After all, she was the Although 16 warships were hit, Yamato sustained only minor damage from a number of near misses and from one bomb that struck her bridge. Yamato's injuries were fatal. Submarine Hackleback (SS-295) then picked up surveillance, issuing four contact reports during the night as Yamato transited southwesterly along the coast of Kyushu. At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? As later described by the captain of Yahagi, Captain Tameichi Hara, the meeting was quite contentious. A Corsair from ESSEX drops a 1000-lb GP bomb that hits the superstructure in the port bow area. The attack of hundreds of US air force against Japan made Japan's biggest battleship Yamato sink. . Her secondary armament . YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots. Turret #1 can also be seen upfront. Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. But even as Deyo was deploying his force, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, the commander of Task Force 58 (TF 58), acting completely on his own without orders from Spruance, launched a massive airstrike using all eight of his carriers to attempt to strike a deathblow. In this program, NOVA joins an international team exploring the grave of this magnificent vessel to learn the secrets of her design, her final mission, and the violent events that brought her down. By this point, the uncorrected list was passing 15 degrees to port, and alarms were warning of critical temperatures in the forward main battery magazines, with no working pumps to flood them. One of the torpedo planes took a hit in the wing, pulled up in flames, then plunged into the sea. Having already counter-flooded to starboard, the only option Yamato had was to flood her starboard engine and boiler rooms. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. The once-proud Japanese Imperial Navy that Americans feared would threaten the West Coast, was largely driven across the Pacific and now operated mainly from its home waters. They would launch the worlds largest battleship, the Yamato with its enormous 18-inch guns, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers against the enormous American fleet. Torpedoes explode against Yamato's port side On 1 January 1945, Yamato, Haruna and Nagato were all transferred to the newly reactivated 1st Battleship Division; Yamato left drydock two days later. At 1017, Yahagi commenced jamming the Mariners communications, but by then it was too late. Taffy 2 and Taffy 3 aircraft contributed to the sinking of the heavy cruisers Chokai, Chikuma, and Suzuya, all of which had received some degree of damage from surface action. 4: Factual error; Musashi was sunk on Oct. 23, 1944 in the Sibuyan Sea. The fighter issued a contact report at 0832. Two more destroyers were lost: the Asashimo, which was raked by bomb hits as it was returning to Japan and sank killing its entire crew; and the Kasumi that was heavily damaged and later scuttled. One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. . WORLD WAR II. battleship's guns. Vice Admiral Ito retired to his stateroom to go down with the ship. DANFS - Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Permitting Policy and Resource Management, The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks: 20 Years Later, "Ex Scientia Tridens": The U.S. The Japanese fighters were unable to make contact before they left at 1000. The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. The engagement was an unmitigated disaster for the Japanese. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. This is a movie Yamato 2005. Eight Japanese destroyers and one cruiser, the Yahagi (left), tried to assist Yamato in fending off her attackers. Anatomy of Yamato It would not be enough. Later that day, the battered destroyers ISOKAZE and KASUMI are scuttled and sink. Most of her engineering drawings have disappeared and few photographs survive, making Yamatos exact dimensions and design a mystery. Light cruiser Yahagi steered away from Yamato in an attempt to draw attention away from the battleshiptoo successfully. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. He considered it a waste of good men and ships. Fourteen F4U Chance-Vought Corsairs from BUNKER HILL strafe and rocket YAMATO but cause only minor damage. Yamato was essentially doomed by a question from Emperor Hirohito during a briefing on 29 March about plans for Japanese air opposition to expected landings on Okinawa. How many planes were lost attacking the Yamato? Below are some of those stories and some links to other web sites with more stories about the ship and its final day, April 7, 1945. The others kept coming. Have we no more ships?. 2 gun mount. TG 58.4 had just finished refueling and would arrive just in time. LtCdr (later Captain) Herbert Houck, the leader of 43 TBM Avengers of VT-9 from YORKTOWN, detaches Lt Thomas Stetsons six Avengers in a final torpedo attack from the ships starboard side. The destroyers were Destroyer Division (DESDIV) 17 (Isokaze, Hamakaze, Yukikaze), DESDIV 21 (Asashimo, Kasumi, Hatsushimo), and DESDIV 41 (Fuyuzuki, Suzutsuki). The Yahagi was too tempting a target for the hundreds of attacking aircraft. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. The Japanese also spot the HACKLEBACK trailing the Attack Force. The second penetrates the port side of the aft Command station and explodes between the 155-mm gun magazine and main gun turret No. VFA-25 (1983 and continuing). 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. most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowing When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanese naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. (Although U.S. carrier air groups complement had been changed to have a mix of about three quarters fighters to defend against kamikaze and only one quarter bombers and torpedo planes, the fighters had been trained and gotten pretty good at being used in a fighter-bomber role, and, with no Japanese air opposition, had the freedom to do so.) Eggheads on this subject get "lost in the sauce" going over tables, charts, and math formulas done by researchers after the war shooting rounds into armor plate captured from Japan and Germany,. 3s USS ESSEX (CV-9), BUNKER HILL (CV-17), BATAAN (CVL-24) and CABOT (CVL-28). All Rights Reserved. The FIST of the FLEET where it began during WWII. this one exploding off Yamato's port bow, it was their air-launched torpedoes The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of the largest battleships ever built. 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. Japans secrecy was due to her inability to match U.S. naval power ship for ship. Thus, its possible Aruga was selected, but not yet promoted. In keeping with Japanese practice of posthumous promotion for death in battle, he was promoted to vice admiral after Yamato was sunk, that much is fact. My dads name is Ronald R. LeFebvre (Ding). 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. Two more destroyers were lost: the Asashimo, which was raked by bomb hits as it was returning to Japan and sank killing its entire crew; and the Kasumi that was heavily damaged and later. 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. 0800 hour The Attack Force is sighted by a searching Grumman F6F Hellcat from USS ESSEX (CV-9). The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. 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. Kasumi, which had her steering disabled by two bomb hits, suffered 17 dead and 47 wounded, and was scuttled by two torpedoes from Fuyuzuki. The result was arguably the largest suicide mission in history. It was going on the attack totally outnumbered. ), and when they were lost.the bu numbers listed as lost on 4.7.1945 is very extensive!!!!! 7, 1945 south of Kyushu. All these years later I remember each one of those men fondly and with great respect. At that point, the crews would go ashore to fight and die to the last man along with their army comrades. 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. FRUPAC had the message that the air cover would end at 1000, which was also known to senior U.S. Navy commanders. Thanks for watching. But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. 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. A torpedo stopped her dead in the water and killed the entire engine compartment crew. The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. (They were right.) Cloud cover precluded accurate firing of the The commander in chief of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, resolved to send what was left of his force out in a blaze of glory. She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. The battleship and its sister, Musashi, were the only battleships ever constructed with 18.1" guns. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. Baka claimed its first victim, the destroyer USS Abele, in the seas off Okinawa on April 12. Hancock for some reason launched her 53-plane strike late, and it never found Yamato in the murk, reducing the overall first strike to 227 aircraft. after the Yamato first took to the sea. 1100 hour YAMATOs Type 13 air search radar operator reports contact with a large aircraft formation at his sets maximum range of 63 miles. Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. The big carriers got all the credit. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. Isokaze, which had her steering disabled by a near miss, suffered 20 dead and 54 wounded, and had to be scuttled by gunfire from Yukikaze. 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. The Avengers drop three torpedoes. 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. Two eyewitness accounts of Yamato's last battle. As waves of kamikazes took to the sky to defend the island, Yamato was ordered to sea on a mission to emulate the suicide planes and take out as many American ships as possible. (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.). of the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck). Twelve Helldivers claimed several hits in the bridge area in exchange for five Helldivers damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. 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. And it was never more apparent than during the Battle of Okinawa. US warplanes sank the Musashi on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, believed to be. 1200 hour A lookout spots three Japanese troopships on bearing 0250 heading for Amami-Oshima. 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