{"id":25636657,"date":"2026-09-30T06:52:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=25636657"},"modified":"2026-09-30T06:52:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:52:04","slug":"ss-john-burke-kamikaze-liberty-ship-explosion-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/ss-john-burke-kamikaze-liberty-ship-explosion-1944\/","title":{"rendered":"SS John Burke: The Liberty Ship a Kamikaze Erased in Seconds"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>At 10:12 on the morning of 28 December 1944, a Japanese <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a6m-zero\/\">A6M Zero<\/a> dived through anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the Liberty ship SS John Burke in the Mindanao Sea. For a few seconds there was only smoke. Then her cargo of ammunition went up, and the ship disappeared under a mushroom cloud of fire and debris. None of the 68 men aboard survived.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The film of that moment is one of the most shocking pieces of footage of the Pacific War, and it circulates constantly on social media. Most of the posts get the core right. Several details, from the ship&rsquo;s name to the death toll, are wrong.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Ship:<\/strong> SS John Burke, Liberty ship (not a Navy &ldquo;USS&rdquo;)<\/li><li><strong>Date:<\/strong> 28 December 1944, about 10:12<\/li><li><strong>Location:<\/strong> Mindanao Sea, en route to Mindoro, Philippines<\/li><li><strong>Cargo:<\/strong> Ammunition for the Mindoro invasion force<\/li><li><strong>Attackers:<\/strong> A6M Zero kamikazes of the 201st Air Group, from Cebu<\/li><li><strong>Killed:<\/strong> All 68 aboard: 40 merchant mariners, 28 Armed Guard<\/li><li><strong>Wreck:<\/strong> About 1,500 ft (457 m) deep<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:28px 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/ss-john-burke-kamikaze-28-december-1944.png\" alt=\"SS John Burke explodes, 28 December 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;display:block\" \/><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:8px\">The moment SS John Burke&rsquo;s cargo of ammunition detonated, 28 December 1944, in a frame from US Navy film. Image: US Navy, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">An ammunition ship for Mindoro<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>John Burke was one of 2,710 Liberty ships, the mass-produced cargo carriers that moved the Allied war effort across the oceans. Built at Portland, Oregon, in just 33 days in late 1942, she was owned by the War Shipping Administration and run by the Northland Transportation Company of Seattle. She was a merchant ship, crewed by 40 civilian merchant mariners, with a US Navy Armed Guard of 28 (some sources say 29) to man her guns. Viral posts routinely call her the &ldquo;USS&rdquo; John Burke. She was never a Navy ship.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:28px 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/ss-john-burke-liberty-ship-1944.jpg\" alt=\"SS John Burke off Vancouver Island, May 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;display:block\" \/><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:8px\">SS John Burke off Vancouver Island on 10 May 1944, seven months before she was lost. Photo: Canadian Forces, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>In late 1944 she loaded munitions at Guam for the American landings on Mindoro, the island US forces needed as an airfield base for the invasion of Luzon. She joined a resupply convoy that reached Leyte on the night of 27 December and then turned into the Mindanao Sea for Mindoro. The weather that morning was poor, and the escorts were told their air cover would not launch until it cleared.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:28px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uMHMsmp6BZA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Three Zeros from Cebu<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Japanese sent a small kamikaze flight from Cebu. According to Japanese records, the attackers were three A6M Zero fighters of the 201st Air Group, led by Lt. Masami Hoshino, each carrying a 250 kg bomb. They found the convoy through breaks in the cloud south of Cebu and Bohol.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:28px 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/a6m-zero-kamikaze-attack-us-navy-ship.jpg\" alt=\"A6M Zero kamikaze diving on a US ship\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;display:block\" \/><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:8px\">A Mitsubishi A6M Zero kamikaze dives on a US Navy ship. Three Zeros carrying 250 kg bombs attacked the Mindoro convoy on 28 December 1944. Photo: US Navy, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>One Zero, hit by anti-aircraft fire, kept coming and crashed into John Burke between her No. 2 and No. 3 cargo holds. Witnesses saw a brief flash, then smoke pouring from the hold, then a pillar of fire. Seconds later the cargo detonated. The blast rocked the whole convoy, with some ships reporting they had been torpedoed. A small US Army supply ship just astern of John Burke was so badly damaged that it sank before it could even be identified.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #c0392b;padding:22px 26px;margin:30px 0\"><p style=\"font-size:19px;line-height:1.6;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 12px\">&ldquo;John Burke was obliterated in a massive explosion along with all 68 of her Merchant Marine crew.&rdquo;<\/p><p style=\"margin:0;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Samuel J. Cox<\/strong>, Director, Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 040<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>When the smoke cleared, nearby ships closed in to search for survivors. There were none. Friendly fighters arrived over the convoy only after noon, once the weather lifted.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:28px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PsI79eO23K0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the viral version gets wrong<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Instagram-style retelling says the &ldquo;USS&rdquo; John Burke was hit &ldquo;near Mindoro&rdquo;, that more than 4,000 tons of explosives went up, that the blast was visible more than 35 miles away and that all 100 men aboard vanished. The record says otherwise on several counts. She was a merchant ship, not a Navy one. She was lost in the Mindanao Sea, well short of Mindoro. The death toll was 68, not 100. And neither the Navy&rsquo;s own accounts nor the standard references give her cargo tonnage or a visibility distance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The 4,000-ton figure looks borrowed from a different disaster. On 10 November 1944 the Navy ammunition ship USS Mount Hood blew up in Seeadler Harbor at Manus with about 3,800 tons of ordnance aboard, killing 372 people. Photographs of that explosion are frequently mixed up with the John Burke.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:28px 0\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/uss-mount-hood-explosion-seeadler-harbor-1944.jpg\" alt=\"USS Mount Hood explodes, 10 November 1944\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;display:block\" \/><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:8px\">The ammunition ship USS Mount Hood explodes in Seeadler Harbor, Manus, on 10 November 1944 with about 3,800 tons of ordnance aboard. Images of this blast are often confused with the John Burke. Photo: US Navy, public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Not the last<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The attacks on the Mindoro convoys went on for days. On 30 December kamikazes hit the PT-boat tender Orestes and the destroyers Gansevoort and Pringle, and the Liberty ships Hobart Baker and Simon G. Reed were lost to bombing. Then, on 4 January 1945, it happened again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:22px 26px;margin:30px 0\"><p style=\"font-size:19px;line-height:1.6;font-style:italic;margin:0 0 12px\">&ldquo;A kamikaze hit the Liberty ship Lewis L. Dyche, which had a cargo of ammunition and, like John Burke, blew up in a catastrophic explosion that killed all 71 merchant mariners aboard.&rdquo;<\/p><p style=\"margin:0;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Samuel J. Cox<\/strong>, Director, Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 040<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>John Burke was one of three Liberty ships, and one of 47 ships in all, sunk by kamikaze attack in the Second World War. Her fragments lie about 1,500 feet down in the Mindanao Sea. The film of her final seconds remains the most vivid record of what a single aircraft could do to a ship full of ammunition.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:28px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dnPEASQQWjA\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\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>What happened to the SS John Burke?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">SS John Burke was an American Liberty ship carrying ammunition to the invasion force on Mindoro, Philippines. On 28 December 1944 a Japanese A6M Zero kamikaze crashed into her between the No. 2 and No. 3 cargo holds, and her cargo detonated in a huge explosion that destroyed the ship. Everyone aboard was killed.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many people died on the SS John Burke?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">All 68 men aboard were killed: 40 merchant mariners and a US Navy Armed Guard gun crew of 28 (some sources say 29). Viral posts claiming 100 dead overstate the toll.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the John Burke a US Navy ship?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. Despite often being called the &ldquo;USS&rdquo; John Burke, she was a merchant ship, the SS John Burke, a Liberty ship owned by the War Shipping Administration and operated by the Northland Transportation Company of Seattle, with a small Navy Armed Guard to man her guns.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How much ammunition was the John Burke carrying?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The exact tonnage is not recorded in the main historical sources. She had loaded munitions at Guam for the Mindoro invasion force. The widely repeated figure of over 4,000 tons is unsourced and resembles the roughly 3,800 tons of ordnance aboard the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood, which exploded at Manus in November 1944.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Which aircraft attacked the John Burke?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The attackers were Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters of the Japanese 201st Air Group, flying from Cebu as kamikazes, each carrying a 250 kg bomb. Japanese records name the flight leader as Lt. Masami Hoshino.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Where did the John Burke sink?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The ship was destroyed in the Mindanao Sea, between Negros, Siquijor and Mindanao, while the convoy was en route to Mindoro. Her fragments lie about 1,500 feet (457 m) deep.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Were other ammunition ships lost the same way?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. On 4 January 1945 another Liberty ship bound for Mindoro, the Lewis L. Dyche, was hit by a kamikaze and blew up, killing all 71 merchant mariners aboard. SS John Burke was one of three Liberty ships and 47 ships in total sunk by kamikaze attack in the Second World War.<\/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\":\"What happened to the SS John Burke?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"SS John Burke was an American Liberty ship carrying ammunition to the invasion force on Mindoro, Philippines. On 28 December 1944 a Japanese A6M Zero kamikaze crashed into her between the No. 2 and No. 3 cargo holds, and her cargo detonated in a huge explosion that destroyed the ship. Everyone aboard was killed.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many people died on the SS John Burke?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"All 68 men aboard were killed: 40 merchant mariners and a US Navy Armed Guard gun crew of 28 (some sources say 29). Viral posts claiming 100 dead overstate the toll.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the John Burke a US Navy ship?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. Despite often being called the \\\"USS\\\" John Burke, she was a merchant ship, the SS John Burke, a Liberty ship owned by the War Shipping Administration and operated by the Northland Transportation Company of Seattle, with a small Navy Armed Guard to man her guns.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How much ammunition was the John Burke carrying?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The exact tonnage is not recorded in the main historical sources. She had loaded munitions at Guam for the Mindoro invasion force. The widely repeated figure of over 4,000 tons is unsourced and resembles the roughly 3,800 tons of ordnance aboard the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood, which exploded at Manus in November 1944.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which aircraft attacked the John Burke?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The attackers were Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters of the Japanese 201st Air Group, flying from Cebu as kamikazes, each carrying a 250 kg bomb. Japanese records name the flight leader as Lt. Masami Hoshino.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Where did the John Burke sink?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The ship was destroyed in the Mindanao Sea, between Negros, Siquijor and Mindanao, while the convoy was en route to Mindoro. Her fragments lie about 1,500 feet (457 m) deep.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Were other ammunition ships lost the same way?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. On 4 January 1945 another Liberty ship bound for Mindoro, the Lewis L. Dyche, was hit by a kamikaze and blew up, killing all 71 merchant mariners aboard. SS John Burke was one of three Liberty ships and 47 ships in total sunk by kamikaze attack in the Second World War.\"}}]}<\/script><p style=\"font-size:14px;color:#777;font-style:italic;margin-top:28px\">Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 040 (Samuel J. Cox) and H-Gram 039 on the loss of USS Mount Hood; Robert M. Browning Jr., <em>U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II<\/em>; Robin L. Rieley, <em>Kamikaze Attacks of World War II<\/em>; Wikipedia, &ldquo;SS John Burke&rdquo;.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<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\">Related Posts<\/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><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\/uss-indianapolis-atomic-bomb-sinking\/\">The Ship That Delivered the Bomb<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On 28 December 1944 a kamikaze Zero hit the ammunition-laden Liberty ship SS John Burke. The explosion killed all 68 aboard. What the viral film posts get wrong.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":25636175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25636657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SS John Burke: The Kamikaze Explosion of 28 December 1944<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SS John Burke, an ammunition-laden Liberty ship, was destroyed by a kamikaze Zero on 28 December 1944, killing all 68 aboard. 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