On This Day in History: May 11

USS Bunker Hill hit by Kamikazes

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Late in 1944, World War II wasn’t going so well for the Japanese, so they decided to create a suicide squad by turning pilots into guided missiles, crashing their bomb-laden aircraft into American ships. On May 11, 1945, the USS Bunker Hill aircraft carrier was hit by not one, but two such kamikaze attacks. And the fucker refused to sink. 

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: May 11, 1945--

Tactically speaking, the use of kamikaze pilots was reasonably effective in terms of cost-benefit ratio, with roughly 3,800 Japanese suicide pilots taking the lives of 7,000 Americans over the course of the program. The best Japanese pilots were all dead, their war manufacturing lagging, their planes not keeping up with American innovations. And it’s easier for an inexperienced pilot to bomb a ship when he’s not concerned over such problematic things as pulling up before crashing into the deck. So, brave young Japanese lad, death before dishonor! Strap your barely trained ass into this explode-o-plane and fly it into the biggest ship you can find. 

I hope the guys got laid first. 

Anyway, Okinawa was a brutal battle on land and sea, because it was the last step before the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands. Bunker Hill was leading a task group of ships supporting the invasion of Okinawa when, within 30 second of each other, two Japanese Zero aircraft dropped their 550-pound bombs just before crashing into the ship. 

For the rest of that day, Bunker Hill was not a fun place to be. Because it was on fire. In all, 393 airmen and sailors were killed, 41 went missing and were never found, and 264 were wounded. But she wouldn’t go down. 

Many of her aircraft were aloft at the time, and were diverted to other carriers for landing. Bunker Hill left the fight and steamed for Pearl Harbor then onto what is now called Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington State for repairs. She was still undergoing those repairs when the war ended the following August, but a month later she set sail to aid in transporting American soldiers back home from the Pacific theater of the war. 

Bunker Hill was decommissioned into the reserve in 1947, then reclassified three times in the 1950s, finally being stricken as a naval vessel in 1966, then sold for scrap in 1973. Her motto was “Never Surrender, Never Sink.” 

Thank you, Shannon, for the suggestion of today’s post. 

Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.

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