"Ten-Go"
Operation, April 1945
Japanese battleship Yamato maneuvers while under attack by U.S. Navy
carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945.
The original photo caption reads: "The 72,000-ton Japanese battleship Yamato,
pride of the Imperial Fleet, maneuvers evasively at a brisk 15 to 20 knots prior
to attack. One fire can be observed amidships from previous attacks, but at this
point no list has developed."
Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane.
Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN.
U.S. Navy Photograph.
The explosion
was horrendous, sending a huge smoke-and-fire ball up to my flying altitude of
1,000 feet. “I spoke to some of the Japanese afterwards and they estimated that
most of the Yamato’s ship’s company died in the explosion. That same day the
other half of the TBM squadron sank the cruiser Yahagi along with most of the
destroyer escorts. As I recall, only two or three destroyers survived and
beached themselves on the southern tip of Japan. “On April 7th we made our
attack and flew back to the Yorktown and there was no more Yamato!” Ralph
Valiquet, Hellcat fighter pilot with VBF#9, and under the command of Herb Houck
at the time of the attack said, “we all carried a 500-pound bomb toward the end
of the war, but a 500- pounder wouldn’t do anything against the Yamato. “I was
at low-level cover to protect the TBMs. I saw the whole thing! The Bunker Hill
guys had gotten on site before us and a couple of Jap destroyers had already
been sunk and the Yamato had taken four torpedo hits, but was still underway,
although listing. “I was ordered to go in on the Yamato strike with the TBMs in
order to disperse the antiaircraft fire from the Yamato. But there wasn’t
anything else a fighter could do because all we had were rockets, machine guns
and a 500-pounder, which were totally ineffective against Yamato’s armor. “I
flew within 500 feet of the Yamato with my guns blazing while the Yamato was
firing back with everything it had. The TBMs followed us in close behind.
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"Ten-Go" Operation, April 1945
Japanese battleship Yamato blows up, following massive attacks by U.S.
Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945. An escorting destroyer is at
left.
Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane.
Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
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the USS Yorktown, "The Fighting Lady.
At
that level the Yamato loomed up in front of me as one towering, gigantic wall of
steel and death. Eugene McKinney, skipper of the submarine Skate, at periscope
depth described the Yamato as a ‘huge mound looking as big as Alcatraz Island.
[Silent Victory, Clay Blair, 1975]. I continued to fly low and around the ship
and saw the torpedoes hit the Yamato and within minutes she started rolling
over. “There must have been over 3,000 people in the sea after the Yamato rolled
over. From what I heard, four to five thousand Japanese were lost that day,
particularly when the Yamato turned over and blew up, and by counting the losses
from the cruiser and destroyers that were sunk in the vicinity. There were
people in the water everywhere!” Some time later the submarine, USS Wahoo was at
periscope depth and reported, “The water was filled with heads sticking up from
floating kapok life jackets. They were scattered roughly within a circle one
hundred yards wide. Scattered among them were several lifeboats, a motor launch
with an awning, a number of rafts loaded with sitting and standing Japanese
fighting men, and groups of men floating in the water where they had drifted
together. Others were hanging onto planks or other items of floating wreckage. A
few isolated individuals were paddling back and forth toward the center in
search of some human solidarity. There had to be five thousand of the
sons-a-bitches.” [from Silent Victory by Clay Blair,1975] John Carter, TBM
Avenger pilot, said, “the Yamato had been hit but was still underway. We were
originally told to go after the cruiser as it was believed that the Yamato was
unsinkable. However, our six TBMs were dispatched to the Yamato, as it was
listing from previous strikes. Stetson’s four TBMs came in ahead of us and
dropped their fish on her beam. As luck would have it, the big ship was turning
to port, thereby exposing the full broadside expanse of her enormous hull to the
converging torpedoes. I saw the first ones hit even before I had a chance to
drop my own torpedo. Three explosions sent up geysers of water from amidships to
bow, two of the torpedoes hitting so close together that they made a single
blast. “As the immense Yamato continued her turn to port, I swerved astern and
sent my fish racing across the vessel’s wake and hit her on the inside of her
turn on the port quarter, close to the fantail. By now the Jap guns were blazing
away with a tremendous barrage that filled the air with black puffs. I could see
tracers coming at me from the Yamato and got hit several times. I started
ducking away from all the flack as my rear gunners Jerry Bigoraski and Frances
Crossman, called out, ‘There she goes!’ I looked back to see the high tower of
her 
super-structure toppled into the sea, her hull rolled until nearly all of
her bottom was visible—and then it happened. A column of flame swallowed the
entire ship and rose blood-red to the clouds, 2,000 feet into the sky. There the
fiery mass billowed into a giant mushroom top, like a thunderhead. “For several
seconds the fiery column hung there, then faded into swirling grayish black
smoke. When this cleared, there was no trace of the Yamato save a huge oil slick
with human heads bobbing on the sea and tiny bits of debris floating everywhere.
Her boilers, magazines—everything—must have blown up at once.” Charles Fries, a
tail gunner on another TBM, recalls, “when we went to look for the Japanese
fleet it was an overcast day, and it was up to the crews of the bombers to find
them. When we came into range, the idea was to split the squadrons into two
different sections. We had been briefed on how to change the depth setting on
the torpedo so it wouldn’t go under the ship and would hit it at the appropriate
point and put a hole in it. We were told that making the setting change would be
a little bit hairy because we could only get to the wires inside the torpedo
part of the way and had to turn the indicator by using a wrench. If I pulled the
wrong one, the air stream coming through the area could actually arm the
torpedo. “The Yamato rolled over on her side and went under eventually and the
cruiser slipped up into the air, bow first and then slid back down into the
water like it was a toy boat. My first feeling was relevant to the Pearl Harbor
attack, one of elation. I felt like we were getting even. Then I had a feeling
of sadness. I could see men in the water everywhere. It is strange to see all
the men in the water, and I wonder to this day if there were any survivors. If
there were I would truly like to talk to them and get their side of the story.”
Editors note: On April 7th the Yamato took 12 bombs and
seven torpedo hits
within two hours. Of Yamato’s crew of 2,747, all but 23 officers and 246
enlisted men were lost. Yahagi lost 446; the seven destroyers, 391 officers and
men.
There were few survivors. Losses to the Americans were 10 planes and 12
men. This was the last Japanese naval action of the war. “We Watched a
Battleship Die” by Lt. Richard K. Montgomery, Liberty, September 1, 1945. The
aerial torpedo had been used in the last classic textbook attack against a major
warship underway. It can be said that this event was “The Fighting Lady’s”
finest hour. Four months later, Japan surrendered and the TBM Avenger passed
into history. [from: “Taps for the Torpecker” by Clark G. Reynolds] A final
note: Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he’ll remember with
advantages What feats he did that day. --Shakespeare, Henry V [lV.iii.49]
"Ten-Go" Operation, April 1945
Smoke rises to the clouds shortly after the Japanese battleship Yamato
capsized, exploded and sank after receiving many bomb and torpedo hits from U.S.
Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945. Escorting destroyers are
visible to the left of the smoke.
Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane.
Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Read more about the Yorktown's participation in the sinking of
the Yamato click here
Read the US Navy's version of the sinking of the Yamato
click here
