ORIGINAL: Buckrock
I'm fairly sure I've also seen that same narrative in several websites and (IIRC) in at least one book.ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
I once found a site that had a blow by blow account of Yamato's sinking, with pictures at every stage (CL Yahagi included). The site said the USN was not happy with how much ordnance they expended sinking Musashi, so they developed a new strategy. Instead of attacking from all sides initially, they would concentrate on attacking only one side to cause significant list and try to capsize the ship. And so it was they concentrated on Yamato's starboard side and got it listing something like 20º, despite the frantic counterflooding the damage control officer ordered.
However, I've yet to find a USN CAG report from that action (7th Apr '45) that would support it. Most of the reports I've seen would in fact contradict the narrative that the USN strikes went in that day with the intention to concentrate their torpedo attacks primarily against one side of the Yamato.
Does this work? The emphasis is mine:
A lookout spots American planes 25 degrees to port, levation 8, range 4,375 yards, moving to port. This is the first wave of 280 aircraft (132 fighters, 50 bombers, 98 torpedo planes) from Task Group 58. 1’s USS HORNET (CV-12), HANCOCK (CV-19), BENNINGTON (CV-20), BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24) and SAN JACINTO (CVL-30) and from Task Group 58. 3’s USS ESSEX (CV-9), BUNKER HILL (CV-17), BATAAN (CVL-24) and CABOT (CVL-28).
Lagging behind the main force, destroyer ASASHIMO is attacked and sunk by aircraft from SAN JACINTO.
YAMATO opens fire with her two forward main turrets and AA guns. YAMATO stops zigzagging and increases speed to 24 knots. Her nine 18.1-inch guns firing Sanshikidan beehive shells, twenty-four 127-mm. AA guns and one hundred fifty-two 25-mm AA guns all open fire. The American planes release their bombs and torpedoes and strafe the bridge with machine-gun fire. YAMATO is hit by two AP bombs. Smoke rises from the vicinity of the mainmast and a bomb explodes in the same area. The aft secondary battery fire control, secondary gun turret and the air search radar are knocked out.
The Attack Force changes course to 100 degrees. Helldivers from BENNINGTON and HORNET attack from port. At flank speed, YAMATO commences a right turn but two 1000-lb AP bombs hit her. The first explodes in the crew’s quarters abaft the Type 13 radar shack. The second penetrates the port side of the aft Command station and explodes between the 155-mm gun magazine and main gun turret No. 3’s upper powder magazine. It starts a fire that cannot be extinguished and rips a 60-foot hole in the weather deck. One Helldiver is shot down, another is damaged badly.
A group of five low-flying Avengers (VT-17) from HORNET (CV-12) start a torpedo run from the port, bearing 70 degrees. YAMATO, at 27 knots flank speed, heels to starboard in evasive action. The Avengers drop three torpedoes. One strikes her port side near the forward windlass room. One Avenger is shot down.
Fourteen F4U Chance-Vought Corsairs from BUNKER HILL strafe and rocket YAMATO but cause only minor damage. Thirty-four Hellcats, 22 Helldivers and one Corsair attack YAMATO’s escorts. DesDiv 17’s HAMAKAZE takes a near miss on her starboard quarter that disables her starboard shaft. A torpedo strikes HAMAKAZE starboard, aft of amidships and she jackknifes. SUZUTSUKI takes a 500-lb GP bomb hit to starboard, abreast her No. 2 gun mount. Two dud rockets hit FUYUTSUKI.
The first attack wave retires. Destroyer SUZUTSUKI wreathed in black smoke, burns furiously. The light cruiser YAHAGI, without headway, drifts helplessly behind the main force. YAMATO, despite hits by two bombs and one torpedo, maintains flank speed.
1300 hour – YAMATO changes course to 180 degrees, due South. Her remaining air search radar reports the approach of a second attack wave. The Attack Force changes course due south to 180 degrees. Fifty aircraft from ESSEX and BATAAN are sighted approaching from the SSW, range 18.5 miles. YAMATO increases speed to 22 knots.
A Corsair from ESSEX drops a 1000-lb GP bomb that hits the superstructure in the port bow area. Twelve Helldivers claim several hits near the bridge and main gun turret No. 3. Five Helldivers are damaged by AA fire. Another 110 aircraft from Task Group 58. 4’s YORKTOWN (CV-10), INTREPID (CV-11), LANGLEY (CVL-27) engage the Attack Force. This time all the attacks are concentrated against the battleship. Twenty Avengers make a new torpedo run from 60 degrees to port.
YAMATO starts a sharp turn to port but three torpedoes rip into her port side amidships. Her auxiliary rudder is jammed in position hard port. YAMATO has taken a total of four torpedo hits. She ships about 3,000-tons of seawater. She lists about seven degrees to port. Damage Control counter-floods both starboard engine and boiler rooms and almost entirely corrects the list.
YAMATO starts a turn starboard to course 230 degrees. One of her lookouts spots the tracks of four torpedoes approaching. The first torpedoes pass by harmlessly, but the remaining two strike her port amidships. She takes on a heavy list to port and her speed drops to 18 knots. Armor-piercing and other bombs make a shambles of her upper works.
YAMATO turns hard to port. She continues to throw up a screen of desperate flak fire. One Avenger is shot down but her barrage is largely ineffective because each AA battery fires independently without coordination. The escorts cannot defend the flagship either.
1400 hour – Three bombs explode port amidships, five minutes later a torpedo hits her starboard side amidships. Ten minutes later, two more torpedoes strike her port side. YAMATO’s list increases to about 15 degrees and her speed slows to 12 knots.
Executive Officer Nomura Jiro reports to Captain Aruga that his damage control officers are all dead and that counter-flooding can no longer correct the list. He suggests the order to abandon ship be given. The Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Ito, orders the mission cancelled and directs the remaining ships to pick up as many survivors as possible.
Light cruiser YAHAGI, hit by 12 bombs and seven torpedoes sinks exactly one minute after the last bomb hits. LtCdr (later Captain) Herbert Houck, the leader of 43 TBM Avengers of VT-9 from YORKTOWN, detaches Lt Thomas Stetson’s six Avengers in a final torpedo attack from the ship’s starboard side. Stetson’s crewmen reset their Mark 13 torpedoes’ running depth to 20 feet. Listing heavily to port, YAMATO’s exposed hull is hit by several more torpedoes. She rolls slowly over her port side on her beam ends.
YAMATO’s No. 1 magazine explodes and sends up a cloud of smoke seen 100 miles away. She slips under followed by an underwater explosion.
YAMATO sinks at 30-22 N, 128-04 E.
https://vt17.com/blog/archives/34#:~:te ... heavy-guns.
; Julia Child