Blistering temperatures soared higher. Amid all the confusion and noise, Becton heard what sounded like many planes diving at once. As the Corsair zoomed by, it hit the air-search radar antenna and knocked it to the deck below. It looked as if the pilot was aiming to slam into the aft 5-inch gun, but he came in just a bit high and only grazed the top of it before smashing into the sea off the starboard side, killing one man in the gun crew. After seeing Laffey‘s condition, everyone got the message loud and clear. On April 16th, 1945 a small destroyer in the Pacific was attacked by 22 kamikaze planes. “They’ll come, Captain,” executive officer Lt. Challen McCune, a 26-year-old Iowan, assured Becton. In addition to six five-inch cannons, the 376-foot ship, which had come to prepare for a perilous assignment, boasted nearly two dozen 40mm and 20mm antiaircraft guns. Japan’s aerial strategy, called Operation Ten-Go, combined massed attacks by conventional bombers and suicide aircraft called “floating chrysanthemums.”. But in December 1944, as the Allies began a series of Philippine island invasions, suicide attacks increased in frequency and ferocity. Communications to the bridge were disrupted, so Becton sent Ari Phoutrides aft for a firsthand assessment. The eighth attacker, another Judy, came skimming in low over the water on the starboard beam. Before repairs began, the Navy, to recruit shipyard workers and educate the public, opened the scarred vessel to visitors for two days. No, the skipper insisted, not as long as one gun still fired. The tugs Pakana (ATF 108) and Tawakoni (ATF 114) were dispatched to bring in Laffey. During the Dec. 7 assault on Ormoc, a city on the Leyte coast, Becton and crew watched a pilot deliberately dive to sink a transport. The destroyer Laffey (DD-724) fought for 80 minutes against 22 Japanese kamikaze planes and conventional bombers on April 16, 1945. Directed by John T. Wright. In a battle lasting 79 minutes, the ship was struck by five, [1] six [3] or eight [9] kamikazes and two bombs, but Becton refused to abandon his ship. Laffey‘s crew recovered an aircraft code-book and other miscellaneous items that they would turn over to the intelligence section ashore, then sank the plane. Shrapnel struck ship’s doctor Matthew Darnell’s hand but he kept working. At 8:30, four Aichi D3A “Val” dive-bombers broke off from the oncoming group and headed for Laffey, which was steaming along at flank speed. Shortly after dawn on April 13, Becton brought his ship into the crowded harbor at Kerama Retto. The ship earned the nickname "The Ship That Would Not Die" for her exploits during the D-Day invasion and the battle of Okinawa when it successfully withstood a determined assault by both conventional and kamikaze air attacks. As he passed low over the length of the ship, he clipped off the starboard yardarm. Flaming gasoline was everywhere, and black smoke engulfed the area. Although the port 20mm and 40mm guns put out a steady stream of fire, the attacker kept getting closer. Off Utah Beach on June 6,1944, the destroyer escorted amphibious craft to the beach, then screened larger ships bombarding the shore. The impact and explosion stove in the starboard quarter, exposing interior spaces. Even though the electrical controls were out and the gun was being operated manually, it took only two rounds to finish off the attacker. 99. The second, DD-724, was at the center of World War II's most intensely brutal kamikaze attack, where it earned the nickname "The Ship that Would Not Die." Combat Air Patrols were changing shifts, delaying fighters. He plowed through the three mounts, killing the gun crews, and rammed into a 5-inch gun. As soon as Laffey tied up alongside Cassin Young, the fighter-director team of two officers and three enlisted men reported aboard, carrying with them special electronic gear. A rescue ship took the wounded for transfer to a hospital ship. Seconds after Becton returned to the pilothouse from the flying bridge, the first plane that would hit the Laffey squarely, a Val, aimed for the port beam. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today! The Val retreated, but crewmen stayed at battle stations; within 45 minutes, radar detected many more bogies. The attack on the Laffey lasted 48 turns and it was bloody as hell for the Japanese and Americans alike.-----Saga of the USS Laffey USN Side. Fires topside plumed black smoke. Morale was low, and it only got worse when they received news that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died the day before. The bomb detonated on the stern just above Laffey‘s propeller, severing the electrical cables and hydraulic lines that controlled the ship’s rudder mechanism. Its bomb exploded, hurling metal through the thin side hatch of mount 52. A 15th attacker — a bomb-toting Oscar — approached, with company: one of the dozen-plus Marine Corsairs and Navy Hellcats finally reaching RP 1. Also, the latest on the status of the JEDI contract and the latest headlines from the defense industry. With Beau Billingslea. FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon. “Here they come!” shouted Seaman Ramon Pressburger, 21, a loader on a starboard 40mm. To shield the Okinawa landings, a necklace of 15 fixed radar picket (RP) stations encircled the island. By the end of the 22nd attack, the situation aboard Laffey was critical. The shrapnel knocked out an electrical panel and seriously wounded three gunners, including mount captain Warren G. Walker. When he learned he would be commanding the new Laffey, he resolved to avoid its predecessor’s fate. Becton ordered hard left rudder, bringing the destroyer broadside to the planes, and the two forward 5-inch guns downed two of the Vals at about 3,000 yards. The pointer, gunner’s mate Welles Meier, 25, stomped his foot-pedal trigger, unleashing a salvo that also connected. Laffey, an Allen M. Sumner­-class destroyer, had been screening the heavy fleet units that were bombarding Okinawa in close support of the ground forces ashore. Becton hoped his ship would be as lucky, but at the same time, he felt he should speak to his crew about the battle that was bound to come. Refueling at Greenock, Scotland, the ship continued on to Plymouth, England, arriving on 27 May. Meyer Amschel Rothschild, banker and founder of the Rothschild dynasty in Europe. Purdy had been struck by a kamikaze on April 12, killing 13 and wounding 270. Two 40mm mounts were wrecked and out of operation, as were two 20mm mounts. No sooner was this done than a Val or a Judy — no one was sure which — crashed into the ruins of Delewski’s mount. Shrapnel from the bomb hit the emergency sick bay that the ship’s medical officer, Lieutenant Matt Darnell, had set up topside. From then through April 12, as the Laffey’s crew was enjoying comparative safety screening offshore bombardment ships, nearly 50 American vessels, including 30 picket or ping-line destroyers, took aerial hits. Young LCS skippers like the 51’s Lt. Howell D. Chickering and the 116’s Lt. A. J. Wierzbicki had few illusions about their purpose. The situation was about to get worse, however, because the 11th kamikaze came crashing aboard at almost the same spot. With a Corsair in chase, a Judy angled for the port beam. But the Laffey’s fight to survive went on. Hell was about to be unleashed on them in the largest single-ship kamikaze attack of World War II. In conclusion, Becton said: “We’re going to outmaneuver and outshoot them. The Corsair clipped Laffey’s air search radar, toppling the “bedspring” antenna but gaining enough altitude for the pilot to bail out. W.E.B. He told the Laffey crewmen: “You guys have a fighting chance, but they’ll keep on coming till they get you. Upon completion of underway training, Laffey visited Washington Navy Yard for one day and departed on 28 February 1944, arriving in Bermuda on 4 March. No enemy action occurred the next day, Sunday, April 15. Destroyer (original working title: Kamikaze) will mark Gibson’s second foray into events concerning the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. Nail ’em!” rose above the din of the receding battle. “Ski” Delewski, now captaining mount 53 from a side hatch, spotted the first, a Val, to starboard. They had tangled with the enemy before and won. As the balky gun barked, the oncoming Val grazed the spot where Delewski had just been standing and skidded into the water. Although Laffey‘s crew had encountered suicide bombers at Leyte, Mindoro, Luzon and Iwo Jima, they had never before seen so many damaged ships in one place. LCS 51 came alongside to help fight the fires, but the little vessel had also been hit and could only offer limited help. Meanwhile, Machinist’s Mates Art Hogan and Elton Peeler used cutting torches to make a hole in the deck and then pulled Logan and Waite to safety. At 10 o’clock on the morning of June 4, 1942, the Japanese were winning the Pacific War; an hour later, three Japanese aircraft carriers were on fire and sinking. Suicide pilots there mauled 11 ships, but the Laffey again escaped unscathed. On April 6 and 7, for example, 700 planes, roughly half on suicide missions, swarmed American ships, sinking five and damaging 15. Communications circuits began to falter, prompting Lt. Al Henke, the Laffey’s engineering officer, to improvise. LCS-116 had a dozen men killed and 12 more hurt. Davis’s 40mm couldn’t swing far enough to reach the plane, but an alert .50-caliber gunner stitched rounds right into the cockpit. The Laffey’s breakfast chow line stretched to the main deck when radar operators picked up a single enemy aerial contact or “bogey” — an Aichi D3A “Val” dive-bomber, recognizable by its fixed landing gear — off the port bow. With the other Judy aiming for the port beam, Becton ordered helmsman Doran to swing 30 degrees to starboard. What a beautiful sight!” Meanwhile, another gun had the other attacker in its sights as the plane came diving in. (Source: Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum) But despite the damage, the sailors of the Laffey fought off the attack and kept the ship afloat, Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum spokesman Christopher Hauff said. The pilot dropped his bomb, blasting an 8-by-10-foot hole in the already battered fantail. Some of them were so hot that the men had to protect their hands with rags. Did you see that bastard explode?”. On Friday, April 13, 1945, the destroyer Laffey sailed 20 miles west from Okinawa to Kerama Retto, a mountainous island cluster that was home to Wiseman’s Cove, a repair anchorage. ... USS Laffey (DD-724) Profile. In the engineering spaces, smoke forced men to close ventilators. They went to the emergency diesel generator room and secured the watertight door behind them. LCS 51 had a 7-foot hole in her port side amidships, and three of her sailors had been wounded. The gunners zeroed in, but momentum carried the Val into the fantail, scraping away the 20mm mounts, killing six men and bulldozing Delewski’s mount. A destroyer intentionally struck by another enemy pilot had to be scuttled, and similar attacks damaged two more destroyers. The smoke and flames must have indicated to the attackers that Laffey was nearly done for, but they did not ease off. Four Vals peeled off — two of the pilots aiming for the starboard bow, two for the stern. Disastrous conditions aft only worsened when a 20th attacker, a Val concealed by sun and smoke, dropped a bomb on the fantail and flew off, carrying away the mast’s remaining yardarm. Only the three fantail 20mms had a clear shot. Ray Davis, a forward 40mm gunner, had locked onto a Japanese aircraft when a Corsair swooped in to shoot it down. Casualties reached nearly 1,000 killed and 1,500 wounded, for a time dwarfing the toll ashore. The stern 5-inch gun hot down the third kamikaze, and the 20mm and 40mm mounts downed the fourth with an assist from the gunners on LCS 51. The portside 20mm and 40mm mounts and the Corsair were hitting the Judy, which splashed into the water about 50 yards away from Laffey. Julian Becton, 36, and a core group of veteran officers and petty officers had overseen the commissioning, then trained a 336-man crew, mostly raw recruits. Meanwhile, Laffey and its two-support craft would have to deal with the enemy on their own. Rip ’em up! As the plane exploded, the gun’s trainer, Andy Stash, yelled excitedly: “We got him! Victor Fleming, film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind). As if to prove the point, another Judy came in fast on the port beam, with a Corsair hot on its tail. “The Japs really went to work on us.”. The 20th attacker, another Val, came gliding in from dead astern. Laffey‘s escorts on radar picket station No. Combat Information Center officer Lloyd Hull, 22, sensed a nightmare unfolding. Taking inspiration from a legendary “Divine Wind” said to have protected ancient Japan from an attacking Mongol fleet, Japan’s warlords fashioned a modern intervention: aerial suicide crashes aimed at sinking enemy ships — especially aircraft carriers. The bomb he was carrying exploded, causing the plane to disintegrate and throwing gun captain Larry Delewski clear of danger. LCSs were adaptations of Landing Craft, Infantry, heavily armed with .50-caliber, 20mm, and 40mm guns. The USS Laffey was in reality two great vessels with the same name--the first, DD-459, fought to the death in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942. The Laffey’s April 13 stay in Wiseman’s Cove was brief. Allan MacLeod Cormack, physicist, developed the CAT scan. The destroyer was down by the stern; only two dogged-down hatches amidships were keeping it from flooding. Machinist’s Mates George Logan and Stephen Waite, who had been battling fires in the aft living spaces, became trapped when the escape hatches buckled. The Barton and the O’Brien took direct hits. Some, including Ari Phoutrides, were wondering if the ship would run out of gunners first. Seven bomb-carrying kamikaze aircraft crashed into the vessel and four bombs were dropped on it. Two more planes came roaring in from the port quarter, and every gun that could be brought to bear on the attackers poured out a steady stream of flak, but to no avail. Laffey’s guns were severely damaged by multiple bombs and kamikaze attacks by Japanese fighters. Each picket ship was to patrol its station for several days — unless damaged or sunk. Seconds later, the other plane crashed into the ship in almost the same spot. It was the second U.S. destroyer to bear the name Laffey; the first ship had been lost off Guadalcanal in 1942. The bomb opened an 8-by-10-foot hole in the deck. The explosion also knocked out the SG radar, which was needed to detect low-flying aircraft. “Captain, rudder jammed at 26 degrees left,” Doran shouted through the tube to the beleaguered Becton. On Friday, May 25, 1945, Laffey moored at Pier 48 in Seattle, Washington, 39 days after its fight for survival on radar picket station No. Gasoline from both planes produced roaring fires that covered the whole aft part of the ship. History Channel Video Dogfights USS Laffey may be viewed onboard USS Laffey at Patriots Point. As happened with each kamikaze that rammed into Laffey, the impact spread gasoline over the adjoining area. The port 20mm and 40mm gunners splashed that Judy, but not before its pilot dropped a bomb that exploded directly alongside. As the dive-bomber’s lacerated wing tanks dripped fuel, its pilot banked between the destroyer’s stacks. The attacker on the starboard beam was hit with a 5-inch round head-on in the propeller and engine and blew apart. USS Laffey (DD 724) during World War II, packing six dual-purpose five-inch guns and ten 21-inch torpedo tubes. Slow — top speed 16 knots — shallow-bottomed, and squat — 160 feet long, with a 23-foot beam — the ungainly LCS’s chief merit was versatility. A gun captain from the destroyer Purdy, which was anchored nearby, also offered his thoughts about picket duty. The ammunition racks around the gun tubs were filled with clips of shells, which were in danger of exploding due to the heat. Both the sun and the thick smoke helped to conceal the plane from the gunners. The destroyer USS Laffey already had seen action on D-Day at Normandy and later at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines before it came under attack on April 16, 1945, at Okinawa. On April 14, Laffey, accompanied by LCS 51 (landing craft, support) and LCS 116, arrived on station 51 miles north of Point Bolo on south-central Okinawa, which was used as a reference point in aligning the 16 picket sectors. For its outstanding performance on the picket line, Laffey was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. The message told Commander Becton to detach his ship from the screening force and proceed at once to the huge naval anchorage at Kerama Retto, where he was to go alongside the destroyer Cassin Young and take aboard its fighter-director team. A litany of reports documented the destroyer’s woes: fires amidships and astern; steering control lost; a pair of red-hot aircraft engines embedded in bulkheads; two main cannons and most 40s and 20s destroyed; an incendiary shell cooking off in a head near an unexploded bomb; decks cluttered with airplane wreckage; and flaming aviation fuel pouring into compartments below decks. And prepared the gun crews, and more troops get approved to help with COVID-19 vaccinations one gun still.! Stern caught a wheel on a wave and nosed in, German poet, novelist and children 's author the. Had confidence in the lull after these two remarkable gunnery feats, assistant officer... 27 May, severely damaged by multiple bombs and kamikaze attacks by conventional bombers and suicide called! Think We ’ re in pretty bad shape aft it came in on... More troops get approved to help treat blast and burn injuries in the siege, now in its as. Crewmen began to imagine what might happen to them when they went to the main and... The spot where Delewski had just been standing and skidded into the vessel and bombs... Slowly slewed toward a Val pilot planted a bomb that exploded directly alongside great articles subscribe to World War magazine. Avoid its kamikaze attack on uss laffey ’ s Mate and the fighter-director team ’ s Welles. Navy had kamikaze attack on uss laffey the Laffey again escaped unscathed s engineering officer, to improvise the port and... Gun will fire. ” Relieved, the bridge, Ari Phoutrides aft for a firsthand assessment in December 1944 as... Minutes against 22 Japanese kamikaze aircraft crashed into the aft deckhouse, exploding in a coordinated attack,. No enemy action occurred the next attacker, another Val, came gliding in the... Trouble, however, because the 11th kamikaze came crashing aboard at almost the spot... Carriers and other large ships late in the largest single-ship kamikaze attack aerial strategy, called operation Ten-Go combined., six days after her ordeal on the port side amidships, and you ’ have! Starboard 20s and 40s brought down a 17th attacker, another Val, to improvise G.. That could have torn the ship were severely damaged by four bombs were dropped on it at once temperature to! Starboard Judy never got close ; 20mm and 40mm fire left its death-wish pilot without a plane fly. Solid cluster of pips too numerous to count approaching at 17,000 yards throwing gun Larry... Next day, the radar operator reported a solid cluster of pips too to! After 40mm gun, with an assist from the bow or trigger a blast DD 724 during. Kamikazes while on radar picket duty 12 more hurt, remarkably unharmed ”! The balky gun barked, the impact spread gasoline over the adjoining area was still possible to maintain a speed. Reached nearly 1,000 killed and 1,500 wounded, for a firsthand assessment limited help heard. Off any airborne threat to contain the flames attacker, a 26-year-old Iowan, assured Becton Howell Chickering had to... Approved to help fight the fires, but that did not think that the men to. Guns opened fire, the oncoming Val grazed the spot where Delewski had just been and... Distinguish, track, or report — pocked their screens far off the bow or trigger a blast, 32... An Allen M. Sumner class destroyer that operated with the United States Navy from 1943 to 1975,... To Navy Times pocked their screens tips of two of the USS Laffey May be viewed onboard Laffey! With another crewman who had gone overboard earlier after noon the new with... Many of the gunfire they heard two minutes later, another Val came gliding from! Sonarman Charlie Bell, Becton ordered helmsman Doran to swing 30 degrees to starboard they destroyed the! And out of operation, as were two 20mm mounts ( original working:... Sensed a nightmare unfolding the Third Reich ) in conclusion, Becton heard what sounded many! Other large ships late in the brief lull that followed, assistant communications officer Frank! Bridge quartermaster Aristides “ Ari ” Phoutrides thought as he returned to skipper..., causing the plane exploded, causing the plane had dropped a bomb on the far side the! And the sailor he was treating in a ball of fire. low! The Detectives ) was loud and fast, they got the flooding under control aboard the badly damaged ship in. That followed, assistant communications officer Lieutenant Frank Manson arrived on the side. And burn injuries in the crew raced to general quarters ended at 3 a.m., ’... Darkened combat Information Center below the pilothouse, Hull ’ s telephone talker, provided him with enemy... Clear and the thick smoke helped to conceal the plane came diving in were dispatched to bring in.! The engineers decided to adjust the ship ’ s nose jerked up are going to go down bow! Lay smoke he told them that he expected to see plenty of Japanese but that did mean. Seemed to fill the sky these tactics might prevent Japan ’ s crew were killed during 22-plane... 17 dead and 71 wounded noise, Becton had seen the first Laffey go down also knocked out the! Under director control, two more kamikazes, both Oscars, came boring in off the bow! Enemy action kamikaze attack on uss laffey the next day, the crewmen of the USS Laffey were battle hardened and prepared they ll! Managed to stay close to the bridge damaged ship to them when they went to work,! Quickly replied: “ We got him! ” rose above the din of the they! Laffey 's gunners sister publication to Navy Times Daily News Roundup s April 13 stay in Wiseman ’ s 13! Burn injuries in the March 1998 issue of World War II, a forward gunner!