KAMIKAZE: HMS Indefatigable, April 1, 1945 

My Father who just passed, 1925-2020, served as an anti aircraft gunner on the Indefatigable which was part of the Royal Navy, which served with and saw action with the US navy in the South Pacific. He saw action at SAIPAN and OKINOWA. He was 19 years old at the time.

My father was aboard at the time and served in the sick bay - he recalled losing his superior in the attack. I had no idea how precarious it would have been for him as he played it down when telling us children. Thankyou for compiling this valuable archive. Immediately after the fall of Japan, the ship was tasked with repatriating allied POW’s from Japanese camps in Burma, with many inmates not making the journey to Australia. My father was Petty Officer E.F.Owen.

This is a very special video to me, my late father was a Marine on the Indefatigable when this happened and told me many times about the attack and the strength of the British decks compared to the Americans. I just wish he was still around to see this.

My Brother was in the engine room when the plane hit. I was disappointed that the Nimitz museum does not mention the British and Allies are not mentioned

Still very rarely hear any recognition or respect from American historians concerning task force 57, my dad echoed the final words of this documentary. He served in Victorious, 1834 Corsair sqd. God bless all those old lads, so young and so far from home. Please remember them when youths go burning the flags of the cenotaph.

My grandfather served on American carriers in the Pacific, and expressed, in almost the same words as Dickie Sweet does here, how unnerving it was to face an enemy who would accept his own certain death in exchange for the chance of killing you. Thanks for this fascinating video recalling an aspect of the war that is all too often forgotten.

My grandfather was in Taskforce 57 and faced kamekazi planes. I remember asking him when I was little, if he was scared with ships being hit and he said in his Scot accent - We were too busy, to think about being scared bc we were kept busy. My Grandad was a Chief Petty Officer Chief Engineer and he was one of the lucky ones to get home, he died in 1972 and miss him still He had two brothers also in the Royal Navy but he lost one on the Repulse, off Singapore when they were sent with no air cover and the Prince of Wales was sunk also. Brave lads all !!

My father was a radio officer who departed the Indefatigable in Australia before this attack. Thanks for posting.

April 1, 1945 will always be a bittersweet day in my family. It was Easter Sunday, and it was on this day that my beloved aunt married her beloved fiance. A few weeks later, a letter arrived at my grandparents' home from the Department of the Army. It was a letter informing them that their son (my uncle) had been killed in action in World War 2 Germany,... on the same day (April 1, 1945).

My Dad was on board as a 20 year old when this happened. I have a photo of the kamikaze diving. This is amazing to see. Thank you for posting.

The Brits stood out for their comaradery and bravery for battling kamikazes at that point of the Pacific campaign

I was on board the H.M.S INDEFATIGABLE THE DAY IT WAS HIT BY KAMIKAZE PLANES AT 7,AM ON APRIL 1ST 1945 SOME OF MY FRIENDS WAS KILLED THAT DAYWE WAS ATTACKING OKINAWA AND SAKASHIMAGUNTO ISLAND SUPPORTING THE AMERICAN INVASION OF THEM WHICH THEY LANDED HEAVY FORCES .

👍This is a great series, thanks, watched so much of the American War effort never knew of the British carrier forces. I follow a British RU-vid channel who does naval history, i have never seen this topic. A Canadian doctor on-board, so much history not that long ago being lost to history. God bless them all,blessings 🙏❤, respect, honour them all from🇨🇦

i joined H.M.S. INDEFATIGABLE in 1943 at John Browns shipyard in Glasgow and it was my first ship i had done my training an sent down the the NAVAL BASE AT LEE-ON SOLENT called H.M,S Daedlus who then looked at my papers and said .you must go up to Scotland and ten a ship there in the docks called H.M.S.INDEFATIGABLE.And making that trip back all that way i was tired as i had all my kit with me and had to lug that long with me ,and changing trains along the way ,and what an exciting time i had from that day onwards .

The armored decks made a BIG difference in the construction of the Midway Class. We FINALLY learned!

i must be one of a few that are alive today that served in the H.M.S INDEFATIGABLE in the Home fleet and PACIFIC FLEET and came back home in 1946 still serving on board her ,if there are any more ratings alive please get in touch with me it would be interesting to chat after all these years i am 98 years old .

A couple of the speakers in this video got it wrong about the USS Franklin being hit by a Kamikaze. In fact, Franklin was hit by two bombs. However, the casualty figure mentioned was accurate: Franklin lost more than eight hundred of its crew in that attack.

My Taid (Grandfather) who died in 2015 was a Signal Man on the HMS Indefatigable, and he told us about this happening....

My father served on indefatigable as well as Hms Vengeance and Illustrious during his time on active service with Fleet air arm during WW2 sadly now no longer with us. these young men (my father was 17 ) were unsung heros

My Dad was a Royal Marine who served on HMS Victorious at the same time as this action and he told me about the Kamikaze hit on the stern.

I recommend two books: “The British Pacific Fleet” by David Hobbs and “The Forgotten Fleet” by John Winton

Many thanks for putting this together with the veterans accounts :)

My late Dad joined the Indefatigable, probably just after this attack,he was an air mechanic, I can remember hil telling me he once had to sew up the bullet holes on the Fairey Swordfish when it came back from a raid, At the end of the war the lend lease American Wildcats were tipped off the deck into the sea !

We was the first BRITISH AIRCRAFT CARIER to be hit by kamikaze planes in the PACIFIC FLEET and we survived simply because of the Armoured DECKS and the determination of the CREW AND COURAGE which showed in there performemce in dealing with it and fighting back .

My granda served on this ship and told me about this when I was wee.Totally remember him talking about the kamikaze attacks.

My late father, Lt. DWP Fryer (10xii21~05vi10) was one of the 3 people taking the plot, watching the EA all heading for the middle of the screen. Themselves. He told us that his knees were knocking together, and as the blip on the screen (PPI?) got to the middle, there wasn’t a “Bang”, but a huge “WUMPH…!” He lost a very good friend, fellow officer, slightly senior, who was a Jew, called ‘Tag’, in the attack. He also recounted that the Americans were astonished, then very respectful when they saw how quickly we swept up and pushed the wreckage overboard, and were back on station in 20 minutes or so. He would have liked this vlog(?). Thank you very much.

We operated in the NORTH SEA bombing U-Boat pens bases etc and shipping even attacks on the German Battleship TIRPITDZ that was our main tasks and we landed on bases in the United Kingdom to do training while the ship was put into dock for improvements for overseas service which we was sent out to do later on which we never knew until more operations we was sent on to do later on ..

Another excellent program. It should be noted that all of the post war American carriers were built with armored flight decks...

This is simply awesome! Thank you so much for putting this together.

Fascinating insight to an oft forgotten part of the war

Great video. I didn't realize that the British had carriers in the Pacific theater until I saw your videos. Thanks for schooling me.

Britain doing its best in the Pacific with respect earned yesterday and today thanks to all the service men and wo men!🙊🙉🙈🇺🇸🇳🇿🇬🇧🙋🙋🙋🙋🙋🌞🌞🌞🌞

My Dad said they came out of the line. Hightailed it down to Sydney harbour Australia . Tied up at circular key where there was a ramp. Then every concrete truck in Sydney drove on the deck and they filled the hole with concrete. Smoothed it over then headed back to sea and back to the war. Astounding

We took the Blows and fought back and after the KAMIKAZE we cleaned up and go back for more into Battle again that is us Brits again and we fought them and won.

Belive the US observer on one of the UJK carriers reorted that when a Kami exloded on the decks theat it was a case of "Sweepers mann yopur brooms....clear the deck"🤣

My Dad was forward, starboard FDC on Enterprise at Okinawa when she took the kamikaze hit on the forward elevator, that took him and the Enterprise out of the war.

My grandfather took part in one of the first bombing runs over Japan. God bless em they had alot of guts. Took many years for him to readjust to the states. They went through so much over there in the Pacific.

The USN Essex Class carried 90 aircraft, and the FAA Implacable Class carried 54 aircraft. So there WAS a reason why the Americans went the path they did.

awesome footage

What's the deal with the horizontal lines ?? The voices are only on the right channel with a huge amount digital audio compression artefacting. There certainly wasn't digital audio compression when these vets were recorded.

I was on the Flight deck as it very busy flying off planes and the KAMIKAZE planes was flying overhead and then the ACTION STAION SIIGNAL was blasting away so i run to my Action post down below into the HANGERS FIRE POST and my team done the same we then started up the fire machines to put out the flames which was running down the Bulk heads above our heads . .

incredible images of this historic fact

Brilliant! Keep it coming mate 🙂👍🏼 subbed

Thank you very much!

The design of the American Aircraft Carrier was influenced far more by the distance they were operating from the homeland and replenishment and support from port repair facilities. The elevated hanger height was a necessity for suspending replacement aircraft components and whole aircraft. The open hangers were not for engine warm up but for engine testing after replacement or tuneup/repair. The issue of armor in an elevated main flight deck was of destabilizing the carrier in the massive heavy seas of the Pacific tropical storms and Typhoons. The Japanese came to the same conclusion. Typhoon Cobra produced 140 MPH winds and 140 foot seas. The North sea and the Mediterranean are mill ponds in comparison. See, The Fourth Fleet incident The Fourth Fleet incident The Fourth Fleet was temporarily resurrected during a war game exercise executed in 1935, playing the role of the opposition force under the command of Hajime Matsushita. While participating in field maneuvers, the Fourth Fleet became caught in extremely foul weather. The weather continued to deteriorate and by 26 September had reached typhoon status. Two of the newer, large Special Type destroyers, the Hatsuyuki and the Yugiri, had their bows torn away by the heavy seas. A number of recently built heavy cruisers also suffered significant structural damage. The Myoko, the Mogami and the submarine tender Taigei developed serious cracks in their hulls, and the light aircraft-carriers Hōshō and Ryujo suffered damage to their flight decks and superstructure, with the Ryujo also having her hangar section flooded. The minelayer Itsukushima suffered damage that required several months for extensive repairs, necessitating a near complete rebuild. Nearly all the fleet's destroyers suffered damage to their superstructures, and fifty-four crewmen were lost, swept overboard or killed outright.[1] The Japanese Admiralty held a hearing on the damage suffered by Fourth Fleet in the storm, resulting in recommendations for changes on Japanese warship design and construction. A number of new designs that used heavier guns and taller superstructures were found to be top heavy, and efforts were made to stabilize these ships by reducing weight above the waterline. In addition, cracks in the hulls of the new cruisers indicated the recently adopted practice of electric welding hull seams was suspect, and the practice was canceled on all new Japanese warship construction. The event was kept a secret from the public.

At 0:54 there looks like a Lewis machine gun mounted on a pedestal. I'm not sure if it actually was what I think it was but it goes to show how many ships were fitted with extra weapons for air defence.

FWIW (not much) USS Franklin was hit by a conventional bombing attack, not a kamikaze.

For many years we have had reports from officers but non from ratings the men who was there on the day fighting the fires done by the KAMIKAZE PLANES and i was one of them there has been no books wrote about the incident by ratings if only they had a chance they would tell a good action tale i had an occasion to go to LONDON and help make a film about my ship the H.M.S.INDEFATIGABLE called MY GRAND PARENTS WAR shown on channel four it gives you an insight of the battle at OKINAWA AND SAKERSHIMA GUNTO if you have a chance get a copy it is very interesting viewing and explains the KAMIKAZE REASONS FOR THERE ACTIONS .HARRY ANDERSON

Awesome, thanks

One thing to remember is that the British and American crews were highly trained in fire fighting and Damage control unlike the Japanese.

A late friend of mine was on the indefatigable, he lost his best mate in the next gun pit to him.

Amazing footage and account. So much I didn’t know. Thanks

Great production. could you do HMS Formidable one day? Dad's ship. his name was Gibbs, too. Charles Bernard Gibbs; gunnery officer.

This is HARRY and i have changed name in the e -mail that i why i am now calling myself charles allways but still the same person who served on the the H.M.S.INDEFATIGABLE in the Pacific during tghe okinawa and sakershima gunto attacks so if you email me anytime it will be charles allways Love to hear from you i am 98 years old but still lov to chat about the incidents of long ago.

Too bad about that unnecessary watermarking all over the images.

At 13:20 there is a very rare British carrier catapult launch of a heavy loaded Avenger

神風特攻隊の人を始め、国問わず英霊たちに敬礼と安らぎを！

Love your take

Question: Which carrier force is better? American Carriers: Wooden decks, but hell, you can carry twice the amount of planes! British Carriers: Armored decks, but hell, you can get hit by Kamikazes and the carrier stays operating on-station with minor repairs at sea. Oh, and did I mentioned you don't lose hundreds of dead and injured sailors and have 6 months of repair work to get your carrier back into operation?

my Dad served on her in the 50's chief petty officer

Deus me livre. Nessa época, os pilotos saíam com seu avião e não sabiam se iriam retornar...

👍

John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland)

A great idea to put an armoured ship out as a sponge.

Did the 3" AA guns have proximity fuses by then?...

Does anyone remember Edward J Langlands Stoker

Where is this?

Bunkerhill was hit and almost sunk

1:44 - is that guy having a seizure?

I’m sorry, the “Germans always fought cleanly?” What?

It was just an April Fools joke.

Alguém pode me explicar como que um avião tinha câmera de filmagem em 1945 ?

What i like about british carrier ship than U.s carriers is that british carriers has ARMOURED DECK whilst U.s dont..they can whitstand more bomb hits than u.s..only take 1 hit on u.s carrier deck and its game over for them.

Why the horizontal lines on the picture? The original would have been film while horizontal lines are a relic of TV and even then there were 480 lines on American TV and 625 on British TV, so the image your projecting is wrong either way and detracts from enjoyment of an otherwise good documentary

Botado 8 Dec 1942

We are all the III %

10:28　本物？凄い鮮明だ

The British carrier is better than the American carrier because it got armour deck

神風特別攻撃隊‼️

Bbc