In April 1945 while the Americans are attacking Okinawa, admiral Ito follows the Ten Go plan (Celestial plan) which specifies that all chances of suicidal-attack have to be taken so that the enemy line is broken. So Ito climb onboard the Yamato with for mission to beach the ship on Okinawa and by the same way destroy as much enemy ship as possible. April 6th the battleship Yamato leaves the dock with the cruiser Yahagi and 8 destroyers. The Yamato started is life in 1942, it has 3300 crewmen and 9 canons of 457mm. With his brother Musashi (sunken at Leyte), the Yamato is the biggest battleship ever built. The mission of Ito is to beach the ship on Okinawa between Hagushi and Yontan on April 8th and then the ship will be used as a coastal defense while the crew will join the troops of the island. The Japaneses wish by that attack to attract the american airplanes and so free the way to a Kamikaze raid.
Thus Ito leaves Tokuyama on April 6th and in the evening the group of ships is reported by the american submarine Hackleback. April 7th at 8h22 an recon airplane from the Essex spot the group. A group of 6 battleships, 7 cruisers and 21 destroyers is sent to meet the enemy. On the way to Okinawa (sailing at 24 knots) the destroyer Asashimo as engine problems and so he leaves the formation. Around 10h00 two airplanes raids are launch and a third join the party at 10h45 (386 aircrafts in all) for what will be called the Battle of the Eastern China Sea. Using the low cloud ceiling, the airplanes takes their position and then attack on all side. The Yamato is the first target and at 12h40 the bombs are falling: the Helldivers hit the ship with 2 1 ton bombs, then the Avengers flying low hit it once more with a torpedo. A second wave of Avengers comes from behind at the same moment as the Helldivers are piercing the clouds coming down. The cruiser Yahagi is damaged while the destroyer Hamazake and Asashimo have sunk. At 13h30 5 torpedoes hit the Yamato. At 14h00 the battleship doesn't even defend itself anymore and so the airplanes finish off it: the ship has received 12 torpedoes (of which 9 have hit the left side) and 18 bombs and it is heeling forward-left. At 14h06 the Yahagi sinks. At 14h23 the Yamato capsizes and admiral Ito drown with 2500 of his men. Four destroyers also sink and the three other ships survivors rescue the 269 survivors of the battleship. Only 10 american airplanes were shot down (on 386 which took off) even if the Yamato had 146 DCA canons of 25mm. The attack had some similarities with the japanese attack on the Prince of Wales and Repulse (british ships). With the end of the Yamato, the imperial navy is really over.
The Kamikaze attack is also a failure because the Americans spotted the movements and on the morning of 6th they lauched an aerial attack of 500 bombers covered by 400 fighters. The Kamikazes take off: 555 airplanes and 8 Oka go toward Okinawa. With their picket ships the first enemy planes are spotted at 75 miles off the coast. The first Kamikaze wave is intercepted by 50 Hellcats and the second wave Jibaku on the picket ships: the destroyer Bush is hit by three planes and sinks; destroyer Colhoun is attacked by 20 Kamikazes: the crew shoot down 5 of them, the ship escape 5 others and 3 finally crashes and the ship sinks. The Kamikazes which have passed the defenses crash on the landing ships: the minesweeper Emmons, the LST 447, the transport Logan Victory, the carriers Hancock and San Jacinto, the battleship Maryland and 13 destroyers (of which one sinks). 446 Americans dies.
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