East China Sea, battle of

The Oxford Companion to World War II | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

East China Sea, battle of, the last important air–sea battle of the war which was fought in April 1945 when the giant 64,000-ton Japanese battleship, Yamato, accompanied by one cruiser and eight destroyers left Japan to attack US forces then invading Okinawa. For the Yamato it was virtually a suicide mission, for she had only enough fuel aboard for a one-way voyage and without air cover she had little chance of surviving. On the night of 6/7 April the Japanese commander of the force, Vice-Admiral Ito Seüchī, diverted into the East China Sea so as not to approach Okinawa directly, but he was spotted next morning and attacked by 380 US aircraft from Task Force 58. All the Japanese warships, except four destroyers, were quickly sunk.See also Pacific war.

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I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "East China Sea, battle of." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "East China Sea, battle of." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-EastChinaSeabattleof.html

I. C. B. DEAR and M. R. D. FOOT. "East China Sea, battle of." The Oxford Companion to World War II. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O129-EastChinaSeabattleof.html

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