After relentless Allied bombardments on Okinawa,
the last bastion before Japan's shores, April 12, 1945, witnessed a drastic turn. Pushed
to their limits, the Japanese forces orchestrated a massive kamikaze assault,
unparalleled in scale and desperation. That afternoon, the sky above Okinawa
transformed into a battleground. A swarm of kamikaze planes, each manned by a
pilot with a singular, grim mission, descended upon the Allied ships. Among
those in the crosshairs was USS Idaho, a battleship whose valor and might
had become the stuff of legend. On this day, USS Idaho—affectionately known as the
Big Spud—braced for an unprecedented challenge. Five kamikaze pilots singled her out, diving out
of the sun's blinding light in a tactical maneuver designed to confuse and overwhelm her gunners.
This approach rendered Idaho's lower defenses, the 20-millimeter guns, ineffective as the aircraft
skimmed perilously close to the ocean's surface. Yet, as the kamikaze planes bore
down, the ship's 40-millimeter guns were ready to destroy anything that
dared come too close to the Big Spud. When the Japanese attacked
Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1942, the battleship USS Idaho was
stationed in Hvalfjörður, Iceland, protecting American advance bases. Two days
later, she and her sister ship, Mississippi, departed the icy Atlantic waters towards Hawaii,
eventually returning to America in January. For most of the year, Idaho and her
crew of 1,081 officers and enlisted men were busy and occupied with combat
exercises off the coast of California. As a New Mexico-class battleship, Idaho launched
in 1915; her design reflected early 20th-century technology, like turboelectric propulsion
for greater efficiency that enabled the vessel to reach speeds of up to 21 knots,
an excellent pace for such a large ship of that size at the time, with over 600 feet
and a displacement of over 32,000 tons. Still, by the 1940s, this
veteran ship's main battery of twelve 14-inch guns arranged in four
triple turrets was becoming outdated. In October 1942, Idaho entered Puget
Sound Navy Yard to receive replacements for her worn-out main battery guns.
At the time, America needed 14-inch guns like hers to engage enemy ships and
shore positions with devastating effect. After emerging from Puget Sound with
upgraded guns, USS Idaho continued to test more technologies and operational concepts in
the warm California and Hawaii waters, including carrier aviation and amphibious warfare, which are
central to naval strategy. As a new year arrived, the crewmembers aboard the battleship were
eagerly awaiting their first battle deployment. In March, the ship was loaded
with large supplies of food and, much to the crewmember’s surprise, box after box
of cold-weather clothing and gear. On April 7, 1943, USS Idaho finally departed Long Beach. Once deep into the sea,
Idaho's Commanding Officer, Captain H. D. Clarke, finally announced
their destination: the Aleutian Islands. A long chain of volcanic islands extending
westward from the Alaskan Peninsula towards Japan, two of the biggest islands, Attu and Kiska,
had been occupied by more than 2,500 Japanese troops back in June 1942 as part of a
diversionary action during the Battle of Midway. The occupation of what came to be
known as the Alaskan theater posed a direct threat to the American mainland and also sought
to dilute the American forces in the Pacific. For this effort, USS Idaho would serve the
crucial role of flagship of the bombardment and patrol force around Attu. As such, she would
be central in coordinating and executing naval gunfire support and softening enemy defenses
ahead of the main United States Army's assault. As the battleship floated towards Alaska,
the valuable New Mexico-class Idaho was surrounded by Destroyer Escorts, ready to
defend her against any enemy submarine. On April 16, right before noon, the men
aboard the ship saw their first bit of land, the start of the Aleutian island chain, since
they'd left California ten days ago. That day, everyone slept with one eye open,
nervous about the start of operations. According to Aviation Radioman observer
William Schumman’s memoir: [QUOTE] "I know that action will come soon
enough, but this waiting is creating an uneasy feeling. Everyone is geared up
to strike our first blow at our enemy". On May 11, 1943, after a long wait, the moment
of reckoning arrived for USS Idaho, The Big Spud. At 3:30 pm, her new and improved 14-inch
guns Main Battery unleashed their first salvos at the Japanese on Attu. For a little
over forty-five minutes of unrelenting fury, with two of the turrets guided by radar. The beginning of the end for the
Japanese in Alaska had begun. That day, USS Pennsylvania and USS Nevada, two
ships that were present during Pearl Harbor and suffered substantial damage and casualties,
exacted their sweet revenge upon the enemy, firing their main batteries and
bombs. For the rest of the afternoon, the rumble of bombs from attacking planes
and guns was heard all over the island, slowly but surely evening the score
against their new sworn enemy. That night, most men aboard were
ordered to sleep with their clothes on, just in case they were called
back to their battle stations. In the following months, the battleship Idaho
provided crucial bombardment support in the operations to retake the island chains.
She destroyed enemy fortifications and supported American troops, all leading
to a final concentrated blow on Kiska. On the early morning of August 15, The Big
Spud once again unleashed its firepower, this time on Kiska with its 14-inch and 5-inch
batteries, firing alongside USS Portland. Both ships relied on radar, as fog blanketed most
of the island, severely limiting visibility. The following morning, on Invasion
Day, the battleship resumed firing. While the early hours had similar fog
to the day before, by the afternoon, it was clear enough so that the crew
could see the troops making for the beach. But there was something strange: no
return fire from the enemy. That day, the Americans found out that the
Japanese had already evacuated Kiska, thus abandoning their last
foothold in the Aleutians. Still, through the Alaskan theater, the men
aboard the battleship, now with a taste of battle, realized that it would be a very long and
grueling uphill struggle to push the Japanese, an enemy fanatic enough to fight to the last man
rather than submit to surrender, back to Tokyo. After her service in the frigid waters of
Iceland, USS Idaho, and her crew returned to San Francisco on September 7 to prepare for the
next major amphibious operation in the Pacific. By then, the focus of American forces had
fully pivoted towards the central Pacific. USS Idaho was not just another battleship in the
Pacific War. She was a strategic linchpin in the island-hopping strategy, a crucial component
of the American offensive. This strategy aimed to capture key islands held by Japan, creating a
pathway for an assault on the Japanese mainland. In the fall, the battleship unleashed her
firepower in support of the amphibious landings on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands,
dismantling Japanese fortifications, softening enemy defenses, and providing cover for
the Marines and soldiers who stormed the beaches. In December 1943, she transitioned to the
Marshall Islands, where she facilitated the capture of this vital atoll in an
offensive and antiaircraft cover role. During the summer of 1944, in
the battles for Saipan and Guam, Idaho unleashed devastating barrages upon
Japanese positions and safeguarded American landings against counterattacks, all while
the Battle of the Philippine Sea raged nearby. From one island to the next, month after month,
the journey of USS Idaho was fraught with danger. Hundreds of ships and thousands of men risked
their lives every day, capturing territory and establishing airfields from which long-range
bombers could strike the Japanese mainland. In late 1944, Following the Battle of Peleliu, USS
Idaho underwent one final significant refit, where her 5-inch 25 caliber guns were replaced by ten
5-inch 38 caliber ones in single enclosed mounts, enhancing her anti-aircraft capabilities, becoming the only ship of her
class to receive this modification. Emerging from the yards as a one-of-a-kind ship, The Big Spud's path led her back to the
Pacific's contested waters once again, her brand new guns ready to support
the next wave of amphibious assaults. In the Spring of 1945, with the Allied forces
closer than ever to the Japanese mainland, all that was left before a full-scale
invasion of Tokyo could take place, was Operation Iceberg, an
assault on the island of Okinawa. For this, Admiral Spruance,
Commander of the Fifth Fleet, assembled the most massive amphibious fleet
ever in the Pacific Theater. Around mid-March, approximately 1,300 ships of all kinds,
including troop transports, warships, and landing craft, began to fill the
China Sea as far as the eye could reach. Beginning on the 25 for the pre-invasion naval
bombardment, USS Idaho's guns pounded Okinawa, preparing the ground for the landing forces
and providing critical support against Japanese defense as everyone prepared
for the landings slated for April 1. By the time the new month rolled around, the
Japanese forces on the last remaining island were becoming desperate. Despite their
own horrifying casualties, on April 12, General Mitsuru Ushijima, the Japanese commander
in charge of the defense of the island, orchestrated a determined last-stand defense
against the Allies. This included some of the most vicious and numerous kamikaze bombers
in an attempt to drive the vast fleet away. With this, USS Idaho would face
her most grueling test yet. Sure enough, just before 3:00
pm, swarms of enemy planes of all types started coming in on the American
fleet nearby, and all hell broke loose. Near USS Idaho, one Kamikaze was immediately
shot down in a dogfight with carrier planes. Another came from the same direction and burst
into flames just off her port quarter. A third then passed over the vessel’s port beam
about fifty feet and then crashed in flames. The Japanese pilots had a sneaky
way of coming from out of the sun, working with its glare, and flew
just low enough to prevent radar detection. According to Marine
and witness Harold Thomas: [QUOTE] "They were throwing everything they had at us
[...]The kamikazes came in at every sunset." The following five minutes were pure chaos,
with several Japanese models singling out The Big Spud as their main target. Receiving
the full blast of the aircraft's weapons, which pumped lead as fast as
possible, the gunners shot down two Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers and
two Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers. But before the gunners could
breathe, right behind the fourth, a fifth kamikaze plane, another
Kate, followed right behind. As it zeroed in closer than the
other four, for a split second, everyone aboard deck thought it was all over.
At the very last minute, however, the plane and its powerful 500-bomb hit Idaho’s "blister,"
one of the anti-torpedo bulges on each side. Because it splashed so close,
less than fifty yards off, a tidal-like wave shook the entire ship just as
the fearsome explosion burst beneath the waves. As a result of this near miss, the detonation
tore open the ship's armor, leaving a large, ragged breach in the armor, with the once
smooth hull now etched with a twisted pattern. With this, thousands of small pieces of the
plane rained down on the quarter-deck. After the fires subsided, one of the crewmembers of
Idaho, still half deaf from the loud explosion, found the Japanese pilot's wristwatch,
with the crystal broken and forever stuck at the exact time the kamikaze
bomber met his maker: 2:50pm. After their near-miss run-in, USS Idaho
almost collided with the destroyer USS Zellers. But unlike The Big Spud, she hadn't
fared as well. Dead in the water, Zellers was beginning to sink after one Kamikaze struck
her between the bridge and one of her turrets. Following the mass attack of April 12,
where USS Idaho shot down five kamikazes, the massive damage forced
her into temporary repairs. After restorations for her incredible
performance at the Battle of Okinawa on May 22, the veteran of so many of the landings
of the Pacific island-hopping campaign returned to the island to resume fire
support, where she remained until June, when she moved to Leyte Gulf until
hostilities ceased on August 15, 1945. The end of the war came with a profound
transformation in naval warfare, including the advent of nuclear weapons and
the rise of air power. As such, USS Idaho, like many of her 1910s contemporaries,
found itself an anachronism in this new era, and in July 1946, after more than three
decades of service, was decommissioned.
