Military
4
On April 6, 1945, North Carolina was fighting off the coast of Okinawa with three large aircraft carriers, two light carriers, three battleships, four light cruisers, and 12 destroyers when an estimated 182 Japanese kamikazes in 22 groups attacked the Allied ships. Just after 1 o'clock in the afternoon, an Allied ship fired at a low-flying kamikaze and accidentally struck North Carolina. A 5-inch/38 caliber projectile hit the base of the port-side 5-inch battery director, Sky II, just above the signal bridge. Forty-four men were wounded and three were killed: Edward Emil Brenn, Chief Fire Controlman Carl Elmer Karam Jr., and Seaman 1/c John Malcolm Watson. Crew members later recalled the heavy casualties on the signal bridge, the shell having been fired by one of their own destroyers, and the shock of hearing shrapnel strike the steel around them. A burial at sea ceremony took place on April 7, 1945, with Chaplain Redman conducting Protestant services for Karam and Watson and Chaplain Klass conducting Catholic services for Brenn.
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North Carolina · United States
