A team of undersea explorers has discovered wreckage from the U.S. Navy’s destroyer that was sunk during World War II by a kamikaze attack.
In a recent news release, the Naval History and Heritage Command announced that the USS Mannert L. Abele had been identified. It was “surrounded by hostile aircraft” when the USS Mannert L. Abele operated off the coast of Okinawa, a Japanese island, on April 12, 45.
The command reported that after the Sumner class destroyer damaged several enemy aircraft and engaged them, a plane crashed next to it, penetrating the side. A minute later, it was “at waterline” by a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka.
The Ohka, also known as the “Cherry Blossom,” was a human-guided rocket bomb. “The explosion caused the bow and stern of the ship to buckle quickly,” said the release. It added that the Ohka became the first U.S. Warship to be sunk by this weapon.
Inshore Fire Support Ships, along with four fighters jets, fought off further enemy attacks. They also began to rescue the survivors of the Abele. But 84 sailors perished at sea.
The discovery of the ship “allows closure to those who lost their loved ones, and gives us another opportunity to honor and remember them,” said Command Director Samuel J. Cox a retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral.
Seen from a U.S. carrier, a Japanese suicide bomber crashes into the sea off the coast of Okinawa, Japan, in June 1945.
AP
The Lost 52 Project group, which looks for Navy warships and submarines that were sunk in World War II, found the ship in December.
In a statement posted on its website, The Lost 52 Project stated that the ship provided support for Operation Iceberg – the codename of the Battle of Okinawa.
The report added that the death on the same date of President Franklin D. Roosevelt “overshadowed” the sinking. Five weeks later the United States dropped atomic weapons on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Tim Taylor, leader of the Lost 52 Project said that the discovery had been “very emotional” for him, because his father was “close” to the same fate when his USS Telfair was struck by a kamikaze.
The command announced that it had designated the Abele as a “U.S. The Department of the Navy is responsible for the protection of sunken military vessels under U.S.
The search for lost U.S. Navy ships from World War II continues. The command located the submarine USS Albacore near the coasts of Hokkaido, in February.
