It's cable. guns ever mounted at sea. 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 At 1107, Yamatos Type 13 air search radar detected a large aircraft formation inbound at the radars maximum range of 63 nautical miles, and noted the aircraft formation was splitting into two groups. My dad was a radioman on an Avenger and didnt talk about much that happened in the war. At 1417, she took an eighth and ninth torpedo, both to port. I Served On An LST During This Period Of Time & Locations Mentioned In This Article , But I Still Like Too Hear Of The Actual Events That Took Part That Day In April 1945. *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. aircraft's overhead view of its target. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. But the mission was approved and the Japanese ships set sail for Okinawa. But the Americans also had a battle group of eight aircraft carriers (Hornet, Bennington, Belleau Wood, San Jacinto; TG 58.3 Essex, Bunker Hill, Hancock, and Bataan) that were covering the landings. The first wave of the attack resulted in two bomb and one torpedo hits on the Yamato which had increased her speed to flank in an attempt to make her a harder target to hit. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, 10 aircraft Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. The Yamato, completed in Kure in December 1941, was the largest battleship in the world at the time. 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. With robust designs and vintage classic style, discover the heritage of military timepieces today! Hit by at least 11 torpedoes and six bombs, Yamato was sunk, along with Yahagi and four of the destroyers. Baka, essentially a piloted cruise missile, made its debut at Okinawa. Around 3,700-4,250 men from Yamato and her escort ships were dead. One Helldiver was shot down. Eight Japanese destroyers and one cruiser, the Yahagi (left), tried to assist Yamato in fending off her attackers. She was blasted by 15 bomb hits and eight torpedoes. Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. After all, she was the One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. The fighters attacked first, strafing the anti-aircraft guns on the decks with machine guns and rockets. A report that had been delayed for 25 minutes by ransmission and decoding, is received finally. Her secondary armament . He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. Twelve Helldivers claim several hits near the bridge and main gun turret No. Japanese reports claim U.S. aircraft strafed survivors in the water, but also report that attacks ceased on destroyers that were picking up survivors. [26] Heavy antiaircraft defensive fire and the heavy upper-deck armour plating on Yamato also prevented any significant damage to the vessel. At 1830, destroyer Isokaze sighted Threadfin on the surface. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. Lagging behind the main force, destroyer ASASHIMO is attacked and sunk by aircraft from SAN JACINTO. 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. How many Japanese submarines were lost in ww2? At that point, the crews would go ashore to fight and die to the last man along with their army comrades. Orders to Commit Suicide The Yamato had unbelievable orders. In the interviews below, meet two Yamato veterans still haunted by memories of the battle that took most of their comrades lives. Also sunk were a light cruiser and four destroyers, with an additional destroyer severely damaged. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. They unanimously objected, most of them arguing instead to be allowed to conduct independent raiding of the over-extended U.S. supply lines. Altogether more effective were Japan's aerial suicide weapons. The chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, Vice Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, flew in from Tokyo to ensure that Ito would comply with Admiral Toyodas orders. 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. Jocko Clark, embarked on Hornet (CV-12), included Hancock (CV-19), Bennington (CV-20), Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and San Jacinto (CVL-30). Aruga receives a rare double promotion posthumously to Vice Admiral on the request of Admiral Toyoda. With nearly all of her anti-aircraft guns out of action, the Avenger torpedo planes wreaked havoc. The Americans lose 10 aircraft and 12 crewmen. Yamato (), named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. YAMATO starts a turn starboard to course 230 degrees. The second penetrates the port side of the aft Command station and explodes between the 155-mm gun magazine and main gun turret No. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? 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. The destroyers were Destroyer Division (DESDIV) 17 (Isokaze, Hamakaze, Yukikaze), DESDIV 21 (Asashimo, Kasumi, Hatsushimo), and DESDIV 41 (Fuyuzuki, Suzutsuki). The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. >. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. Although accounts vary about how many crewmen were on Yamato, the most definitive appears to be that 3,055 of 3,332 crewmen were lost. VA-25 (1959) Air Group VI (6) Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. Spruance was informed of it only after the aircraft had taken off. Quickly spotted by Allied aircraft, Yamato and its consorts were subjected to a series of heavy air attacks that resulted in the loss of the battleship and most of its supporting ships. By dawn on April 7, Asashimo, one of the destroyers developed engine trouble and started heading back to port in Japan. WORLD WAR II. In 1945 Carrier Air Group 17 consisted of VF-17, VBF-17, VB-17, and VT-17. The remaining destroyers tried to pick up as many survivors as possible and limped back to Japan. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. [1][5], At 12:32 on 7 April 1945, Yamato was attacked by a first wave of 280 aircraft from Task Force 58, taking three hits (two bombs, one torpedo). Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. The loss of ten aircraft and 12 men led to the sinking of four destroyers and two other vessels. Shinano () was an aircraft carrier built by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II, the largest such built up to that time. A Japanese destroyer peeled off three times to keep Hackleback at bay. Did anyone survive the Yamato sinking? They had already lost the battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. At 2144, the submarine issued a detailed contact report with an accurate force disposition. Vice Admiral Ito initially objected to the mission, viewing it as futile and wasteful. 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. 1). Submarine Hackleback (SS-295) then picked up surveillance, issuing four contact reports during the night as Yamato transited southwesterly along the coast of Kyushu. However, in order to keep up with Yamato, these forays were short-lived. 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. 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. Of the Japanese destroyers, Asashimo was sunk with all hands (about 330) and Hamakaze sank with a loss of 100 crewmen and 45 wounded (257 were rescued). 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). began to flood. The visibility was highly variable, but often not very good due to cloud cover. most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowing But the Americans also had, The Ultimate Gunfighters! 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. torpedoes such that they would penetrate Yamato below the waterline near 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.. Design commenced in 1934, construction began in 1937 (in great secrecy) and Yamato was commissioned in December 1941 just after Pearl Harbor. American aviators received orders to drop their This is the first wave of 280 aircraft (132 fighters, 50 bombers, 98 torpedo planes) from Task Group 58. Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. Embarking from Kure, Yamato was to beach herself near Okinawa, and act as an unsinkable gun-emplacementbombarding American forces on Okinawa with her 18.1-inch heavy-guns. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. 1100 hour YAMATOs Type 13 air search radar operator reports contact with a large aircraft formation at his sets maximum range of 63 miles. Barrett is the world leader in long-range, large-caliber, precision rifle design and manufacturing. At 0840, the Japanese reported seven Hellcats orbiting around the force. Yamato produced the mushroom cloud seen here shortly before she sank. The arresting wire system can stop a 54,000-pound aircraft travelling 150 miles per hour in only two seconds, in a 315-foot landing area (a 24,500-kg aircraft travelling at 241 kph in a 96-meter landing area). At 1402, Yamato took three more bomb hits amidships, and Aruga gave the abandon-ship order. As a Minnesota teenager when the war started,. Operation Ten-Go never should have happened. 1400 hour Three bombs explode port amidships, five minutes later a torpedo hits her starboard side amidships. Only 10. 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. When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanese naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. 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. NOVA interviews two survivors of the sinking, who had to meet the most stringent requirements in the Japanese navy to be chosen for the crew. The rest of the Surface Special Attack Force consisted of the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers. The 40 mm Bofors, with radar guidance and proximity fuses, were marginally effective in shooting down attacking planes. This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea. The second and third waves of the American attacks pummeled Yamato. The fighter issued a contact report at 0832. Forced to wait out much of the war due to her vulnerability to air attack, Yamato was committed in a last, desperate gamble during the Battle of Okinawa in April 1945. These The engagement was an unmitigated disaster for the Japanese. Armor-piercing and other bombs make a shambles of her upper works. Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." Yamato after the Yamato first took to the sea. With only three twin 6-inch gun turrets, she was no match for U.S. light cruisers with their four triple-turret, rapid-fire 6-inch guns. She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of the largest battleships ever built. 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). heaviest and most powerful battleship ever built, carrying the most formidable He considered it a waste of good men and ships. The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. This Is A Great Article Of An Historic Event. Senior U.S. Navy commanders in the Pacific, including Admiral Raymond Spruance, Commander U.S. Fifth Fleet, knew what the battleship Yamatos mission was before almost anyone on Yamato did. Yamato was commanded by Captain Kosaku Aruga (spelled Ariga in some accounts). It was going on the attack totally outnumbered. 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