The Ship That Would Not Die
one destroyer was attacked by 22 kamikazes in 80 minutes and refused to die. she is still afloat in Charleston today.
One ship. Twenty-two suicide planes. Eighty minutes. The internet calls USS Laffey "The Ship That Would Not Die," and every time she trends, someone calls it a myth. So we pulled the records.
April 16, 1945. Off Okinawa, the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724) held Radar Picket Station No. 1, the most dangerous patch of ocean on Earth, the early-warning line between the fleet and every aircraft Japan could launch.
That morning the sky filled: some 50 planes on radar. Twenty-two of them chose her. For 80 minutes they came in waves, from the bow, from the stern, out of the sun. Her gunners fired until the barrels glowed and shot nine attackers out of the sky. But six kamikazes struck her and four bombs found her deck. Her stern burned. Her rudder jammed hard over. Thirty-two of her crew were killed and 71 wounded, out of 336.
And the Laffey kept shooting. She did not sink. She did not stop. Six days later she sailed out under her own power, bound for repair. The same ship had already survived D-Day at Normandy the year before.
The receipt is physical. She is still afloat today at Patriots Point in Charleston harbour, a museum ship since 1981 and a National Historic Landmark since 1986. You can stand on the deck that took six kamikazes.
Verdict: NOT BS. Twenty-two came for her. She came home.
The receipts are at bskiller.com/reels.
Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command (H-Gram 045), Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum, laffey.org, Warfare History Network.
Every claim in the film, checked against the record.
The full receipts — every claim, every source, checked against the record — are for BSKiller members. That is the whole point of the show: the receipts.