Six Kamikazes Hit This Destroyer — Her Captain REFUSED to Abandon Ship

On 16 April 1945, the lone destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724) faced wave after wave of Japanese aircraft off Okinawa. After six kamikaze crashes, fires, flooding, and a jammed rudder, Commander Frederick Becton refused to abandon his ship while its guns could still fire. At 8:25 a.m. on 16 April 1945, Commander Frederick Becton and the 336-man crew of the Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Laffey detect more than fifty Japanese aircraft approaching Radar Picket Station One, north of Okinawa. The ship’s guns engage Aichi D3A Val dive bombers as Marine Corsairs fight to break up the attack. Bombs and kamikaze crashes then devastate the stern, destroy gun mounts, sever communications, start fires near the magazines, and jam the rudder hard over. Forced into a tight circle, Becton uses the engines to maneuver while his crew battles flooding, smoke, and exploding ammunition. When an officer suggests abandoning ship, Becton refuses. After an eighty-minute engagement and six direct kamikaze crashes, the battered destroyer is taken in tow toward Kerama Retto, later repaired, and eventually preserved as a museum ship at Patriots Point in Charleston. Radar picket destroyers formed an exposed early-warning line protecting the invasion fleet anchored off Hagushi. By holding its position and continuing to fight, this ship helped shield the Okinawa operation from a concentrated Japanese air attack. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The Raid Appears on Radar 04:05 The Dangerous Picket Line 08:51 Corsairs and Dive Bombers 13:34 The Stern Comes Under Fire 18:00 Trapped in a Burning Circle 23:11 Becton Refuses to Abandon Ship 27:55 The Destroyer Is Taken in Tow 32:55 From Battle Damage to Museum Ship How do you think Commander Becton's decision to keep fighting affected the crew's chances of survival? Archival photographs and film: U.S. Navy, U.S. National Archives, Naval History and Heritage Command, Wikimedia Commons and Internet Archive (public domain). Narration voice and thumbnail artwork are AI-generated. #WW2 #USSLaffey #Kamikaze