The others kept coming. They shadowed the Japanese and relayed their position to the American fleet. 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 1302, Yamatos remaining air search radar detected a second inbound wave. one-third of which were torpedo bombers that hit from low altitudes. Laid down in May 1940 as the third of the Yamato-class battleships, Shinano ' s partially complete hull was ordered to be converted to an aircraft carrier following Japan's disastrous loss of four of its original six fleet carriers at the Battle of . He considered it a waste of good men and ships. YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. 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. Shinano () was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, the largest such built up to that time. I hope you enjoy the video! They would not be needed. Jocko Clark, embarked on Hornet (CV-12), included Hancock (CV-19), Bennington (CV-20), Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and San Jacinto (CVL-30). 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. 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. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944. 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 Japanese battleship Yamato in the late stages of construction alongside of a large fitting out pontoon at the Kure Naval Base, Japan, 20 September 1941.The aircraft carrier Hsh is visible at the extreme right.The store ship Mamiya is anchored in the center distance.Note Yamato's after 460mm main battery gun turret, and superfiring 155mm secondary battery gun turret. (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.). 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. It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. I am fortunate to be living as long as I have , I know us WWII vets are living on borrowed time, but glad to be of sound mind yet and can remember incidents like this. Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. This was taken by senior Japanese navy leaders as implicit criticism of their services inaction. He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? 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. 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. Throughout 1943, Yamato continually transferred between Truk, Kure and Brunei in response to American airstrikes on Japanese island bases. 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. A U.S. PBM Mariner also rescued several Japanese survivors. Around 2:00pm all power was lost and permission was given to abandon ship. Listing heavily to port, YAMATOs exposed hull is hit by several more torpedoes. About 1,620 survivors of Yamato, Yahagi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi were rescued by the surviving Japanese destroyers. Updated on July 03, 2019. Also interviewed is an American dive-bomber pilot who took part in the attack. At 1322, an Essex Corsair hit Yamato in the port bow with a 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb. Yamato'sFinal Voyage YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots. U.S. losses were 10 aircraft and 12 pilots and aircrewmen. 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. 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.. Some who were shot down were later picked up by seaplanes or submarines. Yamato's remains were located and examined in 1985 and again examined, more precisely, in 1999. 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. Since Yamato could not get to the landing area before 8 April, there wasnt a big rush and Deyo convened a planning conference on his flagship Eldorado (AGC-11) at 1030 with plans to sortie TF 54 from the bombardment area at 1530. Lieutenant J.G. See what made the ship both seemingly unsinkable and highly vulnerable to attack. 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. (Video: Reuters) When the Japanese fleet approached Midway, the Americans were lying in wait. Only 10 American aircraft . In a separate attack, compani 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. 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). 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. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. Then it was supposed to beach itself, run aground, and use the ship as a makeshift fort. One of the largest battleships ever built, Yamato entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1941. Yamato was lost Apr. Design and construction Main article: Yamato-class battleship [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. My dads name is Ronald R. LeFebvre (Ding). Yamato was hit with three more torpedoes. I was so fortunate to have had that experience!!! Twelve Helldivers claim several hits near the bridge and main gun turret No. Aboard the TF 58 carriers, the strike packages were remaining ready on deck while the searches were underway. most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowing (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.). . It. Twenty Avengers attacked from the port side (concentrating torpedo attacks from the port side was deliberate, with the intent to capsize the ship). 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. He reports the formation at bearing 180, heading north, and splitting into two groups. At 1402, Yamato took three more bomb hits amidships, and Aruga gave the abandon-ship order. It would not be enough. I Was At Okinawa At This Time. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. Naval Academy, The Sullivan Brothers and the Assignment of Family Members, Historic Former U.S. Navy Bases and Stations, The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Navy, Contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Navy, The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet, Navy Underwater Archaeology Return Program, Annual Navy History and Heritage Awards - Main, Research Permits for Sunken & Terrestrial Military Craft, Scanning, Copyright & Citation Information, Obtain Duplications of Records and Photos, H-003-2 Japanese Offensive and Navy Response, H-010-2 The Battle of the Eastern Solomons, H-010-5 Plaque from Samuel B. 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I was in a ASW squadron that still had many veterans serving and flying. She rolls slowly over her port side on her beam ends. Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. As soon as the Japanese fleet left port on April 6 at 1600 hours, and proceeded through the Bungo Strait, (many WWII film buffs will recall the strait from Run Silent, Run Deep), they were immediately picked up by two American submarines (Hackleback and Threadfin). A 500-pound general-purpose bomb hit Suzutsuki and blew off her bow. None of the captains was afraid to diethey just objected to the sheer folly of attacking in daylight without air cover, believing that they wouldnt get anywhere close to Okinawa. SUZUTSUKI takes a 500-lb GP bomb hit to starboard, abreast her No. Most of the battles in the Pacific dont mention anything about the small carriers that were involved. 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. 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. The Americans bloody island-hopping campaign, which had begun in the southern Solomon Islands in 1942, had grown as the Americans swept across the Gilberts, the Solomons, and, after the battles in Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea, were on the cusp of Japan herself. 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. For executive producer Keiko Bang, making this film was cathartic. The Japanese also spot the HACKLEBACK trailing the Attack Force. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. 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. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. Rather than targeting specific vessels, Stump ordered his air group to attempt to cripple as many Japanese ships as possible. After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's Yamato would have appeared indestructible. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. Yukikaze suffered three dead from strafing and survived the war. Two dud rockets hit FUYUTSUKI. American aviators received orders to drop their blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. 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 Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Ito, orders the mission cancelled and directs the remaining ships to pick up as many survivors as possible. YAMATO is hit by two AP bombs. A near miss on Hamakaze disabled her starboard shaft and then, at 1247, torpedo hits amidships blew her in half. She had suffered minor damage in the bridge area from a bomb hit by a Helldiver dive-bomber off Intrepid (CV-11) during U.S. carrier strikes on Kure and the Inland Sea on 19 March, but was fully fit for battle. The age of the battleship was over forever. Aruga receives a rare double promotion posthumously to Vice Admiral on the request of Admiral Toyoda. Captain Aruga lashed himself to the binnacle to do the same. 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