Helldivers from BENNINGTON and HORNET attack from port. two Japanese aircraft carriers Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. Suzutsuki suffered 57 dead and 34 wounded, but, despite having her bow blown off, made it back to Sasebo, Japan, steaming in reverse the whole way; she was never repaired. Yamato maneuvers while under attack by U.S. Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945, maneuvering evasively at a brisk 15 to 20 knots. A U.S. PBM Mariner also rescued several Japanese survivors. The American planes release their bombs and torpedoes and strafe the bridge with machine-gun fire. Armor-piercing and other bombs make a shambles of her upper works. At 1000 hours he launched a total of 386 aircraft consisting of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. H-044-3: Operation Heaven Number One (Ten-ichi-go)the Death of Yamato, 7 April 1945. The battleship and its sister, Musashi, were the only battleships ever constructed with 18.1" guns. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out. 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. 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. 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. Yamato was lost Apr. 1). Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. Jocko Clark, embarked on Hornet (CV-12), included Hancock (CV-19), Bennington (CV-20), Belleau Wood (CVL-24) and San Jacinto (CVL-30). 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). Japans secrecy was due to her inability to match U.S. naval power ship for ship. Of the 3,332 crew members aboard the Yamato, only 276 survived the sinking. 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. *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. The first explodes in the crews quarters abaft the Type 13 radar shack. The shocked emperor then asked, But what about the Navy? The Japanese also spot the HACKLEBACK trailing the Attack Force. 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. Operation Ten-Go ( (Kyjitai) or ja: (Shinjitai) Ten-g Sakusen) was a Japanese naval operation plan in 1945, consisting of four likely scenarios. They would not be needed. Musashi and her sister ship, Yamato, were by a wide margin the largest battleships ever built. 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. Spruance gave orders to Rear Admiral Morton Deyo, commander of the Bombardment Force, to take his six old battleships and set up a blocking force northwest of Okinawa (as Yamato was circling around in that direction with the intent to stay as far from TF 58 as possible). Thank you to all our WWII vets. The age of the carrier was now confirmed. this one exploding off Yamato's port bow, it was their air-launched torpedoes The force would transit to Okinawa on 7 April (with only a few hours of minimal. Fourteen F4U Chance-Vought Corsairs from BUNKER HILL strafe and rocket YAMATO but cause only minor damage. One of the largest battleships ever built, Yamato entered service with the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1941. I have his flight logs (as he never talked about the war except the death of his brother and his friends) so it is nice to get the big picture of this action. Yamato produced the mushroom cloud seen here shortly before she sank. The desperate measure worked, but, with insufficient time to give warning, several hundred Yamato crewmen were drowned as a result, and the ship was slowed to 10 knots, which made her an easier target. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. WORLD WAR II. The Yamato sank during a fierce battle for Okinawa on April, 7 1945. 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." 1100 hour YAMATOs Type 13 air search radar operator reports contact with a large aircraft formation at his sets maximum range of 63 miles. John Carter, was in a perfect position to watch what unfolded. AA guns and one hundred fifty-two 25-mm AA guns all open fire. photographed the destruction. 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. began to flood. The second penetrates the port side of the aft Command station and explodes between the 155-mm gun magazine and main gun turret No. 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 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. World War II would see the aircraft carrier emerge as the key to naval supremacy, supplanting the battleship. These Twenty Avengers make a new torpedo run from 60 degrees to port. The FIST of the FLEET where it began during WWII. Yamato was commanded by Captain Kosaku Aruga (spelled Ariga in some accounts). They withheld the news from the public. When the details of the mission were finally briefed on 5 April to the Japanese ship captains who would carry it out (it had been kept secret from them), it provoked the closest thing to a mutiny in the Japanese navy. A lookout spots American planes 25 degrees to port, levation 8, range 4,375 yards, moving to port. At 0657, destroyer Asashimo, with Captain Kotaki, DESDIV 21, embarked, sent a signal that she was having engine trouble and began to fall behind. 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. The extremely large number of antiaircraft guns, added during a refit, were meant to keep the ship afloat in the face of American airpower until it could close within striking range of enemy. YAMATO, despite hits by two bombs and one torpedo, maintains flank speed. 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. The execute order for Operation Ten-ichi-go (Heaven Number One) was intercepted on 26 March 1945 and decrypted. The Attack Force briefly sights seven "Hellcat" fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. Japanese lookouts spotted the American air armada at 1232 hours and soon opened fire with Yamatos 18-inch guns firing San Shiki anti-aircraft shells that were wildly inaccurate. most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowing Yamato avoided two, but the third hit her port side at 1245. (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. 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. Two dud rockets hit FUYUTSUKI. Lagging behind the main force, destroyer ASASHIMO is attacked and sunk by aircraft from SAN JACINTO. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. Another 110 aircraft from Task Group 58. Where is the wreck of the Yamato? Thirty-four Hellcats, 22 Helldivers and one Corsair attack YAMATOs escorts. The Americans lose 10 aircraft and 12 crewmen. Still kicking but dont know why. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. But in 'one of history's greatest salvage jobs,' many of the sunken ships rose to fight the Axis. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? Deyo had just received a cheery send-off from his immediate boss: "We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast." of the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck). After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's I hope you enjoy the video! Cloud cover precluded accurate firing of the They had already lost the battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. 1). VFA-25 (1983 and continuing). The morale aboard Yamato was described as not being very good, especially after the crews were informed they were on a one-way mission. Displacing 72,800 tons fully loaded, they were about 30 percent heavier than the largest U.S . With the steering locked to port and the ship doomed, Admiral Ito at 1402 hours ordered the crew to abandon ship. I stumbled on this article and I finally know a little about this battle. This Is A Great Article Of An Historic Event. Kasumi, which had her steering disabled by two bomb hits, suffered 17 dead and 47 wounded, and was scuttled by two torpedoes from Fuyuzuki. 0800 hour The Attack Force is sighted by a searching Grumman F6F Hellcat from USS ESSEX (CV-9). Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! 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. Orders to Commit Suicide The Yamato had unbelievable orders. 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. Only 10. 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. Far more effective was the extraordinary skill of Japanese ship captains in making evasive maneuvers to throw off aim and avoid numerous bombs and torpedoes. [1], Operation Ten-Go was a deliberate suicide attack against American forces off Okinawa by Yamato and nine escorts, beginning on 6 April 1945. They truly were the Greatest Generation. At 1302, Yamatos remaining air search radar detected a second inbound wave. The sky is still overcast and visibility is poor. 1000 hour The Attack Force sights two large Martin Mariner PBM flying boats. Her main guns were designed to attack at an unprecedented distance of 25 miles, well beyond the range of American battleships. TG 58.1 and 58.3 were quickly on station. 4s YORKTOWN (CV-10), INTREPID (CV-11), LANGLEY (CVL-27) engage the Attack Force. An astounding series of explosions onboard 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. Had Yamato ever encountered an Allied battleship group, she could have floated safely out of range, while destroying each ship in turn. Box 378 Red Hook, New York 12571 United States, a battle group of eight aircraft carriers, her enormous hull to the converging torpedoes. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. The big carriers got all the credit. At this point, after just a few hours of battle, Asashimo went down with all 330 hands. The visibility was highly variable, but often not very good due to cloud cover. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. The light cruiser Yahagi was the first hit, less than fifteen minutes after the firing began. One of the surviving destroyers did not have a bow. The emperors question clinched it. Being young, I took it all for granted. She slips under followed by an underwater explosion. Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. Meanwhile, the dead-in-the-water Yahagi had soaked up at least 12 bombs and seven torpedo hits before she finally capsized and sank at 1405. Fuyuzuki suffered light damage from dud rockets, suffered 12 dead and 12 injured, and was repaired, but had her stern blown off by a mine after the August cease-fire. Experts believe that a fire raging in the Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. Yamato was hit with three more torpedoes. The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. One of the final photographs of the supership shows her severely damaged hull YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots. battleship's guns. [1] By 14:00, two of Yamatos escorts had been sunk. She quickly shipped 2,235 tons of water, but the list was soon corrected with effective counter-flooding. She rolls slowly over her port side on her beam ends. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. 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. At 1232, lookouts in the Yamato force sighted the first incoming strike wave. Although the battleship was in no danger of sinking at this point, the list meant that the main battery was unable to fire . At 2:10pm Yamato rolled over and began to sink with fires from her aft 6.1" turret reaching her no. strafe the battleship with bullets and drop 1,000-pound bombs. The others kept coming. He reports the formation at bearing 180, heading north, and splitting into two groups. Instead, military leaders decided to build a secret weapon that could engage many enemy ships at once. Design and construction Main article: Yamato-class battleship About 1,620 survivors of Yamato, Yahagi, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi were rescued by the surviving Japanese destroyers. Baka, essentially a piloted cruise missile, made its debut at Okinawa. This would be carried out in conjunction with a mass aerial kamikaze attack by over 350 airplanes (Kikusui No. At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. 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. 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. Behind the Scenes It said the wreck was in two main pieces, a bow-to-midships section about 560 feet long, and a 264-foot-long stern section. 2 gun mount. This is the first wave of 280 aircraft (132 fighters, 50 bombers, 98 torpedo planes) from Task Group 58. 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. At 1430 on 7 April 1945, more than 300 nautical miles north of Okinawa, Yamato blows up after capsizing. 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. Fuyutsuki was hit by two dud rockets. 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. Japanese Battleship Yamato - minutes before sinking. The attack of hundreds of US air force against Japan made Japan's biggest battleship Yamato sink. 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.. Sources include: NHHC Dictionary of American Fighting Ships (DANFS) for U.S. ships and combinedfleet.com for Japanese ships. April 7, 1945 Sinking of the Battleship Yamato. So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). Finally some detail1st attack vb82 loses a helldiver (my uncleensign jack Carl fuller and chas. YAMATOs list increases to about 15 degrees and her speed slows to 12 knots. Between then and 1000, a total of 14 Zekes would provide cover. Now I know a little bit. An F/A-18C Hornet catches an arresting wire on the USS Nimitz. Around 2:00pm all power was lost and permission was given to abandon ship. The first U.S. attack wave ended about 1250. (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. The largest battleships ever built were Yamato and Musashi of the Imperial Japanese Navy. YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. Operation Ten-Go never should have happened. Three of the torpedoes hit in quick succession, and Yamato took on another 3,000 tons of water and a 7-degree list. By 1408, Yamato had clearly begun to capsize and the ship was being abandoned. The aircraft are lost behind the clouds. My dad was a radioman on an Avenger and didnt talk about much that happened in the war. seven torpedo hits within two hours of battle. When the U.S. invaded Okinawa on April 1, 1945, the Japanese had no naval answer to the invasion force. YAMATO turns hard to port. At 2144, the submarine issued a detailed contact report with an accurate force disposition. Mitscher correctly assumed that the Japanese were operating without air cover and would be sitting ducks for his huge airwing. DesDiv 17s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. Thanks for watching. She continues to throw up a screen of desperate flak fire. 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. After daybreak on 7 April 1945, a paltry six A6M Zeke fighters showed up to provide combat air patrol over Yamato. 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. This would be carried out in conjunction with a mass aerial kamikaze attack by over 350 airplanes ( Kikusui No. In 1945 Carrier Air Group 17 consisted of VF-17, VBF-17, VB-17, and VT-17. More than 4,000 Japanese sailors were involved in the operation. 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. As Yamato continued to list to port, her starboard armor belt came out of the water and her vulnerable underside became exposed. 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. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. The Japanese battleship Yamato in the late stages of construction alongside of a large fitting out pontoon at the Kure Naval Base, Japan, 20 September 1941.The aircraft carrier Hsh is visible at the extreme right.The store ship Mamiya is anchored in the center distance.Note Yamato's after 460mm main battery gun turret, and superfiring 155mm secondary battery gun turret. She didn't even make it close to Okinawa. The Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Ito, orders the mission cancelled and directs the remaining ships to pick up as many survivors as possible. 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. It starts a fire that cannot be extinguished and rips a 60-foot hole in the weather deck. 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 first attack wave retires. 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. He just didnt want to talk about the war. At 1423 as she began to capsize, the raging fires onboard ignited her magazines and the resultant explosion unleashed a huge mushroom cloud that rose to 20,000 feet and took out a few American planes that were overhead. Light cruiser Yahagi steered away from Yamato in an attempt to draw attention away from the battleshiptoo successfully. most likely to cause flooding and eventual sinking. Having already counter-flooded to starboard, the only option Yamato had was to flood her starboard engine and boiler rooms. About 1,187 crewmen of Yahagi and the four destroyers were lost. Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. Weighing 72,800 tons. 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. 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. She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. settled on the seafloor 1,200 feet down and about 50 A bomb impact in the dispensary killed many of the wounded who had been gathered there, along with many of the medical personnel. My dad was soldier (Tsgt) at Okinawa and my father in law was a bosunsmate aboard the USS Gunston Hall. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? VA-25 (1959) Air Group VI (6) YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. (The Yamato force had a Nisei radio-intelligence operator. At 1322, an Essex Corsair hit Yamato in the port bow with a 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb. They also mounted numerous smaller guns to . She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the largest and heaviest battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800tonnes at full load, and armed with nine 46cm (18.1inch) main guns. 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. 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. This was taken by senior Japanese navy leaders as implicit criticism of their services inaction. [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. It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. 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. Aruga would be posthumously promoted to vice admiral and Ito to full admiral. The executive officer reported to Captain Aruga that the damage control officers were dead and that counter-flooding could no longer correct the list, and recommended the ship be abandoned. Baka claimed its first victim, the destroyer USS Abele, in the seas off Okinawa on April 12. Thanks!!! Twelve Helldivers claim several hits near the bridge and main gun turret No. They were also given the option of not participating, an option none of them took. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. The fighter issued a contact report at 0832. aircraft's overhead view of its target. On 29 March, Yamato took on a full stock of ammunition, in preparation for combat off Okinawa in Operation Ten-Go. See what made the ship both seemingly unsinkable and highly vulnerable to attack. Her secondary armament . The Imperial Japanese Navy ceases to exist as a fighting force. About 120,000 were held at 10 camps because of fears that Japanese Americans were enemy sympathizers. John Carter, was in a perfect position to watch what unfolded. Operation Ten-ichi-go was the Imperial Japanese Navys plan to react to the U.S. invasion of the island of Okinawa, which Japanese intelligence correctly determined would occur at the end of March 1945. One Avenger is shot down. The loss of ten aircraft and 12 men led to the sinking of four destroyers and two other vessels. 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). YAMATO and YAHAGI open fire, increase speed to 24 knots and commence a series of sharp evasive maneuvers. At 14:23, having taken 10 torpedo and 7 bomb hits, Yamatos forward ammunition magazines detonated. Support Veteran Journalism . She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. Eight Japanese destroyers and one cruiser, the Yahagi (left), tried to assist Yamato in fending off her attackers. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. My dads name is Ronald R. LeFebvre (Ding). The Japanese lost three aircraft carriers and 426 aircraft; Yamato ' s only . By early 1945, the Japanese Empire was shrinking daily and the war had reached its home shores. Itos chief of staff, Rear Admiral Nobuei Morishita, was the senior survivor of Yamato. ), and when they were lost.the bu numbers listed as lost on 4.7.1945 is very extensive!!!!! YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. A near miss on Hamakaze disabled her starboard shaft and then, at 1247, torpedo hits amidships blew her in half. 276 men are rescued including Rear Admiral Morishita Nobuei, Chief of Staff, Second Fleet (and former YAMATO skipper). Destroyer SUZUTSUKI wreathed in black smoke, burns furiously. Vice Admiral Ito and YAMATOs skipper Captain Aruga and 3,055 of 3,332 crewmen are lost. The explosion was heard over 120 miles away. (They were right.) The ships were to sink as many troop transports as possible, then beach themselves and continue firing as long as they had ammunition. The destroyers were Destroyer Division (DESDIV) 17 (Isokaze, Hamakaze, Yukikaze), DESDIV 21 (Asashimo, Kasumi, Hatsushimo), and DESDIV 41 (Fuyuzuki, Suzutsuki). 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. naval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with herall but 269 of her crew. In a separate attack, compani ), 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. Some who were shot down were later picked up by seaplanes or submarines. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. 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. The destroyer Isokaze rushed to aid Yahagi and take off Rear Admiral Komura, but got pummeled by bombs before she got close. Though many Japanese naval leaders considered Operation Ten-Go to be a waste of their remaining resources, it moved forward on April 6, 1945. 7. 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. Yukikaze suffered three dead from strafing and survived the war. This photograph was taken in December 1941, shortly went down in the battle, with the loss of just 12 men. 1300 hour YAMATO changes course to 180 degrees, due South. Ito and Captain Aruga went down with the ship. 1 magazine explodes and sends up a cloud of smoke seen 100 miles away. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. 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Vb82 loses a helldiver ( my uncleensign jack Carl fuller and chas second inbound wave got. U.S. aircraftto no effect Yamato 's I hope you enjoy the video and torpedo.! Second FLEET ( and Former Yamato skipper ) 1000 hours he launched total.