Remembering Wally: The NAGATO

Battleship Nagato below--US Navy Avenger Above

The ship Wally's Avenger aircraft attacked in the Battle off Samar was likely the NAGATO. Wally's Distinguished Flying Cross Citation notes that " He flew 340 miles to make a successful bombing attack on a battleship of the NAGATO Class in a strong formation of the Japanese Fleet in the Second Battle of the Philippines." There were only two NAGATO class ships ever built by the Japanese, the NAGATO and the MUTSU. The NAGATO was the only one of the two ships that was present in the Second Battle of the Phillippines. Lieutenant Scobell's (the Pilot of Wally's Avenger) Silver Star Citation notes that "Fearlessly plunging through a sheet of concentrated and withering enemy anti-aircraft fire, Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Scobell launched a bitter attack on a formidable battleship in the center of the formation and, despite the target's vigorous evasive maneuvers, succeeded in making a difficult stem-to-stern dive bombing run to score two probable damaging hits on the important vessel. NAGATO ship logs for October 25th, 1944, recorded the following remarks: "16:56 - Attacked by a group of dive-bombers. While making a sharp evasive maneuver, four quarterdeck AA gunners are washed overboard. Destroyer AKISHIMO is detached to pick them up but fails to locate any survivors." Lieutenant Scobell's Forced Landing report indicates that they were "Over target 1610 to 1620 25 miles off NE coast Samar. Attacked formation of enemy war ships at 1620 " . The Hancock torpedo squadron arrived over the battle site flying at an altitude of 14,000 feet according to records so given the time required to set-up and carry out the attack that also roughly corroborates with the Nagatos own records and gives additional support to identifying the NAGATO as the ship attacked by Wally's aircraft. The NAGATO had been the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yammamoto during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The NAGATO was the very ship, from which he heard the final code signal, "Tora! Tora! Tora!", informing him that the attack he engineered on Pearl Harbor was underway. My wifes Uncle Jay Young had been sent to the bottom of the ocean in the USS Arizona at Pear Harbor by Yammamotos fleet but now karmic justice had arrived with my Uncle Wally and crew as part of that force to help apply it. Wallys Distinguished Flying Cross Citation notes that " In spite of intense enemy anti-aircraft fire, he performed his assignment in an outstanding manner, strafed the enemy battleship on the pull-out from the bombing dive and by the cool and diligent performance of his duties materially assisted in the infliction of damage on the enemy fleet by the attack." And the NAGATO was definitely damaged that day by multiple US forces because it decided to sail back to Japan for repairs. The huge battleship NAGATO was never again sent out on a mission against America. The Imperial Japanese Navy was running out of fuel by this time and decided not to fully repair her. NAGATO was converted into a floating anti-aircraft platform and assigned to coastal defense duties. After the war, the ship was used as a target for U.S. nuclear bombing tests during Operation Crossroads in mid-1946. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second test. Many American lives were ultimately saved because the NAGATO had been put out of offensive action.
And what was it like to "fearlessly plunge through a sheet of concentrated and withering enemy anti-aircraft fire" to attack a huge battleship ship like NAGATO? Helldiver gunner Joe Anderlik of carrier Franklin gives us some insight in his record of attacking the Japanese battleship MUSHASHI the previous day. He wrote, "I couldn't believe how enormous they were!", and gunner Russ Dustan also of Franklin added "I had never seen anything as big in my entire life. It was a magnificent sight"... Musashi's anti-aircraft weapons helped set up an intense umbrella of flak above the fleet, while her 18-in guns fired into the water to make huge geysers aimed at knocking down American torpedo bombers. "Running into one of these geysers would be like running into a mountain", recalled TBF Avenger pilot Jack Lawton, "I felt the muzzle blast each time they fired. I could swear the wings were ready to fold every time these huge shockwaves hit us."The MUSHASHI had a 16 inch thick armour belt at the water line and had been struck by a total of 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs before she sank on October 24, 1944 in the Battle of Leyete Gulf (all part of the same general battle that Wally participated in). The NAGATO had 12 inch thick armour at the waterline so that gives you some idea of the tremendous firepower and damage that would be required to sink such a ship.