_The amphibious task force under one of the first destructive heavy_
kamikaze _attacks off Okinawa’s southwest coast on L plus 5. The_
kamikazes _were to make many such visits to Okinawa before the
operation ended, causing much damage._]
The situation at sea grew so critical that on one occasion smoke
from burning ships and screening escorts offshore blinded Yontan
Airfield, causing three returning CAP planes to crash. As the onslaught
continued, Admiral Spruance observed frankly, “The suicide plane is a
very effective weapon which we must not underestimate.” Spruance spoke
from firsthand experience. _Kamikazes_ knocked his first flagship, the
heavy cruiser _Indianapolis_, out of the battle early in the campaign,
then severely damaged his replacement flagship, the battleship _New
Mexico_, a few weeks later.
[Illustration: _A U.S. ship badly damaged by a_ kamikaze _hit receives
a survey inspection within the protected anchorage of Kerama Retto,
where the Navy repaired its damaged fleet._
Marine Corps Historical Center
]
The Japanese attacking the U.S. fleet off Okinawa also introduced
their newest weapon, the “_Ohka_” (cherry blossom) bomb (called by the
Americans “_Baka_,” a derisive Japanese term meaning “foolish”). It was
a manned, solid-fuel rocket packed with 4,400 pounds of explosives,
launched at ships from the belly of a twin-engined bomber. The _Baka_
bombs became in effect the first antiship guided missiles, screaming
towards the target at an unheard-of 500 knots. One such weapon blew
the destroyer _Manert L. Abele_ out of the water. Fortunately, most of
the _Bakas_ missed their targets, the missiles proving too fast for
inexperienced pilots to control in their few seconds of glory.
The ultimate suicide attack was the final sortie of the superbattleship
_Yamato_, the last of the world’s great dreadnoughts, whose feared
18.1-inch guns could outrange the biggest and newest U.S. battleships.
_IGHQ_ dispatched _Yamato_ on her last mission, a bizarre scheme, with
no air cover and but a handful of surface escorts and only enough fuel
for a one-way trip. She was to distract the American carriers to allow
a simultaneous _kikusui_ attack against the remainder of the fleet.
Achieving this, _Yamato_ would beach itself directly on Okinawa’s west
coast, using her big guns to shoot up the thin-skinned amphibious
shipping and the landing force ashore. The plan proved absurd.
In earlier years of the war the sortie of this mammoth warship would
have caused consternation among the fleet protecting an amphibious
beachhead. Not now. Patrolling U.S. submarines gave Spruance early
warning of _Yamato_’s departure from Japanese waters. “Shall I take
them or will you?” asked Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, commanding the
fast carriers of Task Force 58. Spruance knew his battleship force
yearned for a surface battle to avenge their losses at Pearl Harbor,
but this was no time for sentiment. “You take them,” he signaled.
With that, Mitscher’s Hellcats and Avengers roared aloft, intercepted
_Yamato_ a hundred miles from the beachhead, and sank her in short
order with bombs and torpedoes. The cost: eight U.S. planes, 12 men.
Another bizarre Japanese suicide mission proved more effective. On
the night of 24-25 May, a half-dozen transport planes loaded with
_Giretsu_, Japanese commandos, approached the U.S. airbase at Yontan.
Alert antiaircraft gunners flamed five. The surviving plane made a
wheels-up belly landing on the airstrip, discharging troops as she slid
in sparks and flames along the surface. The commandos blew up eight
U.S. planes, damaged twice as many more, set fire to 70,000 gallons of
aviation gasoline, and generally created havoc throughout the night.
Jittery aviation and security troops fired at shadows, injuring their
own men more than the Japanese. It took 12 hours to hunt down and kill
the last raider.
[Illustration: _Japanese night raiders are met on 16 April with a
spectacular network of antiaircraft fire by Marine defenders based at
Yontan airfield. In the foreground, silhouetted against the interlaced
pattern of tracer bullets, are Corsairs of VMF-311._
Department of Defense Photo (USMC) 118775
]
Admiral Spruance at sea and General Mulcahy ashore exerted Herculean
efforts to reduce the effectiveness of these suicide strikes. The fast
carriers struck Japanese airfields in Kyushu and Formosa time and
again, but these numbered more than 100, and as usual the Japanese
proved adept at camouflage. Small landing parties of soldiers and
Marines seized outlying islands (see sidebar) to establish early
warning and fighter direction outposts. And fighter planes from all
three services took to the air to intercept the intermittent waves of
enemy planes.
[Illustration: