File:USS Bunker Hill CV-17 1945 (49254394843).jpg

USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) burning after being hit by "Kamikaze" suicide planes during the Okinawa operation, 11 May 1945. " While operating with a fast carrier task force in the slot between Okinawa and Kyushu on the morning of May 11, the USS Bunker Hill, her flight deck jammed with planes ready for take off, was hit twice within thirty seconds by two Jap Kamikazes. These two suicide hits, acting as fuses to the gasoline filled and bomb laden planes, set the stage for one of the most heroic battles of the Pacific war. Fighting suffocating flames and exploding rockets and bombs, the gallant crew, its heroes unnumbered, sacrificed 392 dead or missing and 264 wounded to save their ship. A mass of charred and twisted wreckage, the USS Bunker Hill, ranking as one of the wars major surviving casualties, has returned to a West Coast yard. Workers again will restore her to one of the Navy's finest carriers, ready to write another chapter in the history of a famous name. The USS Bunker Hill, as seen from the light cruiser USS Wilkes Barre which came alongside to assist in fighting the spreading fires, shows the flight deck of the carrier once the fires were under control. Smoke from the smoldering ruins, brought about by the kamikaze hits, still rises through the guns and wrecked planes.

Official US Navy Photograph # 328617 ( and Description)