For the April invasion of Okinawa Allied codename: Operation Iceberg , the Allies assembled the most powerful naval force in history. Since the few remaining capital ships of the Imperial Japanese Combined Fleet had been sunk or otherwise put out of action at the Battle of Leyte Gulf , the Allies were effectively unopposed in terms of major surface vessels; a single mission consisting of the superbattleship Yamato and a few escorts was undertaken, but the task force did not get within nautical miles km; mi of the invasion area.
Since the Japanese air arm had been equally decimated by this point in the war, the lack of trained and experienced pilots led them to deploy the kamikaze extensively in the waters off Okinawa.
US Navy combat ships: 11 fleet carriers , 6 light carriers , 22 escort carriers , 8 fast battleships , 10 old battleships , 2 large cruisers , 13 heavy cruisers , 13 light cruisers , 4 anti-aircraft light cruisers , destroyers , 45 destroyer escorts. Auxiliaries: 52 submarine chasers , 23 fast minesweepers , 69 minesweepers, 11 minelayers , 49 oilers , etc. Royal Navy combat ships: 5 fleet carriers, 2 battleships, 7 light cruisers, 14 destroyers.
Losses The smaller ships were least able to withstand damage from kamikaze attacks. Nimitz from his headquarters at Pearl Harbor , Hawaii.
The ships and troops of Operation Iceberg were under direct operational command of Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner aboard amphibious command ship Eldorado. Son of a Confederate army general, Lt. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. On 18 June, Buckner was visiting a forward observation post when a Japanese artillery shell struck a coral outcropping, fragments of which struck Buckner in the chest. Command of Tenth Army passed to Marine Maj.
