how many planes were lost sinking the yamato

YAMATOs No. It says that the Kikaigashima Island lookout station saw 150 carrier planes heading northwest. 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. More U.S. aircraft may have been knocked down by the magazine explosion than by Japanese anti-aircraft fire. 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. Deployment: In the fall of 1941,. Torpedoes explode against Yamato's port side The submarine radio traffic transmitted in the clear, reporting Yamato by name, and reported by Japanese radio intelligence, did nothing to improve the sense of foreboding felt by the senior officers on Yamato. About 120,000 were held at 10 camps because of fears that Japanese Americans were enemy sympathizers. Armor-piercing and other bombs make a shambles of her upper works. This was taken by senior Japanese navy leaders as implicit criticism of their services inaction. 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. guns ever mounted at sea. A report that had been delayed for 25 minutes by ransmission and decoding, is received finally. The Attack Force changes course due south to 180 degrees. He had friends wounded and killed, but the small carriers were never given credit for anything that happened. 74, although many begged to stay. 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. 1,000 watertight compartments couldn't save her, and her lower decks rapidly An astounding series of explosions onboard battleship's guns. But the Americans also had, The Ultimate Gunfighters! Jan 6, 2019 Conan White, Guest Author. There are many stories about the sinking of the Japanese battleship Yamato. He asked what the Japanese navy was doing. Yamato was lost Apr. Both the U.S. Fifth Fleet commander, Admiral Spruance, and Vice Admiral Mitscher (commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force, TF 58), who had access to the Ultra communications intelligence and were expecting the sortie, immediately reacted to the submarine reports. The age of the carrier was now confirmed. Yahagi capsized and sank shortly after 1400. The Yamato sank during a fierce battle for Okinawa on April, 7 1945. Read Next: The Ultimate Gunfighters! (Although U.S. carrier air groups complement had been changed to have a mix of about three quarters fighters to defend against kamikaze and only one quarter bombers and torpedo planes, the fighters had been trained and gotten pretty good at being used in a fighter-bomber role, and, with no Japanese air opposition, had the freedom to do so.) XIV: Victory in the Pacific by Samuel Eliot Morison, Boston: Little Brown and Co., 1969; Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara, New York: Ballantine Books, 1961; Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II by John Prados, New York: Random House, 1995. DesDiv 17s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. At 1246, she took a direct torpedo hit in the engine room that killed the entire engine room crew and left her dead in the water, unable to avoid further hits. The first explodes in the crews quarters abaft the Type 13 radar shack. after the Yamato first took to the sea. 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. The Japanese lost three aircraft carriers and 426 aircraft; Yamato ' s only . 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. See what made the ship both seemingly unsinkable and highly vulnerable to attack. Meanwhile, about 34 Hellcats and Corsairs and 22 Helldivers and Avengers worked over some of the other Japanese destroyers. 3. She slips under followed by an underwater explosion. 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. 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. Since Yamatos radios were destroyed, Vice Admiral Ito sent out a signal via flag hoist cancelling the operation and freeing the other ships to try to get back to Japan. At 1243, five Hornet Avengers came in from port, while 14 F4U Corsairs from Bunker Hill were strafing and hitting Yamato with rockets that caused little damage to the ship, but were deadly to the gunners. In total, the U.S. lost 12 men. 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 Mitscher, CTF 58, was embarked on Bunker Hill. Just then, eight F6F Hellcats appear and begin circling over the force to maintain contact until the main formation arrives. They would launch the worlds largest battleship, the Yamato with its enormous 18-inch guns, one light cruiser, and eight destroyers against the enormous American fleet. This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea. Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. (The actual U.S. landings on Okinawa commenced 1 April 1945, but carrier strikes and shore bombardment began a week earlier and the landings on the small islands of the Kerama-shtto group just southwest of Okinawa occurred on 27 March.). 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. 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. 7. At 1014, the Yamato force sighted the two Martin Mariner PBM flying boats, and also noted that Hackleback was still trailing (the Japanese had made so many course changes during the night that the sub was able to cut the corner and maintain contact on the force). Also, accounts differ as to whether he was a captain or rear admiral. [1][26] Led by the man who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor, Minoru Genda, the appearance of these fighters, which were equal or superior to the F6F Hellcat in performance, surprised the attackers, and several American planes were shot down. Combined with Yamato, about 4,242 Japanese sailors gave their lives for the emperor on 7 April. It had been deployed on a Surface Special Attack Force suicide mission to drive back U.S. forces that had landed on Okinawa. 4: Factual error; Musashi was sunk on Oct. 23, 1944 in the Sibuyan Sea. They also mounted numerous smaller guns to . The attack on Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including sailors, soldiers and civilians. Throughout 1943, Yamato continually transferred between Truk, Kure and Brunei in response to American airstrikes on Japanese island bases. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. Vice Admiral Ito initially objected to the mission, viewing it as futile and wasteful. The Americans lost a total of only 10 aircraft four Helldivers, three Avengers, and three Hellcats and 12 men. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. By this time, there wasnt much left of the Japanese navy that was still operational, and fuel was in critically short supply. went down in the battle, with the loss of just 12 men. Her remaining air search radar reports the approach of a second attack wave. 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. Captain Hara of Yahagi later said the mission would be like throwing an egg against a rock.. Air search reports two groups of aircraft, range 44 miles, closing at high speed. The Yamato, completed in Kure in December 1941, was the largest battleship in the world at the time. 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. Yamato took at least four more bomb hits in the superstructure area, which wiped out many of the remaining 25-mm guns. concentrate their torpedoes on just one of Yamato's sides, an approach About a year before he died he told us about this battle against the Yamato and that he was involved in the attack, but no details. Did anyone survive the Yamato sinking? 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. Aircrews were astonished at the size of the ship, which had seen very little naval action during the war. They had already lost the battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. The big carriers got all the credit. The light cruiser Yahagi was the first hit, less than fifteen minutes after the firing began. She lists about seven degrees to port. 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. One of the final photographs of the supership shows her severely damaged hull battleship's aft secondary magazine caused tons of ammunition to ignite almost simultaneously, The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of several private companies sponsoring the search, reported that the wreck lay about 180 miles southwest of Kagoshima on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu, in more than 1,100 feet of water. Some of the Japanese survivors reported that U.S. fighter aircraft strafed Japanese survivors floating in the water. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. This time all the attacks are concentrated against the battleship. But the mission was approved and the Japanese ships set sail for Okinawa. Another 110 planes appeared ready for the kill. The Japanese naval defense plan was code-named named Sho-I-Go ("Victory"), and its objective was simple: Sink the American invasion fleet, maintain the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and, by doing this, protect Japan from invasion. 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. Design commenced in 1934, construction began in 1937 (in great secrecy) and Yamato was commissioned in December 1941 just after Pearl Harbor. settled on the seafloor 1,200 feet down and about 50 Even before the war, the Japanese understood that they could never match the U.S. Navy for quantity, but were convinced they could build a better battleship. Helldivers from BENNINGTON and HORNET attack from port. The remaining destroyers tried to pick up as many survivors as possible and limped back to Japan. On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her, Captain Hara on Yahagi reported that the large formations of aircraft circled around the task force just outside anti-aircraft range for a number of minutes, some in clockwise rotation and some in counter-clockwise rotation, as strike leaders organized strikes on particular targets free of interference from Japanese fighters. Additionally, aircraft damaged most of the . two Japanese aircraft carriers Deep sea explorers have found two Japanese aircraft carriers that were sunk in battle in World War Two. Japanese naval leaders briefed Emperor Hirohito on their plans, which consisted of massive air attacks, including kamikaze strikes. He saw four Avengers go in low, dropping their torpedoes in a spread on Yamatos beam. At this point, the Japanese task forces location had been picked up by American PBM flying boats, which kept the American fleet apprised of the Japaneses position and direction. At 0840, the Japanese reported seven Hellcats orbiting around the force. 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. Support Veteran Journalism . Her main guns were designed to attack at an unprecedented distance of 25 miles, well beyond the range of American battleships. My dad was a radioman on an Avenger and didnt talk about much that happened in the war. The most powerful battleship in the world was no match for 390 U.S. carrier aircraft. This great vessel had a . April 7, 1945 Sinking of the Battleship Yamato. Yamato At 1210, destroyer Asashimo, lagging behind the force, reported that she was under air attack, and radio transmissions from her ceased. According to Morison, there were only 23 officers and 246 enlisted sailors who survived, which doesnt exactly match, but is close. ), 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. So, the admirals concocted what they termed, Operation Ten-Go (Operation Heaven One). Thank you to all the brave men and women of the US armed forces! 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. Hatsushimo suffered only three wounded on 6 April, but, on 20 July, struck a mine and was the last Japanese destroyer sunk in the war. 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 1322, an Essex Corsair hit Yamato in the port bow with a 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb. Japans secrecy was due to her inability to match U.S. naval power ship for ship. She was blasted by 12 bombs and six more torpedos. One Avenger is shot down. The Musashi and its sister vessel, the Yamato, were two of the largest battleships ever built. Was the Bismarck bigger than the Yamato? She was blasted by 15 bomb hits and eight torpedoes. 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. At 1232, lookouts in the Yamato force sighted the first incoming strike wave. Finally some detail1st attack vb82 loses a helldiver (my uncleensign jack Carl fuller and chas. TG 58.3, commanded by Rear Admiral Frederick Ted Sherman, embarked on Essex (CV-9), included Bunker Hill (CV-17), Bataan (CVL-24), and Cabot (CVL-28). Both Rear Admiral Komura and Captain Hara survived. YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. A Curtiss Helldiver bomber like the one seen at right 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. Relive the super battleship's last moments in photographs. At 1234, Yamato opened fire with her two forward main battery turrets, lobbing sanshikidan shells at the U.S. aircraftto no effect. 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. At about 1237, U.S. aircraft commenced attack runs, with strafing and rockets from fighters (which quickly began decimating Japanese anti-aircraft gunners), and then bombs and torpedoes. 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