Design and construction Main article: Yamato-class battleship Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane (NH 62581). Thanks for watching. Constructed from 1937 1940 and formally commissioned in late 1941, Yamato served as the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto throughout 1942, first sailing as part of the Combined Fleet during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. For executive producer Keiko Bang, making this film was cathartic. 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. Note the fire in one of the Thank you to all our WWII vets. The Attack Force turns to course 205, towards Okinawa. The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of the largest battleships ever built. Though many Japanese naval leaders considered Operation Ten-Go to be a waste of their remaining resources, it moved forward on April 6, 1945. photographed the destruction. Three of the torpedoes hit in quick succession, and Yamato took on another 3,000 tons of water and a 7-degree list. Baka, essentially a piloted cruise missile, made its debut at Okinawa. At 1210, destroyer Asashimo, lagging behind the force, reported that she was under air attack, and radio transmissions from her ceased. This photograph was taken in December 1941, shortly Helldivers from BENNINGTON and HORNET attack from port. Also interviewed is an American dive-bomber pilot who took part in the attack. He suggests the order to abandon ship be given. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. 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 . It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. The Attack Force briefly sights seven Hellcat fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. 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). At 1115, Yamatos radar indicated the two air groups were at 44 miles and closing rapidly. 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. 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. The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. These were 50 aircraft from Essex and Bataan. It starts a fire that cannot be extinguished and rips a 60-foot hole in the weather deck. 3. Box 378 Red Hook, New York 12571 United States, a battle group of eight aircraft carriers, her enormous hull to the converging torpedoes. Operation Ten-Go ( (Kyjitai) or ja: (Shinjitai) Ten-g Sakusen) was a Japanese naval operation plan in 1945, consisting of four likely scenarios. Another 110 aircraft from Task Group 58. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. The attack of hundreds of US air force against Japan made Japan's biggest battleship Yamato sink. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, The shocked emperor then asked, But what about the Navy? In 1945 Carrier Air Group 17 consisted of VF-17, VBF-17, VB-17, and VT-17. 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. It had been deployed on a Surface Special Attack Force suicide mission to drive back U.S. forces that had landed on Okinawa. The Japanese fighters were unable to make contact before they left at 1000. Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. The sky is still overcast and visibility is poor. 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. An attack of 36 Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes against the heavily protected USS Hornet with her escorts took down over 20 Japanese planes. The Americans lose 10 aircraft and 12 crewmen. The first attack wave retires. The destroyer Isokaze attempted to come to her aid but was heavily damaged and driven off. Cloud cover precluded accurate firing of the The Yamato-class ships were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 long tons (74,000 t) fully loaded and armed with nine 46-centimetre (18.1 in) main guns. 1 magazine explodes and sends up a cloud of smoke seen 100 miles away. At 1342, another Avenger was shot down, but four more torpedoes were inbound from the port side and two hit. Thanks!!! Both ships cease firing. TG 58.1, commanded by Rear Admiral J. J. The emperors question clinched it. The U.S. 5th Fleet commander, Admiral Raymond Spruance, ordered Task Force 54, which consisted mostly of the battleships under Rear Admiral Morton Deyo, to move in and engage the Japanese task force. Their solution was to bolt a shit load of 25mm open AA gun mounts where ever they could which left the sailor's firing them very exposed to enemy MG's. The USN would rake the hell out of just one side of a BB like Yamato and soften up the AAA for the torpedo planes and dive bombers to attack. One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. 4s YORKTOWN (CV-10), INTREPID (CV-11), LANGLEY (CVL-27) engage the Attack Force. DesDiv 17s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. At 1407, she was struck by at least the seventh torpedo, this time to starboard. 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. Support Veteran Journalism . This would be carried out in conjunction with a mass aerial kamikaze attack by over 350 airplanes ( Kikusui No. A Curtiss Helldiver bomber like the one seen at right An astounding series of explosions onboard Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. Most of the battles in the Pacific dont mention anything about the small carriers that were involved. YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. 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. At 0840, the Japanese reported seven Hellcats orbiting around the force. What sank the Yamato? 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. My dad served on the Langley. On 1 January 1945, Yamato, Haruna and Nagato were all transferred to the newly reactivated 1st Battleship Division; Yamato left drydock two days later. TG 58.4 had just finished refueling and would arrive just in time. 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. [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. It would not be enough. YAMATO has taken a total of four torpedo hits. 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. At 1430 on 7 April 1945, more than 300 nautical miles north of Okinawa, Yamato blows up after capsizing. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. 10 aircraft Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. Itos chief of staff, Rear Admiral Nobuei Morishita, was the senior survivor of Yamato. 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. Finally some detail1st attack vb82 loses a helldiver (my uncleensign jack Carl fuller and chas. Many of those lost did so after the battle on their return to the carriers; ditching in the sea having run out of fuel. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. Yahagi was commanded by Captain Tameichi Hara (the only Japanese destroyer skipper at the start of the war who was still alive at the end of the war), with Rear Admiral Keizo Komura, commander of Destroyer Squadron 2, embarked. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. There are many stories about the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato. Later that day, the battered destroyers ISOKAZE and KASUMI are scuttled and sink. On 29 March, Yamato took on a full stock of ammunition, in preparation for combat off Okinawa in Operation Ten-Go. The element of surprise was gone for the Japanese. 2 gun mount. On May 6, 1945, a twin-engine kamikaze plane's bomb exploded beside the destroyer Luce, part of the radar picket ship screen surrounding Okinawa, and ripped her starboard side "like a sardine. Built in total secrecy and launched just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamato may have been almost twice the size of her American counterparts, with the largest guns ever mounted on a warship. Legendary Lost Japanese WWII Battleship Found by Billionaire Paul Allen.The search was funded by Paul Allen, the Microsoft co . The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. The attack on Pearl Harbor 71 years ago left a tangled mess of burning and shattered warships. How many US planes were lost sinking the Yamato? torpedoes such that they would penetrate Yamato below the waterline near I joined the Navy in 1964. Japan started the war with 63 ocean-going submarines (i.e., not including midgets), and completed 111 during the war, for a total of 174. Her secondary armament was significantly altered during the war by removing two of her four triple 6.1-inch turrets in favor of increased anti-aircraft armament, which, by 1945, included 12 dual 5-inch gun mounts, 54 25-mm triple mounts (162 guns), and smaller machine guns. 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. At 1000 hours he launched a total of 386 aircraft consisting of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. He asked what the Japanese navy was doing. One of the final photographs of the supership shows her severely damaged hull How many planes were lost attacking the Yamato? Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. 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. YAMATO turns hard to port. 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. Altogether more effective were Japan's aerial suicide weapons. Barrett products are used by civilians, sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and more than 75 State Department-approved countries around the world. Numerous Helldivers from Bennington and Hornet attacked from Yamatos port side and numerous near misses splashed all around the battleship, which was moving at flank speed (27 knots), before she was finally hit by two 1,000-pound armor-piercing bombs at 1240. They would not be needed. As a Minnesota teenager when the war started,. She didn't even make it close to Okinawa. 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.". 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. To buck up morale, many captains of capital ships received a accelerated promotion to rear admiral in 1944.
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