JAPANESE NAVAL LOSSES

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24537, 10 April 1945, Page 5

JAPANESE NAVAL LOSSES

12 Battleships May Remain U.S. ESTIMATE OF SINKINGS (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Rec. 11.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON. April 9. The Washington correspondent of the United Press says naval experts estimate that the loss of the Yamato has left Japan with 12 battleships, two of which are obsolete. The best estimates indicate that Japan may have 19 battleships and 20 aircraft-carriers. Japanese losses announced at Washington include seven battleships, 14 aircraft-carriers, 78 cruisers, and 238 destrovers. , . ... ... The Japanese entered the war with a much larger fleet than the American experts believed, the correspondent says. In addition, the enemy’s wartime building capacity was under-esti-mated. It is known Japan still has enough cruisers to serve with "not so powerful a task force.” Japan apparently concentrated on building destroyers in the last three years, and is believed to have about 40 left. She has. lost only about 20 including midgets, and 10Q are believed to be still serving. • .... “About 400 aeroplanes from ViceAdmiral Marc Mitscher’s carriers wiped out the Japanese warships unmolested by enemy fighters,’’ says the Associated Press correspondent at Guam. What aeroplanes the Japanese navy had were used stupidly.

Hit and Bun Attack “All available aircraft were apparently sent out the previous day in an effort to ram a hole into Vice-Admiral Mitscher’s air screen so the Yamato task force could steam westward to the. East China Sea for a dash southwards and a hit-and-run attack against the invasion forces on Okinawa. It seemed curious that the Japanese task force did not Include a carrier. One probable explanation is that the enemy navy could hot muster enough pilots to man .carriers ip addition to, the flights sent against Okinawa and ViceAdmiral Mitscher’s carriers the day

before the Yamato battle. t'The sinking of the Yamato force does not mean that the Japanese fleet has been wiped out. The enemy is known to have some damaged battleships and carriers- at Inland Sea shipyards in various stages of repair.’f The Tokyo radio, which claimed that the battle round Okinawa had become a'Japanese offensive, quoted Imperial Headquarters as admitting the loss of one battleship, one cruiser, and three destroyers in the Riukius since the night of April 5. The radio claimed that the Americans in the satne period had lost 30 warships and transports. "If this is, the best they can do, we had better go straight on to /Japan; apparently we have more ships than’ they have aeroplanes.’’ .This was ViceAdmiral Kelly Turner’S comment on

the Japanese attack on the Allied Fleet units in the Okinawa area, reports the correspondent of the ’Associated .Press aboard Vice-Admiral TUmer’s flagship. Members of Vice-Admiral Turner’s staff said it was .the strongest landbased attack the Japanese had so far made, but, considering the light Allied ship and aeroplane .losses, it was a terrific beating for them. . > Concentration on Destroyers The correspondent, says;' “The battle was a thrilling: show. Japanese aeroplanes zoomed out of an overcast sky. with boiflbs and torpedoes, into such terrific cones of flak that none had a chance of completing the run over the close-packed American Fleet. The Japanese concentrated < their attacks against the destroyers, but several aeroplanes crashed near Vice-Admiral

Turner’s ship, - "One destroyer, which was attacked by 10 aeroplanes* shot down two before taking a hit. Another destroyer which came to the rescue was bit thrice in six attacks. Two. more destroyers rushed up, drove - off the attacking aeroplanes, and picked up the survivors as the, first destroyer damage control crews managed to save artother.. damaged .destroyer, but -she ,was burhjihg so'badly? forced to sihk her with gupfire. Another destroyer, with 3p feet of. its stern blown away, was similarly sunk.” l . The pilots of the American planes who carried out ,the attack on the Japanese battleship state that they circled over the enemy fleet three times before the order to attack was given. The Japanese held their Are until the Americans dived to the attack, which was concentrated on the battleship and cruisers. The Japanese then threw ;up everything they had.

When the first torpedo struck ihe battleship, there was an eruption like a volcano. Clouds of smoke followed. “The weather was bad when our aeroplanes sightedthe Japanese ships, and the targets were ' near the maximum striking distance away, but in a; few minutes our aeroplanes began rising from the carriers," ; says Ahe. UnitedPress-' correspondent aboard Vice-Ad-miral Mitscher’s flagship. “Eight of our torpedoes ripped into the Yamato, while 10001b bombs crashed on the doomed ship’s deck. There is reason to believe every ship in the Yamato formation was sunk or damaged. RESISTANCE ON OKINAWA Full-scale battle JAPANESE USING HEAVY ARTILLERY

(Rec. 10.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 8. “The battle for southern Okinawa, has developed into a full-scale engagement,” reports the Associated Press correspondent. “American carrier aeroplanes, ships’ heavy guns, and heavy artillery are the ground forces: American aircraft are using rockets and are strafing as well as bombing enemy strongpoints on the Motobu peninsula.” . . “The United States 24th Army Corps yesterday, drove mto i heavily defended terrain in the southern sector of Okinawa and captured the villages of Uchitomari and Kamku.” says Admiral Nimitz’s communique. The enemy resisted stubbornly from numerous pillboxes and blockhouses. The 24th Corps to-day made small gams. The enemy used heavy artillery an day and all night. ' . “In the northern sector the marines to-day moved 3000 to 4000 yards to the west along the Motobu peninsula. American aircraft are using captured airfields. Four enemy aircraft appeared in the Okinawa area yesterday. All were' shot down. Nine more were destroyed to-day. .Thirty thousand civilians are now. under the care of the Military Government. “Carrier aircraft to-day attacked shipping and installations in the Amami group. A small freighter was set on fire and a lugger destroyed.

JAPANESE DEFEATS IN BURMA ENEMY SAID TO BE SHORT OF GUN AMMUNITION (Rec. 5.5 p.m) u LONDON. April 8 “A shortage of shells seems to be worrying the Japanese who are reeling under a succession of blows from many directions in the Meiktila area,’says a Burma correspondent of the British Official Wireless. “Their field artillery now rarely troubles our troop concentrations and the Japanese are conserving what guns and ammunition they have left to meet our tank attacks. “So desperate is the enemy’s need for shells that he has sent large columns of precious motor transport right into the lion’s jaws north-east of Meiktila, apparently in an effort to recover shells from a large ammunition dump he is believed to have somewhere east of the Mandalay-Meiktila line. Many of these trucks have been ambushed and shot up and few stand a chance of getting away to the south again. “Numbers of Japanese are being killed in powerful infantry and armoured sweeps from Meiktila. Sat-' urday’s total was almost 200.’’