USS Tennessee

Amerikai csatahajó
(Kamikaze-támadás, Okinawa, 1945. április 12.)

During the furious kamikaze attacks off Okinawa in 1945, the battleship USS Tennessee (BB-43) was struck by a Japanese suicide plane. 22 Americans died in the attack, and another 107 were wounded. This combat footage, filmed during the attack on 12 April 1945, shows the moment of impact. The film opens with a quick shot of another American battleship, possibly USS Idaho (BB-42). At 0:26 seconds of the film, one of the five suicide aircraft that attacked Tennessee (but missed) can be seen exploding in the water, off the port side of the battleship. At 0:37, another Japanese kamikaze begins its fatal descent towards Tennessee, impacting the port 40mm and 20mm guns. Also seen in the film at 1:00 is the destroyer USS Zellars (DD-777) on fire from another kamikaze strike.