On the morning of April 7, 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamato, behemoth of naval engineering and pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy, sortied on what was essentially a suicidal mission. Operation Ten-ichi-go, also known as “Heaven Number One,” was the desperate response of the Imperial Japanese Navy to the U.S. invasion of Okinawa. Before the crew of the Yamato knew their mission, Allied cryptographers had already unravelled Japan’s plan, thus sealing the fate of the vessel and its escorts.
At 65,000 tons displacement, 72,000 tons fully loaded, the Yamato was the largest battleship ever built. With its nine 18.1-inch guns, each capable of hurling a 3,200-pound shell more than 22 miles, it was the very symbol of Japanese naval power. Commissioned in December 1941, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Yamato was a statement of intent from a navy that knew it could never outbuild the U.S. fleet but believed it could outmatch it in quality. Carried on a massive hull some 863 feet in length and displacing 70,000 tons fully loaded, the array of weapons on Yamato were powerful but ultimately proved ineffective against the changing nature of naval combat.
As the U.S. forces started their attack on Okinawa, the Yamato was ready for her last journey under the command of Vice Admiral Seiichi Ito. On 29th March, Yamato had 1,170 shells for its main guns, 1,629 shells for its six 6.1-inch guns, 13,500 anti-aircraft shells, and 11.5 million rounds of machine-gun ammunition. Despite these significant quantities, they were found to be inadequate for the forthcoming tasks.
The task force – the Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi, and eight destroyers – was to attack U.S. forces, then beach themselves and fight to the last man. Called a “Surface Special Attack Force,” the mission presupposed its suicidal nature. Indeed, when the orders were finally revealed in their entirety on April 5, the ship captains convened on Yahagi in a defiant mood, arguing that an daylight attack without air support would be so futile that it should not be launched.
The Yamato and its fleet were subjected to a massive aerial attack from nearly 400 American planes; its arsenal of more than 150 anti-aircraft guns fired back in 1945 but was unable to stop the rain of bombs and torpedoes. And though it was a grand-looking battleship with emblems and signs of honor, such as the “Kikusui” crest, it was not invulnerable. Most of the torpedoes reached below its waterline at the bow and stern, where its weakest armor points were.
In two hours, Yamato had taken 12 bomb and seven torpedo hits. Even with her 1,150 watertight compartments, flooding could not be restrained, and the order was given to abandon ship. By the afternoon of April 7, 1945, the battleship was capsized, after which a series of huge explosions cleaved the ship in two, sealing her tragic demise. The impact of the loss was tremendous: 2,747 men of her crew were killed, with only 269 survivors. The battleship, once considered the epitome of naval power, had been outclassed by the force of naval aviation. Its sinking marked the end of that battleship era and was a grim reminder of the inexorable march of military progress. Even the mighty Yamato, with its enormous hull, huge guns, and massive armor, was no match for the tactics and technology of the Allied air forces.
