By March of 1945, the battleship USS Texas had seen combat throughout the world. She had been
there for the Allied invasions of North Africa, of Normandy, of Southern France before being
sent to the Pacific. She spent Christmas 1944 at Pearl Harbor before going to fight in the Battle
of Iwo Jima. But despite her long service she wasn't done yet, because Texas was on her way
to one of the most dangerous operations of the Second World War, where her mighty 14-inch guns
would support the invasion of Okinawa. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
Texas arrived in the Caroline Islands on March 10th 1945, after having supported the landing
and capture of Iwo Jima. The U.S Navy had set up a staging area in the Caroline Islands at a small
atoll called Ulithi. The atoll became the secret center of operations in the late War Pacific,
and was converted into a naval station by service Squadron 10 and others in a handful of months
beginning in October 1944. The Texas's arrival was part of the build-up preceding operation
Iceberg the amphibious invasion of Okinawa the least populated and smallest of the five
Japanese main islands that March the number of ships anchored at the Naval Base peaked at 722.
Eleven days later Texas departed the atoll along with Task Force 54,
the gunfire covering force commanded by Rear Admiral Morton L. Deyo aboard the USS Tennessee.
Texas was a part of Task Force 54's Unit 1, along with the battleship USS Maryland,
Heavy Cruiser Tuscaloosa and for fletcher-class Destroyers. Task Force 54 included a number of
older battleships including the Arkansas, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, West Virginia,
New Mexico and New York. In all 18 U.S battleships participated in the battle of Okinawa.
Texas arrived at the Southeastern coast of Okinawa on March 25th, she was preceded by
large fleet elements which had arrived through the month and on the 25th she began pre-invasion
bombardment. A bugle call followed by the cry for general quarters sent men to their battle stations
where they would stay…for weeks. The crew of the Battleship Texas remained at battle stations
for more than 50 days beginning on March 25th when they arrived off Okinawa at 7am.
On a Navy ship being at Battle Stations meant manning nearly everything on the ship, and no
crew member was without an assignment. Anything non-essential was halted, all watertight doors
were shut in case of damage to reduce flooding, and none could be opened without permission.
Soldiers dawned helmets and life jackets, and remained on alert. Resources to many systems that
weren't vital during combat were switched off. For 50 days the sailors were confined to their
positions whether that be in the crowded turrets, the gun tubs or ammo lockers. Hundreds remained
below deck reloading the main guns at a moment's notice. Commitment to the station was essential to
respond to any threat. Waste buckets were used rather than toilets, they were sent topside to
be emptied while food was lowered. There was no hot food, only sandwiches and K rations. They
were allowed, according to the National World War II Museum, showers and fresh clothes about
every third day, but only briefly before returning to stations. Sleep could only come in snatches,
the ship likely would have been boiling hot for most of the day under the Pacific Sun.
The final decision for the almost two thousand Sailors to remain at battle stations was made
by the ship's Captain, Charlie Baker. Few or no other ships made the same decision;
the primary reason for remaining constantly at battle stations was the threat of kamikazes.
Staying at stations meant that the crew could respond in seconds instead of minutes.
By March of 1945, the Japanese Air Force had been hollowed out so that they turned to suicide
attacks as their primary means of assault. At Iwo Jima danger from the air was minimal
but Okinawa was near the main islands and faced numerous major airfields in Kyushu and Formosa.
Planners estimated that the fleet would be in range of several thousand enemy aircraft.
During the battle of Okinawa hundreds of Japanese sorties targeted American ships seriously damaging
numerous ships and sinking a number of smaller vessels such as Destroyer escorts, radar pickets
and landing ships. While considerably less effective, the Japanese also used suicide
motorboats during the battle successfully damaging numerous ships, including crippling the Destroyer
USS Hutchins. The goal of the pre-invasion bombardment was to soften up the defenses
and to stir the in-placed Japanese. The Japanese were heavily fortified on the island but offered
little in the way of return fire during the early days of the bombardment. According to the ship's
After Action Report, “The ship rendered scheduled bombardments for six days beginning on March 25th,
and supported minesweeping operations and underwater demolition and reconnaissance missions
to clear the beaches for the scheduled landing on April 1st.” “During the entire operation,”
the After Action Report continues, “this vessel was subjected to numerous air attacks.”
On March 29th, the crew spotted a downed Japanese pilot off the starboard bow,
he was retrieved and brought on board the Texas for initial investigation. He was a petty officer
aviator who'd been shot down the night before and was transferred off the ship later the same day.
April 1st was designated Love Day, and the first American troops landed at the Hagushi beaches to
little resistance. Texas and Unit 1 did not fire on landing beaches however, instead providing
covering fire for a faint by the Second Marine Division further south to deceive the defender's
entire possible Reserves. Support for the faint operation continued on April 2nd the ship retired
to night retirement every day, but remained at Battle Stations. Kamikaze attacks tended to come
at dawn and dusk using the low light to become more difficult to spot. April 3rd saw an air
attack at 2:45 a.m and plane attacks continued on landing ships throughout the day and in the
coming weeks. Texas would provide almost constant fire support refueling and resupplying at a nearby
Port established at the Caramba Islands. It was at Okinawa, still at Battle Stations around the
clock that the crew of the Texas learned of VE day and the end of the war in Europe. In commemoration
of the day all 10 of Texas's 14 inch, as well as all of the three and half inch guns, were fired at
a single target, representing the most intense broadside the ship fired during the campaign.
The battle was not without close calls, on April 7th the ship maneuvered around a torpedo fired
by an enemy plane, a few days later a Japanese Betty plane crashed in flames just 50 yards from
the ship. Crewmen watched as Kamikazes struck the Tennessee and the Destroyer Zellars. An underwater
explosion felt by the ship was identified as the torpedo exploding at the end of its run. In
mid-April, Texas participated in the bombardment of Hashima, a nearby island; it was there on April
18th that famed War correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed a few days later. Supporting that landing
on April 16th the men aboard the Texas spotted a plane flying low through smoke headed straight at
the ship. The plane was dodging and zigzagging at 10,000 yards but approaching fast. The Texas
maneuvered frantically to present the port beam to the plane and opened fire with all the guns that
it could bear. At 5,000 yards the plane was still coming, silhouetted against AA fire and smoke. At
3,000 it came on! Two thousand, and eighteen hundred yards it was shot down, crashing into the
water. Texas remained safe. Concentrated fire made it difficult to identify which ship actually hit a
plane, through much of the fighting but the Texas observed many planes sent tumbling into the water.
The ship's lightly armed OS2U Kingfisher spotting planes did their part with one
strafing and setting fire to two suspected suicide boats while the second was forced
to make an emergency water landing on April 27th after being hit by enemy anti-aircraft.
The float plane sank from damage although the pilot and observer were rescued. On May 14th, 52
days after the ship had arrived in Okinawa the USS Texas was ordered to the Philippines to prepare
for the next expected amphibious invasion. One that promised to be even greater in scale than the
one in Okinawa, the proposed Operation Downfall, an invasion of the Japanese home Islands.
While the crew was understandably relieved and finally returned to a normal schedule and regular
sleep, the situation on May 1945 promised more fighting, likely even more perilous
than what they had already endured. The battle for Okinawa wasn't done, and the island was not
declared captured until June 22nd. During the battle the men of Texas had remained at
their stations an almost unheard of amount of time, longer than any other ship in the fleet.
Captain Baker believed that he had made the right decision. Sixteen U.S ships were sunk by kamikazes
during the battle, and 46 more were severely damaged by the swarms of Japanese fighters.
According to an article from the National World War II Museum, “No other ship is known
to have kept its crew at General Quarter for so long.” It's difficult to know how effective
the vigilance was, but the Texas didn't lose a single man during the battle. “Men of the
fleet just marvel at how we stayed at General Quarters for some 50 days,” Captain Baker said,
“That is why I think we are here today. We were always ready for anything that should come up.”
They had been at Battle Stations when they learned of the surrender of Nazi Germany, the
death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On April 15th, during morning air defense, the tired
but heroic men of the Texas had held a memorial to the president without abandoning their posts.
The unprecedented action was pointed out for particular praise in the After Action Report,
“That the men took this without unique fatigue as a tribute to their spirit and physical condition.”
Their support of the invasion was significant as well. According to the After Action Reports,
guns of the Texas successfully neutralized strong points, fortified positions,
pill boxes and artillery emplacements in almost every case. It provided bombardment and close fire
support through the seven weeks it participated in the attack. The same ship that had been
present in North Africa, at D-Day, at Dragoon and Iwo Jima gave its all in that last battle,
firing an incredible amount of ammunition judged to be around four full shiploads of munitions.
This included 2,019 rounds of 14-inch ammunition,
2,643 rounds of 5-inch ammunition, 3,100 rounds of 40 millimeter and 2,205 of 20 millimeter
ammunition. It was more ammo than the ship had loosed at any of its previous actions.
When the Texas arrived at Leyte Gulf on May 17th, the crew had no idea that their part in
the war was over. Planning for future operations was already well underway and the planned armada
for the invasion of Kyushu would have been the largest ever assembled. Operation Coronet which
had been hypothetically scheduled for March 1st 1946 would have seen an invasion of the largest
Japanese island Honshu. Of course instead of a land invasion, the United States dropped nuclear
weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August 1945, and combat ceased shortly after.
USS Texas was already an old battleship when the war began, and yet her service
was exemplary. Her guns thundered almost from the moment that Americans engaged the enemy,
all the way up to the end of the war. And that a ship that was nearly 30 years old
saw such success is a testament to the steadfast courage of the thousands of men who served on her,
who faced hardships that we can hardly imagine today, and who deserve to be remembered.
In August, Captain Baker was transferred off the ship, but he made a final speech to his crew. He
said, “The people back home say that the Navy is made of iron. But really and truly, it is you men,
the men of the Texas, that are made of iron.”
Battleship Texas is currently out of the water for the first time in 32 years and
only the second time since she became a museum in 1948. Undergoing an intensive repair period which
will include having new hull plating installed to the sides of the ship from about four feet
above the water line down. These repairs will take anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete.
If you'd like to stay up to date on the work feel free to check out their
website at battleshiptexas.org, or at their Battleship Texas YouTube channel. Both have
regular updates posted to keep you apprised the work that is currently going on. Come on Texas!
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