Behind the Scenes At 1000, Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.3 commence launching a 280-plane strike wave (132 fighters, 50 bombers, and 98 torpedo planes). 2 gun mount. A 500-pound general-purpose bomb hit Suzutsuki and blew off her bow. The light cruiser YAHAGI, without headway, drifts helplessly behind the main force. At 14:23, having taken 10 torpedo and 7 bomb hits, Yamatos forward ammunition magazines detonated. World War II would see the aircraft carrier emerge as the key to naval supremacy, supplanting the battleship. In all, Yamato took 12 bomb and Thanks!!! These 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. heaviest and most powerful battleship ever built, carrying the most formidable Survivor Stories Where is the wreck of the Yamato? The Imperial Japanese Navy ceases to exist as a fighting force. While the Americans' 1,000-pound bombs held fearsome destructive power, as seen in The carriers were among seven ships that went down in the Battle of Midway, a major air and . Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." But the Americans also had, The Ultimate Gunfighters! YAMATOs list increases to about 15 degrees and her speed slows to 12 knots. The Imperial Japanese Navy's super-battleship Yamato, shown here during pre-commission running trials in the Bungo Strait between the Home Islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, 20 October 1941 (NH 73092). Air search reports two groups of aircraft, range 44 miles, closing at high speed. A lookout spots American planes 25 degrees to port, levation 8, range 4,375 yards, moving to port. 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. Instead, military leaders decided to build a secret weapon that could engage many enemy ships at once. She rolls slowly over her port side on her beam ends. He had friends wounded and killed, but the small carriers were never given credit for anything that happened. Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. . Some of the Japanese survivors reported that U.S. fighter aircraft strafed Japanese survivors floating in the water. Hit by at least 11 torpedoes and six bombs, Yamato was sunk, along with Yahagi and four of the destroyers. Itos chief of staff, Rear Admiral Nobuei Morishita, was the senior survivor of Yamato. burning just prior to disappearing beneath the waves. The element of surprise was gone for the Japanese. Twenty Avengers attacked from the port side (concentrating torpedo attacks from the port side was deliberate, with the intent to capsize the ship). strafe the battleship with bullets and drop 1,000-pound bombs. Here, an Flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, she was lead ship of the Yamato class. Meanwhile, about 34 Hellcats and Corsairs and 22 Helldivers and Avengers worked over some of the other Japanese destroyers. The shocked emperor then asked, But what about the Navy? This is the first wave of 280 aircraft (132 fighters, 50 bombers, 98 torpedo planes) from Task Group 58. 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. (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. According to the plan, Yamato, light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers would form a Surface Special Attack Force (the term special attack was understood to mean suicide) and sortie on 6 April 1945. A bomb impact in the dispensary killed many of the wounded who had been gathered there, along with many of the medical personnel. One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. It starts a fire that cannot be extinguished and rips a 60-foot hole in the weather deck. The Avengers drop three torpedoes. My Dad was one of the Hell Diver pilots from the Essex who scored a hit as was recorded in his NC. 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 Torpedoes explode against Yamato's port side But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. Five Helldivers are damaged by AA fire. An F/A-18C Hornet catches an arresting wire on the USS Nimitz. Musashi (? Her nine 18.1-inch guns firing Sanshikidan beehive shells, twenty-four 127-mm. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. He reports the formation at bearing 180, heading north, and splitting into two groups. Destroyer SUZUTSUKI wreathed in black smoke, burns furiously. Only 10 American aircraft 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. After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's At 1243, five Hornet Avengers came in from port, while 14 F4U Corsairs from Bunker Hill were strafing and hitting Yamato with rockets that caused little damage to the ship, but were deadly to the gunners. Agroup of five low-flying Avengers (VT-17) from HORNET (CV-12) start a torpedo run from the port, bearing 70 degrees. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. With the steering locked to port and the ship doomed, Admiral Ito at 1402 hours ordered the crew to abandon ship. These were 50 aircraft from Essex and Bataan. 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. So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). 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. Jocko Clark, embarked on Hornet (CV-12), included Hancock (CV-19), Bennington (CV-20), Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and San Jacinto (CVL-30). Half of the dead at . battleship's guns. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. 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. Sources include: NHHC Dictionary of American Fighting Ships (DANFS) for U.S. ships and combinedfleet.com for Japanese ships. Now I know a little bit. Yamato fired her 18-inch guns at approaching American aircraft, 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. 1000 hour - The Attack Force sights two large Martin "Mariner" PBM flying boats. U.S. aircrew claimed additional bomb and torpedo hits in this first wave, but these were mostly near misses. While still a token of national pride, the sinking of Yamato also symbolized the sad end of the once invincible Imperial Japanese Navy. The visibility was highly variable, but often not very good due to cloud cover. When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanese Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. Support Veteran Journalism . of the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck). Jan 6, 2019 Conan White, Guest Author. Although the battleship was in no danger of sinking at this point, the list meant that the main battery was unable to fire . Both ships cease firing. A Corsair from ESSEX drops a 1000-lb GP bomb that hits the superstructure in the port bow area. Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. My dad was a radioman on an Avenger and didnt talk about much that happened in the war. Her remaining air search radar reports the approach of a second attack wave. The Japanese admiral in charge of Operation Ten-Go, Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, disagreed with the plan which essentially was to sail into teeth of the American fleet without the benefit of any air cover and then beach on Okinawa and operate as a static defense in support of the island. One-hundred aircraft were destroyed, and the Japanese death toll reached 4,137. The sinking of the Yamato on April 7 conclusively signaled the end of the "all-big-gun" battleship era of naval warfare. Rather than targeting specific vessels, Stump ordered his air group to attempt to cripple as many Japanese ships as possible. [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. As later described by the captain of Yahagi, Captain Tameichi Hara, the meeting was quite contentious. A report that had been delayed for 25 minutes by ransmission and decoding, is received finally. Before getting underway, the Surface Special Attack Force put ashore 67 recently arrived midshipmen of the Etajima Naval Academy Class No. Altogether more effective were Japan's aerial suicide weapons. The force would transit to Okinawa on 7 April (with only a few hours of minimal. YAMATO starts a sharp turn to port but three torpedoes rip into her port side amidships. The Attack Force changes course due south to 180 degrees. Yahagi lost 446; Asashimo lost 330; the seven destroyers, 391 officers and men. He considered it a waste of good men and ships. Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. The massive air group circled just out of range of the anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese. ), 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. Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! 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. Over the next days, additional messages were intercepted and decrypted by Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC) and also OP-20-G in Washington that provided increasingly detailed information on the operations timing and made specific mention of Yamato on 5 April. Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. The American invasion fleet had, besides a heavy battleship contingent consisting of six battleships (Massachusetts, Indiana, New Jersey, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Missouri), seven cruisers (including the large cruisers Alaska and Guam) and 21 destroyers. Deployment: In the fall of 1941,. Did Yamato sink any ships? 1 magazine explodes and sends up a cloud of smoke seen 100 miles away. 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 ship was split in two and was found resting at a depth of 1,120 feet (340 m). began to flood. most likely to cause flooding and eventual sinking. YAMATO has taken a total of four torpedo hits. This was taken as a yet another bad omen. She slips under followed by an underwater explosion. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, 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. There were few Japanese survivors. By noon, the Corsair and Hellcat fighters arrived over the Yamato group, looking for fighters protecting the Japanese, and finding none waited for the dive bombers and torpedo planes to arrive. Additionally, aircraft damaged most of the . blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. The battleship and its sister, Musashi, were the only battleships ever constructed with 18.1" guns. Fifty aircraft from ESSEX and BATAAN are sighted approaching from the SSW, range 18.5 miles. 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