1945-04-01
Okinawa
Okinawa
The landings were on 1 April 1945. The island was secured on 22 June. Task Force 58 had been striking the Ryukyus and Kyushu since mid-March. On 19 March one bomber put two bombs into Franklin off Honshu and she left the force. Essex, Bennington, Cabot, Belleau Wood, San Jacinto, and Monterey were with the fast carriers and were not sunk. Cowpens was on the West Coast. She had struck Okinawa on 1 March and did not rejoin until 1 July. Hancock took a kamikaze on 7 April and was not sunk. Intrepid took a kamikaze on 16 April and was not sunk. Shangri-La joined on 24 April. Ticonderoga joined on 24 May. Bunker Hill flew Mitscher's flag until two kamikazes hit her on 11 May. The flag went to Enterprise. A kamikaze hit Enterprise on 14 May, and the flag went to Randolph on 15 May. The fast battleships with the carriers included North Carolina, Washington, South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Alabama joined that force on 9 May. South Dakota shelled the southeast of the island on 24 March and stayed with the carriers. Washington shelled positions on the island and left for the west coast in June. Iowa arrived on 15 April and screened the carriers. Missouri bombarded, and a kamikaze hit her in April. She kept station. The older battleships on the gun line were Tennessee, Maryland, Colorado, West Virginia, Idaho, Nevada, New York, Texas, and Arkansas. British Task Force 57 sailed from Ulithi on 23 March against the Sakishima airfields. Rawlings flew his flag in King George V, with Howe. Vian flew his flag in Indomitable, with Victorious, Illustrious, and Indefatigable. The cruisers were Swiftsure, Euryalus, Black Prince, Gambia, and Argonaut. Quiberon and Quickmatch were in the screen that day, with Grenville, Ulster, Undaunted, Undine, Urania, Queenborough, Quality, Wager, and Whelp. Napier, Norman, and Nizam screened the carriers off Sakishima in May. On 1 April a kamikaze hit the base of Indefatigable's island and she flew aircraft again that day. Indomitable was machine-gunned the same day. King George V and Howe bombarded Sakishima in May. Formidable joined for the later strikes and took kamikaze hits on 4 May and 9 May. The Japanese answer at the beaches was aircraft, not a battle line. On 11 May Evans and Hugh W. Hadley, on a radar picket station, were hit and not sunk. Suicide planes sank Bush and Colhoun on 6 April, Little on 3 May, Luce and Morrison on 4 May, William D. Porter on 10 June, and Callaghan on 28 July. Longshaw grounded south of Naha on 18 May. Shore batteries blew her bow off, and U.S. ships destroyed the wreck. Not credited to one ship. On 6 April Yamato sailed with Yahagi and eight destroyers. On 7 April aircraft from Task Force 58, not one carrier, sank Yamato, Yahagi, Asashimo, Hamakaze, Isokaze, and Kasumi southwest of Kyushu. That fight is Operation Ten-Go. They had sailed for Okinawa. Fuyutsuki and Suzutsuki were in that force and were not sunk. Hatsushimo and Yukikaze were not sunk. The landing ships, the transports, and the logistics train are not named one by one.
Sunk in this fight
11 ships.
The plan of attack. United States Army, Okinawa: The Last Battle. Public domain. North is up. The dashed line is the initial objective. Hagushi is marked on the west coast, with Yontan and Kadena airfields behind the beaches. Kerama is marked L-6. A demonstration is marked south of Minatoga. The small map is Okinawa. The sheet does not name the ships.
Landing plan, Hagushi beaches, 1 April 1945. U.S. Marine Corps, Okinawa: Victory in the Pacific, Historical Branch, G-3. Public domain. The sheet is marked Map 9. The north arrow points up and to the left. The beaches, from north to south, are Green, Red, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Orange, White, and Brown. Yontan airfield and Kadena airfield are marked inland. The sheet does not name the ships.
Seizure of Kerama Retto, March 1945. U.S. Marine Corps, Okinawa: Victory in the Pacific, Historical Branch, G-3. Public domain. The sheet is marked Map 7. North is up. The scale is 1:100,000. The sheet names Yakabi, Kuba, Aka, Zamami, Amuro, Tokashiki, Geruma, and Hokaji, and prints secured dates from 26 March through 29 March. The sheet does not name the ships.
Radar picket stations. U.S. Navy, All Hands, May 1946, page 29. Public domain. North is up. Okinawa is in the center. Kerama Retto, Ie Shima, Aguni, Iheya, Kume, Yoron, and Okinoerabu are marked. The stations are numbered. The sheet does not name the ships on them.
The Ryukyu Islands. United States Army, Okinawa: The Last Battle. Public domain. North is up. Kyushu is at the top. The Sakishima group, Okinawa, Kerama, and Amami are marked, with Formosa and Luzon to the southwest. The sheet does not plot the ships or the landings.
