US Navy Carrier ready rooms were far from safe ...

[Mark Allen M]

As you can see in these photos of battle damage to the USS Intrepid on 4/16/1945. There really was nowhere to hide from Kamikaze attacks. Frightening stuff.


Pilots in a Ready Room on Board USS Intrepid (CV 11)


Enemy planes sighted and being engaged by AA fire


Enemy planes sighted and being engaged by AA fire


Enemy planes sighted and being engaged by AA fire


Air battle taking place around Intrepid


Air battle taking place around Intrepid


Air battle taking place around Intrepid


Zero with Hellcat just above


Kamikaze turning towards Intrepid


Kamikaze hit by AA fire and diving towards Intrepid


Kamikaze dive towards Intrepid


Kamikaze just before impact


Kamikaze impact and explosion


Kamikaze impact and explosion


Aftermath of kamikaze hit on 4/16/1945


Aftermath of kamikaze hit on 4/16/1945


Battle damage on the flight deck of Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Sailors fight fires on board a battle-damaged Intrepid (CV 11).


Serious damage to the flight deck of the USS Intrepid


Serious damage to the flight deck of the USS Intrepid


Serious damage to the flight deck of the USS Intrepid


Serious hangar deck damage with a loss of several Hellcats


Serious hangar deck damage


Serious damage to the flight deck of the USS Intrepid


Serious battle damage


Some big holes on the floor in one of the Intrepid's ready rooms.


Quite a mess in this ready room. USS Intrepid


Some big holes on the floor entering one of the Intrepid's ready rooms.


Funeral services on the hangar deck of Intrepid (CV 11). May they all continue to rest in peace.

[sandiego89]

Powerful images. Thanks.

[SaxMan]

IIRC - there is a Life magazine picture of VF-84s ready room on Bunker Hill after it had been struck by a Kamikaze. The carnage was awful. A good portion of the squadron was wiped out. Franklin's ready rooms also had terrible loss of life, as was just about any of the compartments on the Gallery Deck when there was a deck heave from the explosions.

[Pat Carry]

incredible stuff Mark, thanks

[sandiego89]

IIRC - there is a Life magazine picture of VF-84s ready room on Bunker Hill after it had been struck by a Kamikaze. The carnage was awful. A good portion of the squadron was wiped out. Franklin's ready rooms also had terrible loss of life, as was just about any of the compartments on the Gallery Deck when there was a deck heave from the explosions.

Really brings the armored flight deck discussion into view. Pro's and con's to each. UK went for armored decks, US did not. No "right" answer given the demands of war, just a different design philosophy. I recall the main benefits of a wooden deck being ease and speed of construction, cheaper, less weight so better speed and sea handling, more aircraft could be carried, ease of repair....

[jollyrogerf14]

Amazing and Horrifying photos Mark. It shows how powerful real bombs and explosions are. Not like the "fireball" bombs on TV & in movies.

V.C.

[p51]

Amazing and Horrifying photos Mark. It shows how powerful real bombs and explosions are. Not like the "fireball" bombs on TV & in movies.

Too true.
I talked with a Navy vet many years ago and he described sailors getting killed by an explosion below decks from fire from a Japanese ship (he assumed). He said he entered the compartment right after the explosion went off and found two sailors had been blown laterally, right through an upright ladder. They'd been cut into perfect sections, showing exactly the ladder in relation to their direction of travel. He said when they placed the bodies onto a stretcher, they could tell how many degrees to one one of them had been when he passed through that ladder.
I still shudder at the thought, all these years later.
I doubt you'll ever see this represented in a film.