NARRATOR: The most powerful
fleet in the Japanese Navy is on the attack. Their massive guns primed
to crush the allied advance. The only force standing in
the way of a devastating enemy victory is a handful of
tiny US ships and planes. It's a courageous group of
American tin cans facing off against a giant Japanese Armada
led by the legendary Yamato, the largest
battleship in history. Through state of the
art computer animation, experience heroic stories of
the sailors and aviators who faced the enemy
onslaught and ensured the death of the Japanese Navy. [theme music] October 24th, 1944, fighters and
bombers from aircraft carriers of the American third fleet
are flying a vital mission, search out and destroy
the Japanese Center Force, the Imperial Navy's
most powerful fleet. Center Force must be stopped. The massive armada threatens to
pulverize allied ground forces now assaulting the Philippines. 23-year-old hell diver pilot
Lieutenant Nick Fellner spots his prey. He can hardly believe his eyes. Only when I came
through the clouds did I see all of these Japanese
ships racing in corkscrew patterns on the water below. So I picked out the
largest ship I could find and homed in on that ship. And it was the largest
target I'd ever seen. NARRATOR: Fellner's
target is, in fact, the largest, most heavily armed
battleship ever put to sea, Japan's flagship Yamato. The 72,000 ton behemoth wields
the most powerful naval guns in history. Her 18 inch main battery
can hurl 3,000 pound shells over 25 miles. The Yamato was launched with
the intention of destroying any enemy battleship at a
standoff range, which is to say the 18 inch guns of the Yamato
were meant to destroy the US fleet before the US fleet
could ever get off a shot. NARRATOR: Yamato, her sister
ship Musashi, and the rest of the 27 ships sent her
for steamed relentlessly toward the allied ground forces. Fellner must act now. We moved into an
attack formation. It was principle for
dive-bombing to attack out of the sun. This gave us the best chance of
coming in without the gunners on the deck being able
to shoot up at us. NARRATOR: Yamato unleashes
her 150 anti-aircraft guns. Fellner dives into the
eye of the deadly storm. His hell diver carries a single
1,000 pound armor-piercing bomb. Fellner must aim
his plane directly at his target, dive in as
close as possible, and fly rock steady in the face
of lethal enemy fire, plunging nearly 10,000 feet in
a near vertical screaming power dive. The important factor is to
make sure that we're on target. Somewhere below 1,000 feet, I
realized I had no more time. And I pressed the button
on the bomb release. NARRATOR: At the last second,
he yanks back on the stick, pulling out in a
crushing 9G fly. He looks back at his target. My hit had turned out to be an
extremely lucky hit, because it hit one of the few-- very few-- unarmed sections
of this battleship. NARRATOR: Fellner's bomb
punches through the deck and detonates deep
inside the ship. When it exploded
below the water level, it caused two huge holes to
open in the hull of the ship. 3,000 metric tons of water
flooded into the ship. NARRATOR: Yamato
lists five degrees, but her hull was built with a
honeycomb of 1,150 watertight compartments. Damage control teams
quickly right the ship. But in the aerial assault, three
of the other Japanese ships are severely damaged. And Yamato sister ship,
Musashi, is sent to the bottom of the Sibuyan Sea. Of the 259 aircraft in the
assault, 18 are shot down. Center Force commander
Admiral Takeo Kurita orders his ships to turn around. What appears to be another
victory for the American Naval Force is, in reality,
just round one in one of the greatest
sea battles in history. It's late in the War. Japan desperately needs
to halt the allies' unstoppable advance. General Douglas MacArthur has
landed a 200,000 man invasion force on the Philippine
island of Leyte. The invasion threatens to
sever critical supply lines. It's a battle the Japanese
can't afford to lose. If the Japanese
lose the Philippines, their lines of supply between
Japan and the Dutch East Indies will be severed. They will no longer be able to
function as a wartime economy. So if Japan loses the
Philippines, the War is over. NARRATOR: Japan has virtually
no carrier based aircraft left. Their last hope lies with
their giant battleships. They devise a bold strategy
called the Sho-Go or victory plan. The objective, crush
MacArthur's invasion force with the battleships' big guns. Sho-Go divides the Japanese
Navy into three forces. The Center Force,
led by Admiral Kurita will steam towards Leyte through
the San Bernardino Strait. A southern force will steam
north toward MacArthur's troops from the Surigao Strait. The plan is to get these
forces through these heavily guarded waterways and to
approach Leyte as in a pincher movement from the north
and from the south. NARRATOR: The key to
the plan is deception. A northern force,
comprised of what remains of the depleted carrier
fleet, will act as a decoy, hopefully, luring away
American Admiral Bill Halsey's these powerful third fleet,
leaving the waterway to Leyte wide open for the Center Force. Now in the aftermath of
a successful air attack on the Center Force,
Halsey takes the bait. He believes Kurita
is retreating, so he moves north to pursue
the Japanese carriers. Then just two hours
after turning away, Admiral Kurita orders the Yamato
and his other remaining ships to reverse course and
steam back towards Leyte. In the early morning
of October 25th, they emerge off the coast of
the Philippine island of Samar. At 6:35 AM, they spot ship masts
on the horizon, range 25 miles. The Japanese lookouts lack
detailed spotting silhouettes. They assume the ships ahead are
part of Halsey's third fleet. They couldn't be more wrong. It's a small task unit of the
American seventh fleet called Taffy 3, a handful
of small ships only there to
support ground troops and scout for submarines. Taffy 3, the small
detachment of worker bees, which has no business
being in the same ocean as the great Yamato. The last thing they ever
expected, this small task unit, was to be thrown into action
against a main Japanese battle force. But that's exactly what
happens in the Battle of Samar. NARRATOR: Taffy 3 is made up
of 13 ships, six small escort aircraft carriers, three
destroyers, and four destroyer escorts. The American ships are
armed with five inch guns. The Center Force boasts 23
warships, four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two light
cruisers, and 11 destroyers. Yamato alone packs
nine 18.1 inch guns and weighs as much as all
the Taffy 3 ships combined. On board the ships
of Taffy 3, the crews are relaxed and confident. They think the Center
Force is long gone. All of a sudden, appearing
on the radar screen was this blop bigger
than Silver Dollar. I said, oh my god. I was speechless. So I just turned,
ran up to the bridge. And the Captain was there and
I stood there and listened to him [inaudible] general
quarters were being attacked. NARRATOR: At 6:59 AM, the
18 inch guns of Yamato open up on Taffy 3. The stage is set for one
of the greatest mismatches in naval history, a virtual
David versus Goliath on the high seas. October 25th, 1944, one of
the most epic sea battles of World War II is underway. The Japanese Center Force
has opened fire on Taffy 3, a group of tiny American ships. Sheets of flame explode
from Yamato's massive guns. Kurita's ships are here. Taffy 3 is here, 20
miles to the southeast. They are the only ships
protecting this approach to the 200,000 American soldiers
on the beaches of Leyte here. Japanese Admiral
Takeo Kurita thinks he's attacking Admiral
Halsey's third fleet and rushes his
ships into action. The 23 ships Center Force is
in standard cruising formation, a series of short
parallel columns. Normally, when an
enemy is spotted, the ships maneuver into a
single line battle column, bringing the full broadside
and all their guns to bear on the enemy. But Kurita's eager to strike
quickly against Halsey. Instead of forming a
powerful battle column, he rashly orders
a general attack. His forces remain divided, a
tactical error in the battle to come. Taffy 3 commander Rear
Admiral Clifton Ziggy Sprague knows he's outnumbered and
outgunned and reacts quickly. Sprague's six small
escort carriers are positioned inside
a defensive circle of three destroyers and
four destroyer escorts. His first priority is to get
his carriers out of harm's way. He orders them to turn east,
away from the attacking Japanese fleet. At the same time, he
scrambles all of his aircraft to the attack. Over 150 wildcats and
avengers quickly launch. The destroyers and
destroyer escorts lay a protective smokescreen. They use chemical
smoke canisters and add fuel oil directly
into their smokestacks. While masking the
carrier's retreat, the maneuver exposes
the destroyer force. We were in a position where
we could shield our group from the big bad wolves. And when we were going back and
forth making this initial smoke screen, they tended to shoot
a little bit more at us. And we started getting pretty
nervous about all the splashes around us. NARRATOR: The ship closest to
the advancing Japanese force is the destroyer USS Johnston. Her captain, Commander
Earnest Evans, is not about to let the enemy
overwhelm them without a fight. Not waiting for orders,
he goes on the offensive. In what seems like
a suicide mission, he orders flank speed,
full left rudder. Johnston breaks
defensive formation and steams directly
towards the enemy fleet. I've talked to the Captain. And the only thing I
mentioned to him, please don't let us go down with
our torpedoes aboard. I've been in the Battle of
Guadalcanal two years earlier and that on a destroyer. And we didn't fire
any of our torpedoes. So I wanted to get those fired. He said, well, let's go and
make our torpedo attack. NARRATOR: To get within range
for an effective torpedo strike, Evans must close to
within five and a half miles. But the Japanese Naval guns can
strike at three to four times that distance. A single round from Yamato could
kill everyone aboard Johnston. The Japanese blast away
well beyond the range of any counter fire. Johnston ploughs
ahead fearlessly, zigzagging through the
gauntlet of enemy salvoes. Evans orders his crew
to chase splashes. In this defensive
tactic, the ship sets a course for the
plume of water caused by an impacting
enemy shell, gambling that the enemy gunners won't
shoot in the same place twice. You head directly
for it in the hope that he'll change the settings
on his either elevation or his training of the
gun for the next shot. NARRATOR: Johnston closes on
enemy cruisers, range 10 miles, striking distance for
her five inch guns. At 7:10 AM, Johnston opens
fire on the lead heavy cruiser Kumano. I don't think we can
force through the armor siding of a cruiser. But we could rough
them up a little bit and knock off some
of the smaller gun crews and things like that. NARRATOR: In five
furious minutes, Johnston's main battery
unleashes over 200 rounds. 54 pound shells explode
on Kumano's bridge. Johnston races towards
the giant enemy ship. Her torpedoes are ready. The Johnston is a Fletcher
class destroyer, designed for scouting and screening
against enemy destroyers and submarines. Weighing just 2,100 tons,
destroyers like the Johnston are nicknamed tin cans
for their lack of armor. Kumano is over six times
the size of the Johnston, over two football
fields in length, and, heavily armored
from bow to stern. Johnston is slightly
faster than Kumano, but Kumano's armament
dwarves Johnston's. The American ships only
hope is to skillfully target its 10 high explosive mark 15
torpedoes housed in the two launchers on her deck. The Johnston presses forward
to within torpedo range. Amazingly, the
shocked enemy gunners fail to score a single hit. Johnston's torpedo men take aim. They must leave the target,
estimating the speed of the enemy ship and the time
it will take for the torpedoes to reach their mark. On Captain Evan's order,
sharp blasts of compressed air hurl the torpedoes
into the water. Each one packs a
powerful wallop, 825 pounds of high explosives. After firing, the Johnston
maneuvers sharply away. At a depth of six
feet, her torpedoes swim toward their
target at 27 knots. Then a powerful explosion. The Kumano is hit hard. The Kumano has her bow blown
off by one of the torpedoes from the Johnston. She shears out of
line, crippled. And a second cruiser,
the [inaudible],, pulls out as well
to stand alongside. And so right off the bat
of the battle's outset, owing to Captain Evans's
audacity in attacking alone, two of the six
Japanese heavy cruisers are out of the fight in
their first 10 minutes. NARRATOR: But the Johnston's
triumph comes at a price. She is now within seven miles
of the battleship Congo, easy striking distance. At 7:30 AM, Congo fires
three 14 inch projectiles. The 1500 pound shells
screech through the air at 2,600 feet per second. The heavy armor-piercing rounds
sliced right through Johnston's deck and engine room. Her speed is cut in half. She is making just
17 knots, easy prey. Seconds later, three six inch
shells, possibly from Yamato, smash the bridge. It just felt like the ship
was picked up and shaken. Our mast and main
was snapped in two. I'm standing with my head
out of the [inaudible] and I see this mast coming down. Complete chaos. NARRATOR: The Japanese
shells paralyze Johnston's electrically powered
aft five inch gun turrets. My gun was under the
control of the gun director. But when that hit occurred,
everything went blank. My sound powered
earphones went blank. We lost all electric
power to the gun. We were completely
out of commission. NARRATOR: The decks are
slippery with blood. Captain Evans suffers
serious wounds, but will not relinquish
control of the ship. Captain Evans is forced
to abandon the bridge and to move to the
aft steering station. Nobody is left on the bridge. It's filled with gore. It's just a scene of
unimaginable carnage. NARRATOR: Incredibly,
Johnston's damage control teams restore power
to two over a five inch gun turrets. Commander Evans is
determined to keep fighting. Johnston continues firing. The other ships prepare to
engage with torpedo runs while pilots from Taffy
3's airwing bravely throw their lightly
armed aircraft against the massive floating
fortresses of the Center Force. The battle that
began as a mismatch is now an all-out brawl. October 25th, 1944,
American pilots from Taffy 3 small carriers take flight
in a desperate attempt to stop the Japanese
Center Force from annihilating their ships. These fighters and dive bombers
are armed for a ground attack and antisubmarine duty. Their weapons are
virtually useless against the giant Japanese ships. Many of them
armed with nothing other than depth charges
or machine gun bullets, in some cases, almost
nothing at all. And their job is to bear
down that Center Force and do something, anything,
to prevent their carriers from being run down
like dogs on a highway and slaughtered by
these massive ships. NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Richard Roby flies with a division
of FM-2 wildcat fighters from the escort
carrier Gambir Bay. The 24-year-old pilot
maneuvers his fighter through a maelstrom of flak. You don't get scared. You get scared
afterwards, not during. NARRATOR: Roby noses
over from 1,200 feet, scraping Japanese destroyers
with his 50 caliber machine guns. I aimed at the torpedoes,
which were midships. Because if I put the
torpedoes out of existence, that put them basically
out of existence. Soon sister escort
carrier groups Taffy 1 and 2, located
30 miles to the south, scramble their wildcats
and avengers to assist. By 7:15 AM, hundreds of
allied aircraft fill the sky. Their courageous efforts succeed
in forcing the Japanese ships into defensive maneuvers. This break in the attack
allows the destroyers Hull and Heermann to
launch torpedo strikes. Heermann's torpedo's missed
their intended target, but streak toward Yamato. The Japanese flagship turns hard
to avoid the incoming threat. From the cockpit of
his FM-2 wildcat, Richard Roby spots the
retreating Japanese flagship and moves in with
his 50 calibers. I started shooting at
the anti-aircraft positions on the floor deck, because
they're unprotected. They're just out in the open. But then eventually I got to a
point I couldn't bear on them, because I was too low. That's when I shot
at the bridge. I stopped firing, because
I ran out of ammunition. NARRATOR: Surprisingly, after
the air and torpedo assault, Yamato does not
rejoin the fight. But Kurita's Center
Force still wields plenty of deadly firepower. At 7:35 AM, the tiny American
destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts enters the fray. She heads out on a torpedo
run towards the heavy cruiser Chokai. Samuel B. Roberts is a
destroyer escort or DE. She's smaller than destroyers
like Johnston, designed to scout for submarines. She's armed with two five
inch guns and three mark 15 torpedoes. Chokai is over twice as
long, 10 times as heavy, with over 15 times the
armament of the Roberts. Here is a destroyer escort
doing something she was never built to do. Here are her men doing things
they were never trained to do. But they did it. NARRATOR: As she steams
ahead, the Roberts crew spots the mangled destroyer
Johnston limping back from her strike. For 18-year-old seaman
first class Jack Yusen, the sight of Captain Evans
on the Johnston's deck steels his resolve. There was Captain
Evans on the back. He's giving orders. And we all said look, that's
Captain Evans on there, my god. And as he comes by
us, he was saluting. He went like this,
just like this. And gave a quick
salute to our captain. NARRATOR: Under cover of
smoke, Roberts advances to within two and a
half miles of Chokai. We could see two front
eight inch gun turrets turning toward us. And I swear to God, it looks
like he was coming right between my eyes. NARRATOR: Chokai fires eight
inch projectiles, each weighing nearly 300 pounds. But Roberts has moved so
close, the Japanese cruiser can't train her guns low enough. The shells fly overhead. Roberts sends three 24 foot
long mark 15 torpedoes, knifing through the water at Chokai. They score a direct hit
on the heavy cruiser. We didn't know any better. We were 18-year-olds,
19-year-olds. We were cheering like
it was a baseball game. NARRATOR: Then Roberts lashes
out with her only remaining weapons. We started now dueling
with them with our two five inch gun. That's all we had left. Five inch shell would
bounce right off their hull. So our two gunners were
aiming at the upper works. NARRATOR: For 60
incredible minutes, Roberts slugs it out
against adversaries 10 to 30 times her size. She fires more than 600
rounds of five inch ammo. But at 8:51 AM, Roberts
shudders under the first of several devastating hits. We took a salvo of six eight
inch shells of a gun that's like mine up front,
only in the back, 40 millimeters in the back. When the smoke cleared, we found
out through our gun captain that 42 gunners gone,
disintegrated, gone. We knew all our shipmates. I knew two boys pretty close
in that gun back there. And all I could do was think
that those guys the gone. And that's when we
knew that this is it. This is a fight to the finish. NARRATOR: In a
furious last stand, the Roberts aft five
inch gun, the only one left, sets the cruiser Chikuma's
bridge afire and knocks out her number three gun turret. Moments later, three 14 inch
projectiles from the battleship Congo impact the Roberts. A 40 foot hole is ripped open
on her port side near the water line. You drive a semi
truck through there. And we're taking on water. Tons of water going in. Somebody yelled
out, abandon ship. Abandon ship. Every man for himself. NARRATOR: At 9:35 AM,
Yusen and his shipmates abandon ship and
pray for rescue. 30 minutes later, Samuel B.
Roberts, the courageous ship known in Navy Lore as
the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship,
slips beneath the waves. 89 sailors go down
with the ship. The tin cans of Taffy
3 are succumbing to the withering fire power
of the Japanese Armada. October 25th, 1944,
9:00 AM, the battle to protect MacArthur's
invasion force has been raging
for over two hours. Despite the Americans'
heroic torpedo attacks, the Japanese Force
inflict serious damage on three of Taffy 3's
small escort carriers. Now the light cruiser
Yahagi leads four destroyers on a torpedo run against
the crippled flat tops. The only American ship
in position to stop them is the battered USS Johnston. The Johnston opens fire with her
few remaining five inch guns. Any time we could get keyed
in on something, we fired. And we kept firing as
long as we possibly could. NARRATOR: Captain Evans orders
Johnston to proceed full steam ahead, attempting to cross
the T on the Japanese column. Crossing the T is a
classic naval tactic where a ship crosses
in front of an enemy so she can fire all her guns
while the enemy can only fire its forward armament. But before Johnston
can fully cross the T, Yahagi unexpectedly turns
sharply to starboard. The destroyers follow. All of a sudden, they start
turning one after another. Well, we had an idea then
that something was up and it was probably
a torpedo attack. But their position
was so bad that there was an element of doubt. NARRATOR: The Japanese
fire their torpedoes. The Japanese type 93 Long Lance
is one of the most successful torpedoes of the War. With a maximum range of
20 miles and 1,000 pound explosive charge, it
could sink a warship with a well-placed hit. As with all torpedoes, speed,
range, and running depth must be preset. But the Johnston has caused the
Japanese to fire prematurely before making
proper adjustments. The torpedoes miss their mark. Again, Johnston has
saved the carriers. And again, she pays the price. The five Japanese ships bear
down on the lone destroyer. Johnston staggers fire among
her attackers in a desperate, but futile attempt to
stave off the inevitable. At 9:10 AM, a deadly
fuselage breaks the ship. Now really turning point was
when gun 52 was hit, which is right under direct the bridge. Well, it killed practically
everyone in there, set five inch ammunition cases
on fire, clouds of smoke. NARRATOR: Finally,
Johnston's damaged engines falter and quit. She's dead in the water. Enemy destroyers encircle
the crippled ship, firing relentlessly. Their ship was just taking
so many hits that they couldn't patch holes fast enough and just
impossible to keep her afloat. NARRATOR: At 9:45 AM, two hours
and 45 minutes into the battle, Captain Evans gives the
order to abandon ship. 25 minutes later, the Johnston
sinks beneath the waves. 186 of her crew are lost. But incredibly,
Johnston and Taffy 3 have achieved the impossible. Admiral Kurita has signaled
the 20 undamaged ships in the Center Force return home. Thanks to the determination and
courage of the American sailors and airmen, MacArthur's invasion
force at Leyte is saved. The battle is over. David has felled Goliath. Admiral Sprague said that
the simplest theory for Admiral Kurita's decision to turn
around is he was simply taking too much damage to continue. And I think he's
probably also starting to wonder if the show plan
itself is still viable. This decision is
somewhat mysterious. But I think in the context
of all these factors, it's understandable. NARRATOR: Taffy 3's success at
turning back the Center Force comes with enormous sacrifice. Two destroyers, two carriers,
and one destroyer escort are sunk. Nearly 1,000 survivors
of these lost ships, including Jack Yusen, Bob
Hagan, and Bob Hollenbach, endure 70 hours in
shark-infested waters before being rescued. More than 1,000 sailors and
naval airmen are killed. For its heroic service, Taffy
3 receives a Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary
bravery in action. Captain Ernest Evans
of the Johnston abandoned ship with his crew,
but is never seen again. He is posthumously awarded
the Medal of Honor. For the mighty Yamato
there would be no honors. The most powerful
battleship in history proved to be the most
conspicuous nonfactor in the fight. This was really the only
opportunity for the Yamato to get to do what
she was built to do, which was to use these massive
world-beating naval rifles to win a decisive battle
against an American fleet. And so in turning away,
Kurita, in a sense, betrayed the very essence
of the Yamato's spirit. NARRATOR: After the
battle off Samar, the Yamato returns to Japan. Six months later
in April, 1945, she embarks on a desperate
kamikaze mission to save the Japanese empire. April 6th, 1945,
the Imperial Navy launches a final desperate
mission in the Pacific, Operation Ten-Go, meaning
heaven number one. The Ten-Go plan is the Naval
incarnation of the kamikaze. This was a one way suicide
mission led by Yamato to speed down from
the home islands and attack the American
Anchorage at Okinawa. If they could lose
Okinawa, the US will have the staging
base it needs to attack the southern home islands. And so this is really
a crucial moment. NARRATOR: Yamato and her screen
of nine cruisers and destroyers are spotted by US submarines
south of Kyushu Island. On the next morning, April
7th, more than 300 aircraft launched from American
carriers and speed toward violent confrontation
with the Ten-Go force. Lieutenant Frances Ferry,
piloting a hell diver from the carrier Bennington,
flies in the first wave. Just one month
earlier, ferry's plane was almost blown from
the sky by Yamato's murderousness black barrage. We knew what we
were getting into. And there was a lot
of tense feelings. The Yamato hit me once. I had that feeling if
I'm going to get you. NARRATOR: Ferry is at
the controls of a Curtiss SB2C, the legendary hell diver. Son of a Bitch Second
Class, as it was known, had a higher top speed and
more than twice the bomb load of its predecessor,
the SBD Dauntless. Each of the pilots
in Ferry's division carries an arsenal of eight
five inch rockets and two 1,000 pound armor-piercing bombs. Yamato looms below. When the American
planes first show up, they're greeted by what one
pilot describes as looking down the cone of a volcano,
namely the 18 inch main battery of Yamato trained
as high as they can go. So it was absolutely
harrowing for these pilots to be confronted with this. NARRATOR: At 12:20
PM, Ferry pushes over from 3,000 feet using his guns
to draw a bead on the target. I used my 20
millimeter cannons to help me aim,
because I had tracers. And if the tracers
were flying straight, then I knew I was
flying straight. I could see my tracers
going into the Yamato and I dropped both the eight
rockets and 1,000 pound bombs at the same time. NARRATOR: Ferry's bomb
strike aft of the battleship superstructure. The other hell divers
drive home their attack. On the forward
hit, I could see smoke and that type of thing. On the aft hit,
I could see fire. NARRATOR: Several
planes fall victim to the deadly curtain of flak. But their attack takes out most
of Yamato's anti-aircraft guns. The path is clear for two
more waves of bombers. Her gun directors are
knocked out of action. Then TVM avengers bore
in at wave top level, dropping mark 13 torpedoes. These aerial torpedoes dive
to a preset depth and detonate on impact. The torpedoes' 600 pound
warheads rip open water child compartments on her port side. The port side is
flooding with water and the ship takes on a list. It's very difficult to aim your
guns on a ship that's listing. NARRATOR: The Japanese
attempt to counter flooding on the starboard side. But these desperate
moves only buy the Yamato another
half hour of life. Just after 2:00 PM, the
effects of least 15 bomb and torpedo hits have reduced
the mightiest battleship ever built to a sinking hulk. There are two feelings. One, you've done something. You're satisfied. You get that feeling. But you also get a
sad feeling, bombing a vessel full of young kids. And that's the thing that has
bothered me over the years. Every April 7th,
I go through that. NARRATOR: At
approximately 2:30 PM, Yamato goes down with about
2,500 officers and men. Only some 270 survivors
are pulled from the sea. But the pride of
the Japanese Navy will not go quietly
to her watery grave. Before slipping
beneath the surface, her powder magazine detonates. On April 7th, 1945, carrier
launched airstrikes sink not only Yamato, but also
the cruiser Yahagi and four destroyers in the
ill-fated Ten-Go mission. Of more than 300 US aircraft
involved in the attack, 10 planes and 12
airmen are lost. In June, 1945, after two
months of savage combat, the allies secure Okinawa. In the aftermath of the
failed Ten-Go mission, the remnants of
the Japanese fleet would never again sortie
out to meet the enemy. Yamato was designed as the
embodiment of imperial power and glory. Ironically, in its death throes,
it became the funeral pyre of the Japanese Navy.
While it has less graphics, I feel this is a much better video on the battle.
https://youtu.be/4AdcvDiA3lE
History Channel has a bit of a history of over sensationalizing things.
this brought me back. I literally grew up on these episodes lol
Wish we had USS Johnston in legends
And USS Samual B. Roberts