The Ship That Wouldn’t Die as Long as a Single Gun Will Fire

On April 16, 1945, Commander Julian Becton was informed that a large formation of more than 100 enemy aircraft was approaching his ship. For 80 minutes, the Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer USS Laffey faced off against a horde of Japanese pilots, including kamikaze bombers. Despite the damage inflicted by four initial attacks in less than five minutes, Laffey and her brave crew continued to battle countless incoming aircraft before the nightmare ended. For what seemed like an eternity, gunners kept downing enemy planes before they smashed into the damaged ship, while others managed to race through the heavy gunfire to further harm the destroyer. On that day, USS Laffey faced the most unrelenting kamikaze air attack in history, living up to her nickname as ‘The Ship That Would Not Die’...