Two Japanese kamikazes tried to sink this US warship. They picked the wrong crew.

USS Cassin Young’s Two Kamikaze Strikes at Okinawa

In April 1945, USS Cassin Young took a risky job off Okinawa. The Navy set her on radar picket duty, where she stood as bait for Japanese kamikaze planes.

On April 12, she shot down five planes before a sixth hit her foremast, killing one sailor and wounding 59 others. After quick repairs, she went back to the fight.

Then on July 30, a night attack smashed into her side, killing 22 more men as steam filled the ship. Yet within 20 minutes, her crew got one engine running and made it to port.

The battle-scarred destroyer now rests at Boston Navy Yard, where you can walk her decks and touch this story of survival.

Sailors Called It "The Floating Death Trap"

USS Cassin Young moved to Radar Picket Station 3 off Okinawa on April 3, 1945. This Fletcher-class destroyer joined a 16-station defense ring 40-70 miles from the island.

Stations 1, 2, and 3 sat right in the path of kamikazes flying from Japan. These destroyers used radar to spot planes and warn the main fleet.

Radar picket ships worked mostly alone without enough guns to fight off suicide planes. The navigation officer later said crews lived "from one minute to the next" knowing attacks would come.

Hundreds of Suicide Planes Darkened the Sky

Japan sent its first mass attack on April 6, 1945, with 355 kamikaze planes heading toward American ships. About 85 suicide planes targeted destroyers Bush, Colhoun, and Cassin Young at Stations 1, 2, and 3.

Cassin Young’s gunners shot down three enemy planes while helping other ships. Both Bush and Colhoun took multiple hits and sank.

Colhoun took five kamikaze crashes before Cassin Young pulled alongside and fired 246 five-inch shells at her for an hour to finish the burning wreck.

The Water Filled With Desperate Survivors

Cassin Young pulled survivors from both sunken destroyers out of the oil-covered water. The April 6 attack sank four American ships and damaged 20 others across the fleet.

Destroyer Newcomb got hit by four kamikazes, killing 39 sailors and wounding 67 more. Japanese pilots made the open picket destroyers their first targets when flying toward Okinawa.

This attack showed how deadly mass kamikaze tactics could be against ships alone at sea.

They Drew the Worst Assignment in the Fleet

On April 12, 1945, Cassin Young got orders to move to Radar Picket Station 1, the most dangerous spot off Okinawa.

Sailors called Station 1 "the hottest spot on the radar picket line" because it saw more kamikaze attacks than any other position.

The second mass attack started that morning with over 300 suicide planes taking off from Japan. Six kamikazes picked out Cassin Young during the fighting.

The crew stayed at battle stations for hours, watching for threats.

One Plane Slipped Through Their Defenses

Cassin Young’s gunners blew five attacking kamikazes from the sky during the April 12 battle. The sixth plane crashed into the ship’s foremast despite heavy gunfire.

It blew up only 50 feet above the deck, wrecking the radar equipment. Torpedoman Third Class Robert Dean Moore, a 19-year-old from Enid, Oklahoma, died in the attack.

Fifty-nine sailors got hurt, many badly, from the blast and metal pieces that tore through the upper decks.

The Ship Limped Away With Her Wounds

Despite heavy damage to her foremast and radar systems, Cassin Young kept her engines running. The crew steered her to Kerama Retto for quick fixes to stop the bleeding.

She then went to Ulithi atoll for more complete repairs on her damaged systems. The destroyer stayed off the dangerous picket line for two and a half months while being fixed.

By mid-July, Japanese forces on Okinawa had mostly stopped fighting, but lone kamikaze attacks still came from far-off airfields.

Back Into the Fight They Went

Cassin Young came back to Okinawa on May 31 and soon started radar picket duty again. The ship got only short breaks during two convoy trips to the Marianas Islands.

On July 28, her group faced fresh kamikaze attacks from Japanese planes. One destroyer sank and another got badly damaged during the fierce battle.

Cassin Young helped shoot down two enemy aircraft during the fight, guarding the other ships in her group.

Wooden Planes Proved Deadlier Than Metal

Destroyer USS Callaghan took a kamikaze hit at 12:41 AM on July 29, 1945, from an old wooden biplane.

The fabric-covered plane made it through the first round of gunfire because proximity fuses couldn’t detect its wooden body. The plane smashed into Callaghan’s right side and its bomb tore through the engine room.

Fires set off ammunition, keeping rescue ships away. Forty-seven sailors died or went missing while 73 got hurt before Callaghan sank at 2:35 AM.

They Pulled 125 Men From the Sea

Cassin Young’s crew saved 125 survivors from the water after Callaghan went down. Other destroyers also grabbed sailors from the ocean during the all-night rescue.

Cassin Young took the survivors to Hagushi anchorage on Okinawa’s west coast. The crew moved the rescued men to another ship for medical care.

The destroyer then sailed to Buckner Bay on Okinawa’s east side to load more ammo and fuel for more missions.

Lightning Struck Twice in the Darkness

At 2:50 AM on July 30, 1945, Cassin Young sat on picket station 10 miles off Okinawa’s southwest shore. Another old biplane crashed into her right side near the forward smokestack.

The blast punctured boilers and steam pipes, leaving the ship stuck in the water. Superheated steam flooded the forward fireroom, trapping sailors inside.

One crewman remembered hearing "this awful bump" before realizing a plane had hit right behind the diesel engine room.

Twenty Minutes to Save a Warship

The crew restored power to one engine within 20 minutes despite catastrophic damage to the ship’s systems. Damage control teams fought fires and stopped flooding while getting the crippled destroyer moving again.

Twenty-two men lost their lives, one went missing, and 45 suffered wounds in the sudden attack. Cassin Young made it to Kerama Retto for emergency repairs with her remaining engine.

The Navy awarded the destroyer the Navy Unit Commendation for her determined service during the brutal Okinawa radar picket duty.

Visiting Freedom Trail WWII Memorial Sites, Massachusetts

You can visit USS Cassin Young at Pier 1, Charlestown Navy Yard on 114 16th Street in Boston. The main deck is free year-round where you can walk around and see the 5-inch guns and anti-aircraft batteries.

Ranger-guided below-deck tours run May 24-October 13 on Wednesday-Sunday at 11am, 2pm, and 3pm. Free tickets are given out 30 minutes before each tour, first-come first-served with 12-person limits.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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