At 1000 hours he launched a total of 386 aircraft consisting of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. 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. 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. Yamato'sFinal Voyage What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? 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. Asashimo was first attacked by aircraft from Bunker Hill and then, a few minutes later, by aircraft from San Jacinto, which scored killing hits with torpedoes and bombs. 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. 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. U.S. losses were 10 aircraft and 12 pilots and aircrewmen. They truly were the Greatest Generation. The Yamato sank during a fierce battle for Okinawa on April, 7 1945. 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. DesDiv 17s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. 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. This photograph was taken in December 1941, shortly The debate up to that point was whether to keep the fleet in home waters as a last-ditch defense or to send it on what everyone knew would be a one-way mission to attack the overwhelming U.S. forces expected to be at Okinawa. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. Two sunken Japanese aircraft carriers were found weeks before the movie about the World War II battle opens By Michael E. Ruane November 8, 2019 at 7:00 a.m. EST The second penetrates the port side of the aft Command station and explodes between the 155-mm gun magazine and main gun turret No. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. U.S. aircrew claimed additional bomb and torpedo hits in this first wave, but these were mostly near misses. sent to engage Yamato made it into position above her and soon began to The attack on Pearl Harbor 71 years ago left a tangled mess of burning and shattered warships. Very interesting or happy to read about the Yamoto sinking as I was there as radioman aboard an Avenger off of the USS Langley. The first U.S. attack wave ended about 1250. At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. At 0840, the Japanese reported seven Hellcats orbiting around the force. At 0823, a Hellcat fighter off Essex (CV-9) sighted Yamato, a contact that the battleship reported at 0832. A torpedo stopped her dead in the water and killed the entire engine compartment crew. 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. Two eyewitness accounts of Yamato's last battle. Yamato would have appeared indestructible. The Attack Force turns towards Sasebo. Breaking the news to the Emperor, a Japanese admiral was asked, what about the fleet? The admiral had to admit, the Japanese fleet had ceased to exist as a fighting formation. Here, an that ultimately led to the supership's demise. They pounced on her like sharks in the water. 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. They were also given the option of not participating, an option none of them took. The Japanese also noted eight Hellcats circling the force with impunity because of no Japanese fighter cover, and remaining outside anti-aircraft range. At 1407, she was struck by at least the seventh torpedo, this time to starboard. Mitscher, CTF 58, was embarked on Bunker Hill. 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). USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. this one exploding off Yamato's port bow, it was their air-launched torpedoes YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots. Updated on July 03, 2019. The Attack Force changes course to 100 degrees. Most of her engineering drawings have disappeared and few photographs survive, making Yamatos exact dimensions and design a mystery. 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. Five Helldivers are damaged by AA fire. At 1322, an Essex Corsair hit Yamato in the port bow with a 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb. While the Americans' 1,000-pound bombs held fearsome destructive power, as seen in Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea. He had friends wounded and killed, but the small carriers were never given credit for anything that happened. (Although some accounts say that, according to the plan, the ships were only given enough fuel to reach Okinawa, they actually received as much fuel as was available to give. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. 276 men are rescued including Rear Admiral Morishita Nobuei, Chief of Staff, Second Fleet (and former YAMATO skipper). He asked what the Japanese navy was doing. 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. Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. 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. 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. After all, she was the It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. 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. In viewing cite, this the first time I have seen any mention of the carrier Langley. Captain Hara of Yahagi later said the mission would be like throwing an egg against a rock.. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944. strafe the battleship with bullets and drop 1,000-pound bombs. Spruance was informed of it only after the aircraft had taken off. See what made the ship both seemingly unsinkable and highly vulnerable to attack. concentrate their torpedoes on just one of Yamato's sides, an approach YAMATO and YAHAGI open fire, increase speed to 24 knots and commence a series of sharp evasive maneuvers. By early 1945, the Japanese Empire was shrinking daily and the war had reached its home shores. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. They unanimously objected, most of them arguing instead to be allowed to conduct independent raiding of the over-extended U.S. supply lines. A torpedo strikes HAMAKAZE starboard, aft of amidships and she jackknifes. 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. With the steering locked to port and the ship doomed, Admiral Ito at 1402 hours ordered the crew to abandon ship. YAMATO turns towards the planes and opens fire unsuccessfully as does cruiser YAHAGI. 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. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. 4s YORKTOWN (CV-10), INTREPID (CV-11), LANGLEY (CVL-27) engage the Attack Force. Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. Only 10 American aircraft Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. Yahagi lost 446 of about 1,000 crewmen. . 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.. One-hundred aircraft were destroyed, and the Japanese death toll reached 4,137. producing the blasts that tore the ship in half and sank her. 1200 hour A lookout spots three Japanese troopships on bearing 0250 heading for Amami-Oshima. He reports the formation at bearing 180, heading north, and splitting into two groups. Twenty Avengers make a new torpedo run from 60 degrees to port. She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. 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. 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. Captain Aruga lashed himself to the binnacle to do the same. When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanese naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. The Attack Force resumes zigzagging. John Carter, was in a perfect position to watch what unfolded. Yamato Stetsons crewmen reset their Mark 13 torpedoes running depth to 20 feet. Fourteen F4U Chance-Vought Corsairs from BUNKER HILL strafe and rocket YAMATO but cause only minor damage. 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. Thank you to all our WWII vets. Vice Admiral Ito and YAMATOs skipper Captain Aruga and 3,055 of 3,332 crewmen are lost. The ship was split in two and was found resting at a depth of 1,120 feet (340 m). Though many Japanese naval leaders considered Operation Ten-Go to be a waste of their remaining resources, it moved forward on April 6, 1945. At 1115, Yamatos radar indicated the two air groups were at 44 miles and closing rapidly. TG 58.4 had just finished refueling and would arrive just in time. At 1417, she took an eighth and ninth torpedo, both to port. In all, Yamato took 12 bomb and These Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." Kasumi, which had her steering disabled by two bomb hits, suffered 17 dead and 47 wounded, and was scuttled by two torpedoes from Fuyuzuki. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. Twelve Helldivers claimed several hits in the bridge area in exchange for five Helldivers damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. How many US planes were lost sinking the Yamato? By dawn on April 7, Asashimo, one of the destroyers developed engine trouble and started heading back to port in Japan. 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. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. battleship's guns. 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. Both ships cease firing. WORLD WAR II. One Avenger was shot down, but three torpedoes went into the water. Additionally, 1,178 people were wounded. 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. Japanese reports claim U.S. aircraft strafed survivors in the water, but also report that attacks ceased on destroyers that were picking up survivors. The Yahagi was too tempting a target for the hundreds of attacking aircraft. 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. But the mission was approved and the Japanese ships set sail for Okinawa. 10 aircraft Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. Operation Ten-Go never should have happened. VA-25 (1959) Air Group VI (6) The element of surprise was gone for the Japanese. 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. 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