This was dangerous for any destroyer.
It was deadly on that particular morning.
The main formation could offer at least some concentration of antiaircraft fire.
Asashimo gradually became isolated.
American aircraft later found her.
She was sunk with all hands.
NHHC estimates roughly 330 men were lost aboard her.
No survivor returned to describe the final moments.
The main Japanese force continued south.
American aircraft found the ships around midday
The first major attacking formations reached the Japanese ships shortly after noon.
At approximately 12:32 p.m., Japanese lookouts spotted incoming aircraft.
Yahagi's Captain Hara later remembered American formations circling outside effective antiaircraft range while strike leaders organized their attacks.
The scene itself revealed the imbalance.
The Americans had enough freedom to arrange their attack before entering the heaviest fire.
There were almost no Japanese fighters forcing them to break formation.
Yamato opened fire around 12:34.
Her enormous forward turrets fired special sanshikidan antiaircraft shells.
These shells were intended to explode in the air and throw incendiary fragments ahead of aircraft.
They looked impressive.
They proved largely ineffective against the attacking formations.
Then the fighters went in.
American fighters were not there only to fight Japanese aircraft
There were almost no Japanese fighters left to fight.
The American Hellcats and Corsairs therefore attacked ships directly.
They strafed exposed antiaircraft positions.
They fired rockets.
Japanese gunners operating light weapons often had little protection.
A fighter moving at high speed could rake a gun position moments before dive bombers or torpedo planes arrived.
This sequence mattered.
Yamato carried an enormous number of antiaircraft guns.
On paper, the weapons made the battleship appear extremely dangerous to attacking aircraft.
In practice, exposed gun crews could be killed.
Fire-control equipment could be damaged.
Smoke and blast could interfere with aiming.
Repeated waves prevented exhausted men from recovering.
The Americans did not need to destroy every gun.
They needed to suppress enough of them for the heavier attack aircraft to get through.
They succeeded.
Dive bombers attacked from above
Curtiss SB2C Helldivers carried heavy bombs.
Pilots climbed above the target, rolled into steep dives, and aimed directly at the ship.
The technique placed the aircraft in danger from antiaircraft fire.
It also gave the bomb a steep path toward relatively vulnerable horizontal surfaces.
Battleships carried their thickest armor along sides and around critical spaces.
Deck armor was substantial, but it remained a different problem from the massive side belt designed to resist shells fired from another battleship.
At approximately 12:40, Yamato suffered at least two major bomb hits during the first concentrated attacks.
One exploded in crew spaces.
Another caused serious damage near the aft command area, knocked out equipment, damaged antiaircraft weapons, and started a major fire near the after secondary battery.
The fire would continue.
The larger danger, however, was approaching near sea level.
The torpedo pilots understood what they needed to do
American pilots had learned from earlier attacks on Japanese battleships.
A torpedo does not need to penetrate a battleship's deck.
It hits below or near the waterline.
The explosion can open compartments to the sea.
Battleship designers expect torpedo damage and build internal protection.
Flooding can be countered by pumps and by deliberately flooding compartments on the opposite side.
The system has limits.
If torpedoes strike both sides roughly equally, flooding may remain more balanced.
If most strikes hit one side, the ship begins leaning toward that side.
American pilots increasingly concentrated their torpedo attacks against Yamato's port side.
That choice became decisive.