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–––––––––––––––––––– WWII Japan – Okinawa Naval War ––––––––––––––––––––––
bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > The Okinawa Naval War, © 2026 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 29 Dec 2025
US Navy deaths off Okinawa were higher than during any other WWII naval operation, excepting for losses during the numerous naval battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
US Navy deaths off Okinawa were higher than during any other WWII naval operation, excepting for losses during the numerous naval battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Japanese warships were not a significant factor in the Okinawa campaign. A few US ships hit naval mines. The US aircraft carrier Franklin was grievously damaged by conventional air attack. Most naval damage was incurred by over a thousand Japanese kamikaze (suicide) pilots, flying from bases in Kyushu in the Japanese home islands in the northeast or from Formosa in the southwest.
These kamikaze pilots inflicted serious losses on supporting naval forces, flying into around 368 ships. The aircraft carrier Bunker Hill was badly damaged and twelve destroyers were lost. Other ships were so badly damaged that they never saw service again. Over 4,000 US Navy personnel died.
These kamikaze pilots inflicted serious losses on supporting naval forces, flying into around 368 ships. The aircraft carrier Bunker Hill was badly damaged and twelve destroyers were lost. Other ships were so badly damaged that they never saw service again. Over 4,000 US Navy personnel died.
The US Navy established 14 radar picket locations around the perimeter of the Ryukyu Islands to help protect the US forces on the Island of Okinawa, vessels in the surrounding anchorages, and the naval base at Kerama Retto, as shown on the map below.
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Destroyers and other suitable warships stationed at the radar picket locations were the primary targets for kamikaze pilots.
These vessels destroyed hundreds of kamikazes with their antiaircraft weapons and absorbed the fiery impact of a hundred more. |
Okinawa Radar Picket Stations
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Major ships sunk during the Okinawa Campaign
Destroyers, by date of loss (12):
- USS Bush (DD-529) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Colhoun (DD-801) - kamikaze(s), scuttled
- USS Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Pringle (DD-477) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Little (DD-803) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Morrison (DD-560) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Luce (DD-522) - kamikaze(s)
- USS Longshaw (DD-559) - damaged by enemy shore batteries while grounded, scuttled
- USS Halligan (DD-584) - naval mine, abandoned, washed ashore
- USS William D. Porter (DD-579) - kamikaze
- USS Twiggs (DD-591) - kamikaze
- USS Callaghan (DD-792) - kamikaze
Sources for Big Pigeon's WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > The Okinawa Naval War webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > The Okinawa Naval War webpage:
† 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.)
- Okinawa Radar Picket Stations map - c/o https://destroyerhistory.org/fletcherclass/3d/3d_bat_okinawapicketstations.html
- 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 WWII.
- Kamikaze Damage to US and British Carriers, http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-042.php
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > The Okinawa Naval War webpage:
- Access full individual records through bigpigeon.us > WWII Dead > Roster Records.
† 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.
- WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Okinawa Naval War
- aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17); Bunker Hill struck by two kamikazes 11 May 1945 off Okinawa, Ryukyu Is., Japan; DOW 13 May 1945; 396 dead; ship survived.
- WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Okinawa Naval War
- 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.
- WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Okinawa Naval War
- 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; BNR
- WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Okinawa Naval War
- Destroyer USS Luce (DD-522); KIA 4 May 1945 off Okinawa; Luce hit by kamikaze & sank in around five minutes; 128 dead from crew of 312.
- WWII Japan > Iwo Jima & Okinawa > Okinawa Naval War