After relentless Allied bombardments on Okinawa, the last bastion before Japan's shores, April 12, 1945, witnessed a drastic turn. Pushed to their limits, the Japanese forces orchestrated a massive kamikaze assault, unparalleled in scale and desperation.

That afternoon, the sky above Okinawa transformed into a battleground. A swarm of kamikaze planes, each manned by a pilot with a singular, grim mission, descended upon the Allied ships. Among those in the crosshairs was USS Idaho, a battleship whose valor and might had become the stuff of legend.

On this day, USS Idaho—affectionately known as the Big Spud—braced for an unprecedented challenge. Five kamikaze pilots singled her out, diving out of the sun's blinding light in a tactical maneuver designed to confuse and overwhelm her gunners. This approach rendered Idaho's lower defenses, the 20millimeter guns, ineffective as the aircraft skimmed perilously close to the ocean's surface.

Yet, as the kamikaze planes bore down, the ship's 40millimeter guns were ready to destroy anything that dared come too close to the Big Spud.