Under Constant Attack and Hit By A Kamikaze
On 4 May, the minesweeper sank two small Japanese boats and set one afire with gunfire. That evening, she was strafed by an enemy plane. She sank another small boat on 13 May; and, the next evening, she sank five small suicide boats. Spectacle took patrol station near Ie Shima on 22 May and, early that morning, splashed a "Betty". At 0805, a diving kamikaze crashed into the minesweeper, striking the ship under her port 40-millimeter gun tub, causing extensive damage and blowing many of her crew overboard. Her rudder jammed. She dropped anchor to avoid running over her men in the water. At 0815, USS LSM-135 began picking up survivors; but, 15 minutes later, the medium landing ship was also hit by a kamikaze and burst into flames. Spectacle's losses were: 11 killed outright, four who died of wounds, six wounded, and 14 missing in action.
Read more about this topic: USS Spectacle (AM-305)
Famous quotes containing the words constant, attack and/or hit:
“For me, it is as though at every moment the actual world had completely lost its actuality. As though there was nothing there; as though there were no foundations for anything or as though it escaped us. Only one thing, however, is vividly present: the constant tearing of the veil of appearances; the constant destruction of everything in construction. Nothing holds together, everything falls apart.”
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“We attack not only to hurt someone, to defeat him, but perhaps also simply to become conscious of our own strength.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)