on this day in arrogant American history..

1945

The Japanese battleship Yamato, the biggest battleship ever built, a fortress-of-the-sea thought to be unsinkable, was destroyed off Kyushu, Japan, on this day. One member of the arrogant, desmissive, and derisive US fighting force, a William Arthur Elings, Ensign, U.S. Navy (Reserve), was awarded the Navy Cross for piloting a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane in to close range through adverse weather conditions and intense enemy fire contributing materially to the complete destruction of the Yamato a short time later.