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. There were few Japanese survivors. One of her junior designers tells NOVA he was completely in the dark about the scale of the vessel that he was helping to create: I was building the biggest ship in the world, and I didnt even know it until after the war.. YAMATOs No. ), 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. (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 real story of the Yamato sinking March 06, 2008 On April 7, 1945, three southern boys were above the clouds north of Okinawa, 125 miles from the southernmost tip of the main Japanese islands searching for "the largest, heaviest and most powerful battleship ever constructed." 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. 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. [5] The smoke from the explosionover 4miles (6.4km) highwas seen 100miles (160km) away on Kysh. However, three-quarters of these (128 boats) were lost during the conflict, a proportion of loss similar that experienced by Germany's U-Boats. One Helldiver is shot down, another is damaged badly. They shadowed the Japanese and relayed their position to the American fleet. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. Air search reports two groups of aircraft, range 44 miles, closing at high speed. Some of the Japanese survivors reported that U.S. fighter aircraft strafed Japanese survivors floating in the water. Before getting underway, the Surface Special Attack Force put ashore 67 recently arrived midshipmen of the Etajima Naval Academy Class No. Yamato produced the mushroom cloud seen here shortly before she sank. The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. The first attack wave retires. 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. U.S. aircrew claimed additional bomb and torpedo hits in this first wave, but these were mostly near misses. While the Americans' 1,000-pound bombs held fearsome destructive power, as seen in An astounding series of explosions onboard Musashi and her sister ship, Yamato, were by a wide margin the largest battleships ever built. They also mounted numerous smaller guns to . 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. (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.). This force include battleships Massachusetts (BB-59), Indiana (BB-58), South Dakota (BB-57), New Jersey (BB-62), Wisconsin (BB-64), and Missouri (BB-63) (54 16-inch guns), the battle-cruisers Alaska (CB-1) and Guam (CB-2), five cruisers, and 21 destroyers. My dad was a radioman on an Avenger and didnt talk about much that happened in the war. As later described by the captain of Yahagi, Captain Tameichi Hara, the meeting was quite contentious. 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. Three of the torpedoes hit in quick succession, and Yamato took on another 3,000 tons of water and a 7-degree list. Cloud cover precluded accurate firing of the Only 10 American aircraft producing the blasts that tore the ship in half and sank her. Despite the destruction, the majesty of the ship is unmistakable, symbolized by a six-foot-wide chrysanthemum crest, icon of the Japanese imperial family, still gracing Yamatos prow like a figurehead. Of the just over 3,000 men aboard the Yamato on the morning of April 7, 1945, fewer than 300 were alive at days end. 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). The Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Ito, orders the mission cancelled and directs the remaining ships to pick up as many survivors as possible. Her secondary armament . The ship captains were then assembled on Yahagi and briefed. I hope you enjoy the video! This is a movie Yamato 2005. It. naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. After all, she was the 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. Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. My dad served on the Langley. YAMATO, despite hits by two bombs and one torpedo, maintains flank speed. The first U.S. attack wave ended about 1250. Since Yamatos radios were destroyed, Vice Admiral Ito sent out a signal via flag hoist cancelling the operation and freeing the other ships to try to get back to Japan. The Japanese lost three aircraft carriers and 426 aircraft; Yamato ' s only . Read Next: The Ultimate Gunfighters! 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. The first explodes in the crews quarters abaft the Type 13 radar shack. Thanks!!! The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. Note the fire in one of the Lagging behind the main force, destroyer ASASHIMO is attacked and sunk by aircraft from SAN JACINTO. 2 gun mount. Kasumi, which had her steering disabled by two bomb hits, suffered 17 dead and 47 wounded, and was scuttled by two torpedoes from Fuyuzuki. Three Japanese destroyers are nearby (80-G-413914). Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. Thanks for watching. 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. Yamato avoided two, but the third hit her port side at 1245. But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. The Yahagi was too tempting a target for the hundreds of attacking aircraft. Later that day, the battered destroyers ISOKAZE and KASUMI are scuttled and sink. I stumbled on this article and I finally know a little about this battle. 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. However, in order to keep up with Yamato, these forays were short-lived. The attack on Pearl Harbor 71 years ago left a tangled mess of burning and shattered warships. Japanese Battleship Yamato - minutes before sinking. The Yamato, completed in Kure in December 1941, was the largest battleship in the world at the time. [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 she came under attack on that April morning, the 4s YORKTOWN (CV-10), INTREPID (CV-11), LANGLEY (CVL-27) engage the Attack Force. [1] By 14:00, two of Yamatos escorts had been sunk. The Attack Force briefly sights seven Hellcat fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. Torpedoes explode against Yamato's port side 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. 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 Timeline of Battleship Yamato sinking on 7 April 1945 0800 hour - The Attack Force is sighted by a searching Grumman F6F Hellcat from USS ESSEX (CV-9). Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's Twenty Avengers attacked from the port side (concentrating torpedo attacks from the port side was deliberate, with the intent to capsize the ship). Captain Hara of Yahagi later said the mission would be like throwing an egg against a rock.. A Corsair from ESSEX drops a 1000-lb GP bomb that hits the superstructure in the port bow area. FRUPAC had the message that the air cover would end at 1000, which was also known to senior U.S. Navy commanders. 1 magazine causing a huge explosion with a mushroom smoke cloud that was visible for 100 miles away. burning just prior to disappearing beneath the waves. Everyone of them, enlisted and officers, were a true gentleman. At 1830, destroyer Isokaze sighted Threadfin on the surface. 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. (Remember, the US lost 10 planes and 12 men sinking Yamato out of more than 300 aircraft) There is no logical reason to do this. About 120,000 were held at 10 camps because of fears that Japanese Americans were enemy sympathizers. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ , When the U.S. invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Japanese had, So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). Here, an So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost. They pounced on her like sharks in the water. Jan 6, 2019 Conan White, Guest Author. The Attack Force changes course due south to 180 degrees. 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