{"id":29468697,"date":"2026-10-25T10:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/first-kamikaze-attack-1944-onishi-seki-shikishima-uss-st-lo\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T10:06:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T09:06:31","slug":"first-kamikaze-attack-1944-onishi-seki-shikishima-uss-st-lo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/first-kamikaze-attack-1944-onishi-seki-shikishima-uss-st-lo\/","title":{"rendered":"First Kamikaze Attacks: Onishi, Seki and the Sinking of USS St. Lo"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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His escort carrier, USS <em>St. Lo<\/em>, had just survived more than two hours under fire from Japanese battleships off Samar. The enemy fleet had turned away. Bethard went below for breakfast.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Then the general quarters alarm sounded again. He stepped back outside, looked for the Japanese fleet, and saw nothing on the horizon. What he saw instead was a single fighter coming out of a rain squall.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;Out of a rain squall came one lone airplane. And this plane came in and I saw that meatball on the side of it so I knew it was Japanese.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Orville Bethard<\/strong> &mdash; Electrician&rsquo;s Mate, USS <em>St. Lo<\/em>, oral history (The National WWII Museum)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Eighty-two years ago today, that Zero and a handful like it opened a new and terrible chapter of the Pacific war. They were the first organised kamikaze attacks: pilots ordered to fly their bomb-laden aircraft into American ships and die doing it. By the end of the morning <em>St. Lo<\/em> was on the bottom, the first major warship sunk by a suicide attack.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border:1px solid #e2e7ee;padding:18px 22px;margin:22px 0 26px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px\"><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Date:<\/strong> 25 October 1944, Battle of Leyte Gulf<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Organiser:<\/strong> Vice Adm. Takijiro Onishi, 1st Air Fleet<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First unit:<\/strong> Shikishima unit, 201st Air Group, led by Lt Yukio Seki (23)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Aircraft:<\/strong> Five A6M Zeros, each with a 250 kg bomb, plus fighter escorts<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Took off from:<\/strong> Mabalacat airfield, Luzon<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>First ship hit:<\/strong> USS <em>Santee<\/em>, 07:40 (Taffy 1)<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>Ship sunk:<\/strong> USS <em>St. Lo<\/em>, hit 10:51, sank within about 30 minutes<\/li><li style=\"margin:4px 0\"><strong>St. Lo crew:<\/strong> 889 aboard, 746 survived<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An admiral with almost no aircraft<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>By October 1944 Japan&rsquo;s naval air arm had been bled white. Midway, the Solomons and the &ldquo;Great Marianas Turkey Shoot&rdquo; in June had killed most of its experienced carrier pilots, and replacements could not hold their own against American <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f6f-hellcat\/\">F6F Hellcats<\/a> and radar-directed fighter patrols.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>When American forces landed at Leyte in the Philippines, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched Operation Sho, an all-or-nothing bid to smash the invasion fleet. Its land-based 1st Air Fleet in the Philippines was supposed to help by putting the American carriers out of action. It had only a few dozen aircraft.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/vice-admiral-takijiro-onishi-father-of-kamikaze.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of Imperial Japanese Navy Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi in dark naval uniform\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, commander of the 1st Air Fleet in the Philippines, who ordered the formation of the first Special Attack units in October 1944. Wikimedia Commons \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Its new commander, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, was a veteran of naval aviation who had worked on the planning of the attack on Pearl Harbor. On 19 October he met officers of the 201st Air Group at Mabalacat airfield, north of Manila. Deliberate crashes by individual pilots had happened before, but Onishi proposed something new: a planned, organised unit whose only mission was to die hitting a carrier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;In my opinion, there is only one way of assuring that our meager strength will be effective to a maximum degree. That is to organize suicide attack units composed of Zero fighters armed with 250-kilogram bombs...&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Vice Adm. Takijiro Onishi<\/strong> &mdash; At Mabalacat, 19 October 1944, as recalled by his senior staff officer Rikihei Inoguchi in <em>The Divine Wind<\/em> (1958)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Shikishima unit<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Commander Asaichi Tamai of the 201st Air Group gathered 23 young pilots he had trained himself. To lead them, he chose Lieutenant Yukio Seki, a 23-year-old graduate of the naval academy at Etajima who had been trained as a carrier dive bomber pilot. Seki had married his wife Mariko only that spring.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>He is said to have closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds before accepting. According to Domei war correspondent Masashi Onoda, Seki later told him privately that he believed he could hit a carrier with a bomb and come back, and that he was going because he had been ordered to.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/lieutenant-yukio-seki-shikishima-unit-leader-1944.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of Lieutenant Yukio Seki of the Imperial Japanese Navy in uniform and cap, 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Lieutenant Yukio Seki, leader of the Shikishima unit, photographed around the time of his marriage in 1944. He was 23 when he died on 25 October. Imperial Japanese Navy photo via Wikimedia Commons \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Special Attack Corps was split into four units, Shikishima, Yamato, Asahi and Yamazakura, names taken from a classical poem by the scholar Motoori Norinaga. Seki led Shikishima: five <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a6m-zero\/\">A6M Zero<\/a> fighters, each carrying a 250 kg bomb. Fighters flown by the ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa and three other pilots went along as escorts and witnesses.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The unit first took off from Mabalacat on 21 October and found nothing. The same thing happened for three more days. Before he died, Seki wrote last letters to his mother, to his wife&rsquo;s parents and to Mariko.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><div><em>&ldquo;I am truly sorry for going to fall without being able to do anything for you.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt Yukio Seki<\/strong> &mdash; Last letter to his wife Mariko, October 1944 (translated by Bill Gordon)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Santee and Suwannee: the first hits<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The first blow on 25 October did not come from Seki. At 07:40, aircraft of a separate special attack group dived on Taffy 1, a group of escort carriers south of Taffy 3. One crashed into USS <em>Santee<\/em>, which the Naval History and Heritage Command describes as the first ship hit by a kamikaze. Minutes later another hit USS <em>Suwannee<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/kamikaze-zero-hits-uss-suwannee-25-october-1944.jpg\" alt=\"A Japanese kamikaze Zero explodes on the escort carrier USS Suwannee as a Hellcat pulls away, 25 October 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A kamikaze Zero hits the escort carrier USS <em>Suwannee<\/em> of Taffy 1 on the morning of 25 October 1944, hours before Seki&rsquo;s attack. A Hellcat that chased it is pulling out at left. Photo taken from USS <em>Petrof Bay<\/em>. US Navy photo NH 71524 \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Both ships survived thanks to hard damage control, although <em>Santee<\/em> was also hit by a submarine torpedo. <em>Suwannee<\/em> was struck by another kamikaze the next day; she lost 107 men in the two attacks.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=1716925057061269831&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:620px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">10:50, off Samar<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Seki&rsquo;s formation found Taffy 3 at about 10:50, soon after the gun battle with Admiral Kurita&rsquo;s battleships, while <em>St. Lo<\/em>&rsquo;s crew was refuelling and rearming aircraft. Over the next forty minutes, the Zeros came in one after another.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, <em>White Plains<\/em>, <em>Kitkun Bay<\/em> and <em>Fanshaw Bay<\/em> were damaged by near misses, one of which clipped <em>Kitkun Bay<\/em>&rsquo;s port catwalk before exploding. <em>Kalinin Bay<\/em> took two hits that wrecked part of her flight deck and a funnel. Then, at 10:51, a Zero smashed into the flight deck of <em>St. Lo<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/kamikaze-zero-dives-on-uss-white-plains-25-october-1944.jpg\" alt=\"A Japanese Zero kamikaze diving towards the escort carrier USS White Plains, seen from her flight deck, 25 October 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Zero of Seki&rsquo;s attack dives on USS <em>White Plains<\/em> off Samar on 25 October 1944, seen from her own flight deck. It missed and hit the water off her port quarter. US Navy photo 80-G-288882, National Archives \/ public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Its bomb punched through the wooden deck into the hangar, where aircraft were being fuelled and armed. Fire spread, and the ship&rsquo;s action report described a first explosion &ldquo;followed in a matter of seconds by a much more violent explosion, which rolled back a part of the flight deck.&rdquo; The torpedo and bomb magazine went up. Within about half an hour <em>St. Lo<\/em> was gone.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KSH7QF82KTo\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">The National WWII Museum&rsquo;s oral history with Orville Bethard, who survived the sinking of USS <em>St. Lo<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Of 889 men aboard, 746 survived, plucked from the sea by the escorts <em>Heermann<\/em>, <em>John C. Butler<\/em>, <em>Raymond<\/em> and <em>Dennis<\/em>. Bethard was one of them. Most accounts credit Seki himself with the hit that sank her, though this has been debated; the plane appears to have veered towards <em>St. Lo<\/em> after being damaged while attacking <em>White Plains<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The carrier had carried the name <em>St. Lo<\/em> for barely two weeks. Until 10 October she had been USS <em>Midway<\/em>, renamed to free the name for a new fleet carrier. In May 2019, Paul Allen&rsquo;s research vessel <em>Petrel<\/em> found her sitting upright more than 4,300 metres down off Samar.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 28px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=2072129560989098482&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:640px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The father of the kamikaze<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>For Tokyo, the arithmetic looked irresistible. A handful of Zeros had sunk a carrier and damaged several more. The Special Attack Corps was expanded at once, and over the next ten months thousands of pilots, many of them young student pilots, followed Seki.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Japanese records cited by historians put the toll at almost 4,000 airmen killed in special attacks. They sank several dozen ships, damaged many more and killed several thousand Allied sailors. Later in the war the tactic produced even more extreme weapons, such as the rocket-powered Ohka.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PsI79eO23K0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 24px\">Wartime footage of kamikaze attacks on American ships, from the Smithsonian Channel.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Onishi never left the path he had chosen, and pushed for fighting on in the last days of the war. After Japan announced its surrender on 15 August 1945, he cut himself open in his quarters, refused both medical help and a second to end his suffering, and died on 16 August.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>His senior staff officer, Rikihei Inoguchi, later wrote that Onishi had resolved to die from the moment he formed the corps: &ldquo;In imagination he must have ridden with every pilot of his command as each made his final special attack.&rdquo; Seki had led the first kamikaze attack, one he reportedly believed he could have made and survived.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command (H-Gram 036 and 038; National Naval Aviation Museum; Battle of Leyte Gulf kamikaze photo collection), The National WWII Museum (Eyewitness to the Battle off Samar and the Loss of the USS St. Lo), Kamikaze Images (Last Letters of Lt Yukio Seki, tr. Bill Gordon), The Ethics of Suicide Digital Archive, University of Utah (citing Inoguchi, Nakajima and Pineau, The Divine Wind), Wikipedia (Kamikaze; Yukio Seki; Takijiro Onishi; USS St. Lo)<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>When was the first organised kamikaze attack?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The first organised kamikaze attacks took place on 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Special Attack aircraft hit the escort carriers Santee and Suwannee at about 07:40, and at about 10:50 Lt Yukio Seki&rsquo;s Shikishima unit attacked Taffy 3 off Samar, sinking USS St. Lo.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who created the kamikaze units?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, commander of the Japanese 1st Air Fleet in the Philippines, ordered the first Special Attack units in October 1944. At Mabalacat airfield on 19 October he proposed Zero fighters carrying 250 kg bombs that would crash into US carriers. He is often called the father of the kamikaze.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who was Yukio Seki?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yukio Seki was a 23-year-old Imperial Japanese Navy lieutenant chosen to lead the Shikishima unit, the first organised kamikaze unit. On 25 October 1944 he led five bomb-carrying Zeros against US escort carriers off Samar. He is usually credited with the hit that sank USS St. Lo, although this has been debated.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What was the first ship sunk by a kamikaze?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">USS St. Lo, a Casablanca-class escort carrier, was the first major warship sunk by a kamikaze. A Zero hit her flight deck at 10:51 on 25 October 1944 and its bomb set off fires and her magazine. She sank within about half an hour; 746 of the 889 men aboard survived.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which US escort carriers were attacked by kamikazes on 25 October 1944?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">In Taffy 1, Santee and Suwannee were hit by kamikazes on the morning of 25 October 1944. In Taffy 3, St. Lo was hit and sunk and Kalinin Bay was hit, while White Plains, Kitkun Bay and Fanshaw Bay were damaged by near misses, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What happened to Admiral Onishi after the war?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi took his own life by ritual disembowelment after Japan announced its surrender on 15 August 1945. He refused medical help and a second to end his suffering, and died on 16 August. His staff officer Rikihei Inoguchi wrote that Onishi had resolved to die once he formed the kamikaze corps.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When was the first organised kamikaze attack?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The first organised kamikaze attacks took place on 25 October 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Special Attack aircraft hit the escort carriers Santee and Suwannee at about 07:40, and at about 10:50 Lt Yukio Seki\u2019s Shikishima unit attacked Taffy 3 off Samar, sinking USS St. Lo.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who created the kamikaze units?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi, commander of the Japanese 1st Air Fleet in the Philippines, ordered the first Special Attack units in October 1944. At Mabalacat airfield on 19 October he proposed Zero fighters carrying 250 kg bombs that would crash into US carriers. He is often called the father of the kamikaze.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who was Yukio Seki?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yukio Seki was a 23-year-old Imperial Japanese Navy lieutenant chosen to lead the Shikishima unit, the first organised kamikaze unit. On 25 October 1944 he led five bomb-carrying Zeros against US escort carriers off Samar. He is usually credited with the hit that sank USS St. Lo, although this has been debated.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the first ship sunk by a kamikaze?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"USS St. Lo, a Casablanca-class escort carrier, was the first major warship sunk by a kamikaze. A Zero hit her flight deck at 10:51 on 25 October 1944 and its bomb set off fires and her magazine. She sank within about half an hour; 746 of the 889 men aboard survived.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which US escort carriers were attacked by kamikazes on 25 October 1944?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"In Taffy 1, Santee and Suwannee were hit by kamikazes on the morning of 25 October 1944. In Taffy 3, St. Lo was hit and sunk and Kalinin Bay was hit, while White Plains, Kitkun Bay and Fanshaw Bay were damaged by near misses, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What happened to Admiral Onishi after the war?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi took his own life by ritual disembowelment after Japan announced its surrender on 15 August 1945. He refused medical help and a second to end his suffering, and died on 16 August. His staff officer Rikihei Inoguchi wrote that Onishi had resolved to die once he formed the kamikaze corps.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/battle-off-samar-taffy-3-last-stand\/\">The Last Stand of Taffy 3<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/kugisho-yokosuka-mxy7-ohka-rocket-kamikaze-baka\/\">The Ohka: Japan&rsquo;s Rocket-Powered Kamikaze<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mitsubishi-a6m-zero-fighter-history-horikoshi\/\">Mitsubishi A6M Zero: The Fighter That Shocked the Allies<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hms-sussex-kamikaze-imprint-1945\/\">The Kamikaze That Left Its Shadow on a Warship: HMS Sussex, 1945<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 25 October 1944 the first organised kamikaze attacks hit US escort carriers off the Philippines. Lt Yukio Seki&rsquo;s Shikishima unit sank USS St. Lo.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29468619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29468697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Kamikaze Attack: Seki, Onishi and USS St. Lo | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first kamikaze attack: on 25 October 1944, Lt Yukio Seki&#039;s Shikishima unit of bomb-carrying Zeros sank the US escort carrier St. Lo off Samar.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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