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A US Navy destroyer sunk in 1945 by kamikaze planes during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II has been discovered by a group of civilian underwater explorers deep in the Pacific Ocean, the group’s leader said Wednesday.
The USS Mannert L. Abele was the first battleship to be hit by a new Japanese weapon called the Ohka – meaning a flying bomb that could reach speeds of 600 miles per hour.
A group called the Lost 52 Project, which searches for Navy submarines and warships sunk during World War II, found the ship in December.
The US Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, which is responsible for tracking the service’s 3,000 ships and submarines lost at sea in times of peace and war, confirmed the discovery in April.
“The Battle of Okinawa was the biggest battle of the Pacific campaign,” said Tim Taylor, who leads the Lost 52 Project. “Fifty thousand casualties on the US side alone, a monumental discovery.”
“And that’s a very deep connection for me,” she added. “My father’s ship was hit by a kamikaze just 10 days before the Abele was sunk in the same area – maybe 90 miles to the south.”
This small battleship was one of many that circled Okinawa during the campaign to take the island by force during World War II. It uses radar to spot enemy aircraft coming from mainland Japan and relays the information to aircraft carriers, who can then launch fighters to intercept them.
Abele, pronounced ABLE-ee, fought off numerous attacks by Japanese kamikaze pilots, who flew suicide missions at the end of World War II. But succumbed after two planes collided on the starboard side and exploded, sending them to the bottom. The exact location is – until now – unknown.
In all, 84 sailors from Abele were killed by twin explosions, sinking ships or Japanese pilots who strafed and bombed survivors in the water afterwards.
Sam Cox, a retired Navy admiral who heads the Navy’s historical command, said identifying the ship was relatively easy because of the evidence provided by the Lost 52 team.
The Navy considers Abele, and others like those sunk in combat, to be graves and will leave the ship undisturbed.
About a dozen Navy destroyers like the Abele were sunk during the Okinawa campaign along with other ships, killing about 5,000 sailors, Admiral Cox said.
The Lost 52 Project, which takes its name from the number of US Navy submarines lost in World War II, has discovered several wrecks, including the USS Grayback – a submarine that sank in combat off Okinawa the year before Abele. Mr Taylor has used autonomous underwater vehicles to locate and survey wrecks.
Family members of former crew members welcomed Abele’s discovery.
“I think my dad was very interested and wanted to see all the details,” said Scott Andersen, whose father, Roy, is a junior official at Abele. “But I’m not sure what kind of trauma it could have caused.”
In 2007, Roy Andersen wrote a book about the ship’s war service entitled “Three Minutes Off Okinawa.” He died in 2014 at the age of 94, his son said.
“He once told me that he had rarely slept since the ship sank,” Mr. Andersen said.
The name of the ship, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L. Abele, commanding the USS Grunion, a submarine lost at sea. He received the Navy Cross posthumously for sinking three Japanese ships in one day during the war. The Navy commissioned a ship in his honor on July 4, 1944.
According to Abele’s Navy history, on April 12, 1945, the ship was “suddenly attacked by enemy aircraft” while on patrol 75 miles off the north coast of Okinawa. At 13:38, the ship’s gun crew attacked one of the Japanese dive bombers, setting it on fire and causing the ship to crash into the sea. About an hour later, three Japanese Zero fighter planes approached. Abele fired one, but the other hit the starboard side of the ship and exploded, killing nine sailors.
A minute later, Abele was hit again, but this time by a rocket plane called Ohka, Japanese for “cherry blossom”. Pilot Ohka rammed the ship, and the more than 2,600 pounds of explosives he was carrying detonated, breaking Abele in two and sinking him in 4,500 feet of water.
The Abele and other Navy warships around Okinawa helped repel kamikaze attacks from troop transports and supply ships supporting the war ashore, Admiral Cox said.
“The ship can’t run,” said Admiral Cox. “He must stay and fight.”
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