1200 hour A lookout spots three Japanese troopships on bearing 0250 heading for Amami-Oshima. The Attack Force turns towards Sasebo. after the Yamato first took to the sea. Yamato was commanded by Captain Kosaku Aruga (spelled Ariga in some accounts). The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. At 14:23, having taken 10 torpedo and 7 bomb hits, Yamatos forward ammunition magazines detonated. . 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. Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! (Video: Reuters) When the Japanese fleet approached Midway, the Americans were lying in wait. This image 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. Executive Officer Nomura Jiro reports to Captain Aruga that his damage control officers are all dead and that counter-flooding can no longer correct the list. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. This great vessel had a . Spruance was informed of it only after the aircraft had taken off. Yamato's injuries were fatal. While still a token of national pride, the sinking of Yamato also symbolized the sad end of the once invincible Imperial Japanese Navy. 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. The FIST of the FLEET where it began during WWII. Six Yorktown Avengers attacked from the starboard side, with their Mark 13 torpedoes re-set for a 20-foot depthseveral hit. The Yamato, completed in Kure in December 1941, was the largest battleship in the world at the time. Both ships cease firing. Light cruiser Yahagi steered away from Yamato in an attempt to draw attention away from the battleshiptoo successfully. However, three-quarters of these (128 boats) were lost during the conflict, a proportion of loss similar that experienced by Germany's U-Boats. Thanks for watching. As Yamato and escorts were transiting the Bungo Strait between the Home Islands of Kyushu and Shikoku on 6 April 1945, submarine Threadfin (SS-410) sighted the force at about 1745 and issued a contact report in the clear that was intercepted by Yamato. The Hell Divers then plummeted straight down dropping armor-piercing bombs, clearing the way for the Avenger torpedo bombers that came in low and slow to try to put torpedoes on the target. battleship's aft secondary magazine caused tons of ammunition to ignite almost simultaneously, The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy targets was in October 1944, but was ordered to turn back after attacks by destroyers and aircraft of the Taffy light escort carrier task groups managed to sink three heavy cruisers during the Battle off Samar. They withheld the news from the public. Around 3,700-4,250 men from Yamato and her escort ships were dead. 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.. Meanwhile, about 34 Hellcats and Corsairs and 22 Helldivers and Avengers worked over some of the other Japanese destroyers. Throughout 1943, Yamato continually transferred between Truk, Kure and Brunei in response to American airstrikes on Japanese island bases. Hit by at least 11 torpedoes and six bombs, Yamato was sunk, along with Yahagi and four of the destroyers. Design and construction Main article: Yamato-class battleship TG 58.4 had just finished refueling and would arrive just in time. Her main guns were designed to attack at an unprecedented distance of 25 miles, well beyond the range of American battleships. 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. The destroyers were an assortment of different classes (what was left in operation, since the Japanese would lose 120 destroyers during the war), but all were armed with powerful Type 93 Long Lance 24-inch torpedoes. 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. But the Americans also had, The Ultimate Gunfighters! Musashi and her sister ship, Yamato, were by a wide margin the largest battleships ever built. 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,. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. 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 sky is still overcast and visibility is poor. *Lighting a path to truth* Former Navy JAG Worldwide U.S. Military Defense. The morale aboard Yamato was described as not being very good, especially after the crews were informed they were on a one-way mission. At 0657, destroyer Asashimo, with Captain Kotaki, DESDIV 21, embarked, sent a signal that she was having engine trouble and began to fall behind. Vice Admiral Ito initially objected to the mission, viewing it as futile and wasteful. Thanks!!! 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. 1). The ship captains were then assembled on Yahagi and briefed. 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. Living Conditions. The battleship received a 30-minute time-late report from an observation post on a small Japanese island north of Okinawa that 150 U.S. planes were headed in Yamatos direction. I joined the Navy in 1964. I am fortunate to be living as long as I have , I know us WWII vets are living on borrowed time, but glad to be of sound mind yet and can remember incidents like this. The ship was split in two and was found resting at a depth of 1,120 feet (340 m). Vice Admiral Ito and YAMATOs skipper Captain Aruga and 3,055 of 3,332 crewmen are lost. 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. Fuyutsuki was hit by two dud rockets. But in 'one of history's greatest salvage jobs,' many of the sunken ships rose to fight the Axis. 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. Almost all of the nearly 400 American fighters and bombers Many of those lost did so after the battle on their return to the carriers; ditching in the sea having run out of fuel. 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. Altogether, more than 2,700 men went down with the ship or drowned after it sank, making the loss of the Yamato one of the greatest naval disasters of all time. 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. 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. Yamato fired her 18-inch guns at approaching American aircraft, . 10 aircraft Yamato was still more than 300 nautical miles from Okinawa when she went down. Read Next: The Ultimate Gunfighters! YAMATO starts a turn starboard to course 230 degrees. Pearl harbor was attacked on December 7th, 1941,hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. 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. Did anyone survive the Yamato sinking? two Japanese aircraft carriers Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. Around 2:00pm all power was lost and permission was given to abandon ship. Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane (NH 62581). YAMATO turns towards the planes and opens fire unsuccessfully as does cruiser YAHAGI. Helldivers from BENNINGTON and HORNET attack from port. How many Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk in ww2? By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost. Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. 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. 3. USS Iowa Class Battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots and made her a sitting duck. Flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, she was lead ship of the Yamato class. Listing heavily to port, YAMATOs exposed hull is hit by several more torpedoes. The first attack wave retires. Aruga receives a rare double promotion posthumously to Vice Admiral on the request of Admiral Toyoda. >. In the interviews below, meet two Yamato veterans still haunted by memories of the battle that took most of their comrades lives. She was blasted by 15 bomb hits and eight torpedoes. He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. The Imperial Japanese Navy ceases to exist as a fighting force. What are they doing to assist in defending Okinawa? Three Japanese destroyers are nearby (80-G-413914). 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. Submarine Hackleback (SS-295) then picked up surveillance, issuing four contact reports during the night as Yamato transited southwesterly along the coast of Kyushu. Yamato carried only enough fuel to reach Okinawa, as the fuel stocks available were insufficient to provide enough fuel to reach Okinawa and return. Class battleships Versus IJN Yamato Class, This slowed Yamato down to 10 knots made. 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