She sunk shortly after. 2023 The SOFREP Media Group. The destroyer Isokaze attempted to come to her aid but was heavily damaged and driven off. 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. This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea. Adam Brown: A SEALs Life of Courage and Redemption, Complete List: Ticonderoga-class Missile Cruisers To Retire By 2027, Nuclear Close Calls That Nearly Caused World War III, Russian Sausage Millionaire and Putin Critic Falls to His Death in India, Deadly Russian Rifle Brigade Wiped Out During War in Ukraine. The Attack Force changes course to 100 degrees. Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane (NH 62581). Read Next: The Ultimate Gunfighters! He considered it a waste of good men and ships. April 7, 1945 Sinking of the Battleship Yamato. Japans secrecy was due to her inability to match U.S. naval power ship for ship. All ships increase speed to 25 knots and commence a simultaneous turn. Then radar reports the closing aircraft have turned towards the force. 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. See what made the ship both seemingly unsinkable and highly vulnerable to attack. Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. Also, accounts differ as to whether he was a captain or rear admiral. At 1210, destroyer Asashimo, lagging behind the force, reported that she was under air attack, and radio transmissions from her ceased. American aviators received orders to drop their Yamato's injuries were fatal. One Helldiver is shot down, another is damaged badly. 129 Japanese soldiers were killed. 1000 hour - The Attack Force sights two large Martin "Mariner" PBM flying boats. What sank the Yamato? . On 29 March, Yamato was ordered to take on fuel and ammunition, and loaded 1,170 shells for her nine 18.1-inch guns (in three triple turrets), 1,629 shells for her six 6.1-inch guns (in two triple turrets), 13,500 anti-aircraft shells, and 11.5 million rounds of machine-gun ammunition. (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. Anatomy of Yamato Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. (Based on erroneous San Jacinto report, Samuel Eliot Morison misidentifies this ship as Hamakaze, but a photo shows a Yugumo-class destroyer, which would be Asashimo, and which was also the one lagging behind.). 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). Breaking the news to the Emperor, a Japanese admiral was asked, what about the fleet? The admiral had to admit, the Japanese fleet had ceased to exist as a fighting formation. I was a radioman on one of the VT23 Avengers participating in this strike flying off the Langley. LtCdr (later Captain) Herbert Houck, the leader of 43 TBM Avengers of VT-9 from YORKTOWN, detaches Lt Thomas Stetsons six Avengers in a final torpedo attack from the ships starboard side. H-044-3: Operation Heaven Number One (Ten-ichi-go)the Death of Yamato, 7 April 1945. A heartfelt salute from myself, a navy vet in the 70s! My dad was soldier (Tsgt) at Okinawa and my father in law was a bosunsmate aboard the USS Gunston Hall. of the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck). The light cruiser YAHAGI, without headway, drifts helplessly behind the main force. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. Yamato'sFinal Voyage [28] An estimated 2,498 of the 2,700 crew members on Yamato were lost, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi It, the fleet commander.[1]. 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. This great vessel had a . At 1000, Task Group 58.1 and Task Group 58.3 commence launching a 280-plane strike wave (132 fighters, 50 bombers, and 98 torpedo planes). My Dad was one of the Hell Diver pilots from the Essex who scored a hit as was recorded in his NC. 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. U.S. aircrew claimed additional bomb and torpedo hits in this first wave, but these were mostly near misses. 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. Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. Of firing 3,220-lb shells over 26 miles pilots and eight aircrewmen were missing and presumed dead how many planes were lost sinking the yamato. blasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea. The Attack Force briefly sights seven "Hellcat" fighters, but they are not seen by the escorting Zekes. She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. 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. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ Two other destroyers were heavily damaged, one, the Hamakaze later sank. There were few Japanese survivors. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. Did Yamato sink any ships? The Yamato group cranked up speed to 25 knots. Yamato fired her 18-inch guns at approaching American aircraft, Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis. (They were right.) [1] By 14:00, two of Yamatos escorts had been sunk. 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. One Avenger is shot down. her bow and stern where her armor was thinnest. ), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. 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The age of the carrier was now confirmed. YAMATO turns hard to port. Mitscher, CTF 58, was embarked on Bunker Hill. By this time, there wasnt much left of the Japanese navy that was still operational, and fuel was in critically short supply. The Attack Force resumes zigzagging. 1,187 crewmen of DesRon 2s light cruiser YAHAGI and the four destroyers are also lost. 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. At 1407, she was struck by at least the seventh torpedo, this time to starboard. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? At flank speed, YAMATO commences a right turn but two 1000-lb AP bombs hit her. The loss of these ships shocked the British government, and helped change procurement and employment strategies in both the United States and the United Kingdom. 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