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This video is sponsored by World of Warships.

It's the dawn of the 7th of April, 1945, off the south coast of Japan.

Ten shadows stretch across the sea's surface in the early morning sunshine, a

formation breaking through the waves onwards to their fate.

In the center is a giant, a 72,000 ton behemoth.

It's a battleship bigger than anything that's come before.

or since.

Armed with nine 18-inch cannons firing 3,000-pound shells, 16 inches of

armor across the waterline, and secondary weapons bigger than the main

armament of the destroyers around her, she's the pride of the Japanese Imperial

Navy, the symbol of Japanese unwavering resolve, the Yamato.

On board, Admiral Ito Seiichi looks on from his command seat.

Their mission is simple and brutal.

Operation Ten-Go involves the entire fleet charging the American ships,

providing artillery support to the invasion of Okinawa.

They are to throw themselves straight through the enemy, beach all ten ships

ashore, and fight to the last.

Ito despises the plan.

It's wasteful at a time when the nation can't spare an ounce of metal. But the

emperor has spoken, and a loyal Japanese officer.

he is prepared to passionately fulfill orders to the end, just like all the

brave men around him.

But that doesn't make the reality that he won't return to his family any less

painful.

Things are going smoothly when an officer calls to him, relaying that an

American flying boat has been spotted shadowing them.

Ito orders to open fire, and a handful of anti-aircraft guns come to life. But

the plane hides behind clouds before any of the gunners can judge distance.

and escapes unscathed.

The guns fall silent and the bad news reaches him. He doesn't react and the

fleet continues onwards.

The morning passes and the day carries on when the bridge receives more bad

news. A Japanese-held island communicates that over 250 American

warplanes are headed straight for the ships.

Tension looms over the bridge as eyes fall over Admiral Ito.

He takes a deep breath.

It's exactly what he expected, and exactly what they aren't prepared for.

He cedes strategic command to Captain Kosaku Aruga and retreats to his seat.

Meanwhile, sailor Kazuhiro Fukumoto is passing time on the deck with some

friends. He's young and unafraid. After all, what is there to fear with the

power of the mighty Yamato on your side?

Then the alarms blare.

The friends scatter and immediately run to their battle stations.

Kazuhiro runs across the deck evading other rushing sailors as he rushes for

his post on the opposite side of the ship.

Anti-air weapons rise towards the sky, locked and loaded.

The gunners keep a watchful eye, scanning the never-ending blanket of

clouds. Then everything falls silent.

There's a hum of distant engine noises in the sky, spiking the nerves of

everyone on deck.

Gunners grip their controls, aware they're staring at the angels of death,

determined to fight to the bitter end.

The noises get louder and louder.

In a flash, a wave of warplanes pierce through the clouds, diving straight

towards the mighty ship.

The cacophony of anti-aircraft weapons roars, and streaks of shining tracers

fire into the sky.

It's a swarm of warplanes.

Dozens after dozens fall upon the mighty battleship, braving the wall of Japanese

lead. The gunners fire non-stop towards their targets, giving it their all, but

they do little.

The fighters respond in kind.

A hailstorm of .50 caliber bullets tears through the deck, ripping through metal

and people alike.

Shrapnel and ricochets fly in every which way as the enemy zooms over their

heads. Anti-aircraft guns spin in all directions, gunners tracking their own

targets without orders.

Muzzle flashes and fumes take hold of the lower superstructure as everything

is fired into the sky.

Kazuhiro can hear the chaos unfolding behind him as he hurries into the lower

deck. He reaches the damage control station and barges into the room.

Inside, he finds his superior and a few fellow sailors sitting patiently,

waiting to be summoned.

Nervously, he joins them in silence, listening to the gunfire and explosions

that are happening overhead.

Back outside, the sky is alight with tracers. The anti-aircraft guns are

struggling. Planes come down from the clouds, strafe, and disappear back into

the sky just as fast as they appeared, leaving them little time to react and

take a good shot.

There's just too many.

Then, a massive explosion sends shockwaves across the deck.

The main batteries of the Yamato fire into the sky.

Special beehive shells explode in the air creating a giant cloud of burning

phosphorus shards.

The big weapons though are completely incapable of tracking enemy aircraft in

such low flight.

The strafing runs do not falter. Bullets and bombs keep raining down mercilessly.

Exposed anti-air gunners suffer greatly.

They fall in droves with every attack.

Brave souls dash across the exposed deck to replace their fallen brothers, only

to suffer the same fate.

The attack ends as suddenly as it begun, the planes simply disappearing through

the clouds and not coming back.

In their wake, they leave utter devastation. The deck is covered in men,

bullet holes, shrapnel and blood, and a fire burns in the superstructure.

Despite the human suffering, The ship itself suffers little more than

superficial damage, her seaworthiness is unaffected, and Kazuhiro's team remains

in standby.

Back at the bridge, Admiral Ito remains quiet amidst the chaos.

Orders and status updates fill the air as the captain attempts to regroup and

prepare for more attacks.

Ito doesn't intervene, he knows the end result is inevitable.

The ship continues sailing towards Okinawa for an hour, until the dreaded

rumble of engines once again sounds through the clouds.

It all becomes a blur as the battle resumes with the same brutality as

before.

Fighters and bombers fall upon the ship, explosions rock the deck, and one by

one, the anti-air weapons fall silent.

No more brave men are present to replace the fallen gunners.

In the lower deck, Kazuhiro's team is ordered further into the ship.

He goes down with five more people to the second lowest deck.

The ship rumbles and creeps around him, each explosion sending shockwaves

through the hull.

His commanding officer orders two of the group to go further down into the lowest

deck to investigate for damage.

Simultaneously, torpedo bombers skim the waves and release their deadly payloads.

The captain orders evasive maneuvers.

but they're of no use.

Kazuhiro watches as two fellow sailors adventure into the lower decks and close

the hatch behind them.

Mere seconds later, a massive bang reverberates through the ship.

The lights go out, and water gushes up the hatch, quickly flooding the hallway.

He stumbles in the pitch dark, searching desperately for the way back up, as the

water level reaches his chest and his feet leave the floor.

Then, Miraculously, something shines weakly above them.

The hatch to the upper floor opens slightly from the air pressure, letting

a sliver of light through.

The men swim towards it and push it open.

They climb up moments before their pocket of air disappears.

They close the hatch behind them, but they watch, horrified, as seawater

shoots up through the seals.

Desperate to stop further flooding and believing the hatch was going to burst,

they search for a way to reinforce it.

The Yamato is mortally wounded.

She's taking in water, listing, and there are no longer enough surviving

crew members to rescue her.

A new alarm joins the symphony of gunshots and explosions.

The Ford magazine is at a critical temperature.

Captain Aruga orders its flooding to prevent catastrophic detonation, but

he's informed the pumps are inoperable.

He stares out into the distance, exhausted and defeated.

It's all over.

He orders, abandon ship.

Admiral Ito stands up from his seat.

Cancel the operation.

Return to port after rescuing the men, he orders.

It's the only thing he's said since the start of the battle.

A signal man runs out of the bridge to inform the rest of the ships of their

new orders.

The admiral then thanks the crew on the bridge and solemnly leaves for his

cabin.

Captain Aruga then dismisses the remaining crew and orders them to

abandon ship as well.

Back under the deck, Kazuhiro and his crew jam a metal beam between the hatch

and the roof, a desperate and futile attempt to slow the flooding.

His commanding officer can see it's all over and yells at the group, Everyone

up! The sailors abandon their work and rush to the upper deck as the ship lifts

further and further underneath them.

They emerge to a chaotic scene.

The guns have stopped firing, men are jumping overboard, and the wounded are

being tended on the ground.

All the while, the ship lists further and further to port.

His officer orders them to throw everything that floats overboard.

Logs, mats, hammocks, whatever.

The port railing sinks in the waves, and the waterline starts taking over the

deck. A starboard rises up further and further.

Standing up becomes a struggle.

He almost slips down the smooth deck into the ocean.

It's then that Kazuhiro and his group decide it's time to abandon ship.

He jumps off the stern and into the murky water below.

He tries to swim up, but he can't. The propellers still spin, and he is sucked

into the whirlpools.

The wrecked and burning battleship slowly turns over as the men jump

overboard. Guns fall into the waves below when the Ford magazine detonates.

The resulting mushroom cloud is seen from mainland Japan.

Kazuhiro emerges from the sea some distance away. He's disoriented.

Several black columns of smoke rise all around him. A film of oil floats over

the water.

and he can see many people floating in the distance.

Close by, he spots a group of survivors on a raft and joins them.

Two and a half hours later, a Japanese destroyer approaches the raft and picks

the men up from the water.

Only 287 men of the more than 3,300 would be rescued.

Kazuhiro was one of the lucky few.

He survived the war and went back to his family.

He was only 18.

Admiral Ito and Captain Aruga went down with the ship.

Operation Tengo was a total catastrophe.

Of Yamato's escorts, five of the nine sunk alongside her, and a sixth would be

sunk later due to her damage.

It would be the last major naval operation of Japan before the end of the

war.

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