1. The History of the USS Cassin Young
Commissioned 31 December 1943

2. Captain Cassin Young (1894 – 1942)
Born: Washington, DC March 6, 1942
Graduated US Naval Academy: June 3, 1916
First Command: USS Evans
Command on Dec. 7, 1941: USS Vestal

3. December 7, 1941 USS Vestal damaged in initial attacks
Arizona explosion threw Young overboard
He swam through burning oil to save the ship
He took the ship to sea, ensuring it was not sunk
Young was awarded the Medal of Honor for valor

4. Young’s Medal of Honor Citation
For distinguished conduct in action, outstanding heroism and utter disregard of his own safety, above and beyond the call of duty, as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Vestal, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, by enemy Japanese forces on December 7, Commander Young proceeded to the bridge and later took personal command of the 3-inch antiaircraft gun. When blown overboard by the blast of the forward magazine explosion of the U.S.S. Arizona, to which the U.S.S. Vestal was moored, he swam back to his ship. The entire forward part of the U.S.S. Arizona was a blazing inferno with oil afire on the water between the two ships; as a result of several bomb hits, the U.S.S. Vestal was afire in several places, was settling and taking on a list. Despite severe enemy bombing and strafing at the time, and his shocking experience of having been blown overboard, Commander Young, with extreme coolness and calmness, moved his ship to an anchorage distant from the U.S.S. Arizona, and subsequently beached the U.S.S. Vestal upon determining that such action was required to save his ship.

5. Battle of Guadalcanal
Young was KIA November 1942

6. The USS Cassin Young was commissioned 31 December 1943

7. Kamikaze Pilots – Their Target: USS Cassin Young
Means “Divine Wind”
Kamikazes sunk 47 US ships; damaged 300
Samurai culture taught death or shame… defeat was not an option
1096 Japanese pilots died as Kamikazes

8. Sasaki Hachiro on left (18 yrs old)
After all I am just a human being. Sometimes, my chest pounds with excitement when I think of the day I will fly into the sky. I trained my mind and body as hard as I could and am anxious for the day I can use them to their full capacity in fighting. I think my life and death belong to the mission. Yet, at other times, I envy those science majors who remain at home [exempt from the draft]. … One of my souls looks to heaven, while the other is attracted to the earth. I wish to enter the Navy as soon as possible so that I can devote myself to the task. I hope that the days when I am tormented by stupid thoughts will pass quickly.
—Sasaki Hachiro
Sasaki Hachiro on left (18 yrs old)
I am pleased to have the honour of having been chosen as a member of a Special Attack Force that is on its way into battle, but I cannot help crying when I think of you, Mum. When I reflect on the hopes you had for my future ... I feel so sad that I am going to die without doing anything to bring you joy.
—Ichizo Hayashi, last letter home a few days before his final flight. April 1945

9. Yukio Araki Yukio Araki (center) pictured 26 May 1945 with squadron
He did not know he would die the next day at Okinawa – age 17
He remains the youngest Kamikaze in Japanese history

10. Araki wrote this letter on the morning of 27 May 1945
I am writing my last letter. I trust you have been doing well recently.
I am leaving today (May 27) on a glorious mission. I will surely achieve great success in battle. I will be waiting for the day we meet at Kudan with the cherry trees blooming.
Please take care of yourselves. Please give my regards to my younger brothers and to everyone in the neighbor association.
I am sending to you locks of my hair cut.
Please take care of yourselves. Please excuse this hastily written note.
Sayonara
Yukio

11. The Service of the USS Cassin Young
The USS Cassin Young arrived at Pearl Harbor 19 March 1944
She escorted carriers in the Pacific through January 1945
She saw action at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Guam, and Formosa

12. First hit by Kamikaze The highest mast was hit 12 April 1945.
The Cassin Young shot down 9 enemy planes in the days preceding
She rescued the crew of the USS Callaghan after it was hit and sunk
Her mast was struck by a Kamikaze pilot 12 April 1945, killing one.

13. Paul M. Jones – Executive Officer: USS Cassin Young
"We were stationed around like a clock. We had moved over to the o'clock station... as the planes got miles away, we heard reports from out talkers, saying that 'They are coming down like candles!'...There are just so many planes coming in that we couldn't get them all, and one of them hit the upper radar and the foremast. And he was carrying a 21" shell that exploded on contact, spreading shrapnel throughout the whole deck."

14. 30 July 1945 – 03:26 Second Hit Main Deck – Starboard Side
22 Dead; 45 Wounded
Near Okinawa

15. Heath Haggerty – Gunner’s Mate
"My battle station was on this forty millimeter, it was about 3 or 3:30 am, there was somewhat of a moon...they picked up a bogey quite a few thousand yards out. You know we weren't too impressed because it was quite a ways out....We turned everything on and just seconds later, they told us, 'Action starboard, commence firing,' ...and I thought 'What the hell happened here?' First they say he was 12,000 yards away, and now he's right here...."

16. The Damage
Some of the damage is still visible today.

17. “Pandemonium”
"There was pandemonium on the deck, because what they were trying to do is get people out of the fire room and still secure the ship so that there wouldn't be any further extension of the damage...different areas of the ship were badly hit.”
– George Finnigan
Navigator
(January 1922 – January 2012)
Most of the men who perished were killed by a broken steam pipe that spewed 800 degree water vapor on the men below deck.

18. The last thing many of the crew saw…
The plane that hit the Cassin Young was smoking as it hit
A plane came directly over a hanging lifeboat – It would have been between the two curl arms seen below.

19. James Marrs - Quartermaster
"That plane came in and hit the starboard whaleboat while it was rigged out. You always had one lifeboat when you are at sea that was rigged out on davits, so you could get it over the side quick. And he flew into it. So all the force was out there....If he had hit us, I think we would have probably sunk. And that's where the force went. And that's where we were lucky, in that respect.”

20. The 22 who died could not have known they would die that day.
Repairs were quickly made, and the USS Cassin Young floated back to safety

21. James Marrs – Quartermaster
"On the way back to Saipan, Ulithi, we had a ceremony like burial at sea, except that we didn't actually bury anybody. And then, when we came back after the war was over, we had a kind of memorial service for the guys we had lost, and the fact that we were out of the war."