Finally, the Japanese were driven off by USN and USMC Combat Air Patrol aircraft

On This Day - April 16, 1945,

 

The USS Laffey (DD-724 - The ship that wouldn't die), the second of the Allen M. Summner class of destroyers and named after USN Civil War MOH recipient, Bartlett Laffey, was patrolling radar picket station 1 about 30 miles north of Okinawa. At 8:30, she was attacked by swarms of Japanese Kamikaze's in a relentless and harrowing pounding that battered the ship and crew. She endured 80 minutes of continuous air attack, 22 separate attacks, six kamikazes crashed into the ship and four bomb hits. But Laffey‘s gunners had shot down nine attackers. The ship’s casualties totaled 32 dead and 71 wounded. Amazingly, eight guns were still able to fire.

At one point in the fight, assistant communications officer Lieutenant Frank Manson asked Captain Becton if he thought they'd have to abandon ship, to which Becton snapped, "No! I'll never abandon ship as long as a single gun will fire." Becton did not hear a nearby lookout softly say, "And if he can find one man to fire it."

Finally, the Japanese were driven off by USN and USMC Combat Air Patrol aircraft.

The destroyer-minesweeper Macomb took Laffey in tow and headed for the Kerama Retto anchorage shortly after noon. The tugs Pakana (ATF 108) and Tawakoni (ATF 114) were dispatched to bring in Laffey. Using pumps, they got the flooding under control aboard the badly damaged ship. The jammed rudder caused towing problems, but it was still possible to maintain a forward speed of four knots.

At 6:14 the following morning, April 17, Laffey entered the harbor at Kerama Retto. Men gazed in amazement at the battered newcomer. It just did not seem possible that a ship could have taken so much punishment and survived; one kamikaze hit was often enough to sink a ship. Shortly after sunrise, when Laffey was safely at anchor, the crew went aboard the tug Tawakoni for breakfast, their first real meal in almost 24 hours. Later that morning, a chaplain came aboard to conduct services for those killed or missing in action.

She eventually sailed for final repairs in Todds Shipyard, in Tacom, Washington. This photo shows her, burned, bruised and battered - but still afloat! - sailing into Tacoma harbor in September, 1945.

USS Laffey went on to fight in Korea, and was the last of the Summner Class Destroyers to be decommissioned in 1975. she's now a museum ship in Patriots Point, SC where she earned her retirement...