bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Naval Battle of Okinawa, updated by RAC 18 May 2022. Incomplete.
Japanese warships were not a significant factor in the Okinawa campaign. A few US ships hit naval mines. The US aircraft carrier Franklin was greviously damaged by conventional air attack. Most damage was incurred by around 1,000 Japanese kamikaze (suicide) pilots, flying from bases in southern Japan or Formosa.
These kamakaze pilots inflicted serious losses on supporting naval forces, flying into around 368 ships. The aircraft carrier Bunker Hill was badly damaged and a number of destroyers were sunk.
Around 5,000 US Navy personnel died in or near Okinawa during the Okinawa Campaign.
These kamakaze pilots inflicted serious losses on supporting naval forces, flying into around 368 ships. The aircraft carrier Bunker Hill was badly damaged and a number of destroyers were sunk.
Around 5,000 US Navy personnel died in or near Okinawa during the Okinawa Campaign.
Sources for the Naval Battle of Okinawa webpage:
Pottawattamie AREA WWII Dead - Naval Battle of Okinawa:
† Chancellor, James Maurice, SN 872-24-12, US Navy, Pott. Co.
- The webpage header photo, Kamikaze Attack on USS Bunker Hill, is courtesy of the National Archives. The two kamikaze hits on the carrier Bunker Hill off Okinawa on May 11 killed around 400, but the ship survived. (The earlier March 19 attack on the carrier Franklin, which also survived, had killed over 800 but was not a kamikaze attack.)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_vessels_struck_by_Japanese_special_attack_weapons lists all Allied ships sunk or damaged by Japanese "special weapons" during WW II.
Pottawattamie AREA WWII Dead - Naval Battle of Okinawa:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
† Chancellor, James Maurice, SN 872-24-12, US Navy, Pott. Co.
- Attack Transport USS Sandoval (APA-194); KIA 28 May 1945, Nakagusuku Bay, SE coast of Okinawa, Ryukyu Is., Japan; Sandoval damaged by Japanese kamikaze; eight dead; Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Naval Battle of Okinawa.
- Evacuation Transport USS Pickney (APH-2); KIA 28 Apr 1945 Hagushi Bay, off SW coast of Okinawa, Ryukyu Is., Japan; Pickney damaged by kamikaze attack, 16 patients & 18 crew dead; Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Naval Battle of Okinawa.
- Destroyer USS Halligan (DD-584); KIA 26 May 1945, off Tokashiki Is., W of southern Okinawa, Ryukyu Is., Japan; Halligan hit a naval mine & abandoned; 162 dead, 80 survivors; Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Naval Battle of Okinawa; BNR.
- USS Luce (DD-522); KIA 4 May 1945 off Okinawa; Luce hit by kamikaze & sank in ~5 minutes; 128 dead from crew of 312; Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Naval Battle of Okinawa.