the Pacific war during World War II saw a terrible new tactic: massed kamikaze attacks on American ships by Japanese planes. However, three-quarters of these (128 boats) were lost during the conflict, a proportion of loss similar that experienced by Germany's U-Boats. 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. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. It would not be enough. (The actual U.S. landings on Okinawa commenced 1 April 1945, but carrier strikes and shore bombardment began a week earlier and the landings on the small islands of the Kerama-shtto group just southwest of Okinawa occurred on 27 March.). 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. 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. The engagement was an unmitigated disaster for the Japanese. Most of her engineering drawings have disappeared and few photographs survive, making Yamatos exact dimensions and design a mystery. 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. One strikes her port side near the forward windlass room. I was so fortunate to have had that experience!!! *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! This Is A Great Article Of An Historic Event. 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. blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. one-third of which were torpedo bombers that hit from low altitudes. Deployment: In the fall of 1941,. Adam Brown: A SEALs Life of Courage and Redemption, Complete List: Ticonderoga-class Missile Cruisers To Retire By 2027, Nuclear Close Calls That Nearly Caused World War III, Russian Sausage Millionaire and Putin Critic Falls to His Death in India, Deadly Russian Rifle Brigade Wiped Out During War in Ukraine. At 1107, Yamatos Type 13 air search radar detected a large aircraft formation inbound at the radars maximum range of 63 nautical miles, and noted the aircraft formation was splitting into two groups. 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. These behemoths were triple the tonnage of some other battleships of their day and each one had three turrets, with three huge 18.1 guns per turret. Only 10. In all, Yamato took 12 bomb and TG 58.3, commanded by Rear Admiral Frederick Ted Sherman, embarked on Essex (CV-9), included Bunker Hill (CV-17), Bataan (CVL-24), and Cabot (CVL-28). The largest battleships ever built were Yamato and Musashi of the Imperial Japanese Navy. 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. She was blasted by 15 bomb hits and eight torpedoes. aircraft's overhead view of its target. YAMATO starts a sharp turn to port but three torpedoes rip into her port side amidships. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ 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. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. Yamato was hit with three more torpedoes. 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). She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. Two eyewitness accounts of Yamato's last battle. Yamato (, lit. With nearly all of her anti-aircraft guns out of action, the Avenger torpedo planes wreaked havoc. By this time, there wasnt much left of the Japanese navy that was still operational, and fuel was in critically short supply. 1000 hour - The Attack Force sights two large Martin "Mariner" PBM flying boats. My father, Donald Lennox, Sr. was an Avenger pilot on the San Jacinto whose torpedo is credited for striking the Asashimo. The explosion was heard over 120 miles away. At flank speed, YAMATO commences a right turn but two 1000-lb AP bombs hit her. TG 58.2 was in the act of refueling and wouldnt get there in time. The first attack wave retires. most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowing One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. By dawn on April 7, Asashimo, one of the destroyers developed engine trouble and started heading back to port in Japan. He just didnt want to talk about the war. [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. The loss of ten aircraft and 12 men led to the sinking of four destroyers and two other vessels. 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. A Corsair from ESSEX drops a 1000-lb GP bomb that hits the superstructure in the port bow area. Just then, eight F6F Hellcats appear and begin circling over the force to maintain contact until the main formation arrives. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. that ultimately led to the supership's demise. Yahagi lost 446 of about 1,000 crewmen. SUZUTSUKI takes a 500-lb GP bomb hit to starboard, abreast her No. Her secondary armament was significantly altered during the war by removing two of her four triple 6.1-inch turrets in favor of increased anti-aircraft armament, which, by 1945, included 12 dual 5-inch gun mounts, 54 25-mm triple mounts (162 guns), and smaller machine guns. One of the torpedo planes took a hit in the wing, pulled up in flames, then plunged into the sea. 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.". 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. Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." One Avenger was shot down, but three torpedoes went into the water. 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