USS Saratoga, Bikini Atoll

My 86 year old uncle was on the ship during the kamikaze hits. He is only now talking to us about it and he gets very emotional, obviously. His best friend was blown up next to him. He had to go away for awhile to get help after the war. He went on to raise his family and is a wonderful, humble man. We never knew the full story until saw information on the internet. I am going to make sure our whole family knows what a great man our uncle really is. I salute all who ever served.

I think that'll be CV60, not CV3, same name different ship! Thhis one sunk in 1946. The CV60 is de-commisioned, and currently a floating hulk. There are moves to make it a museum.

my uncle served on that ship in Vietnam

excellent!

yea, old sara should've been made a floating museum,not a wreck on the bottom

My Grandpap was on Saratoga, when Kamikaze'S**t , was below deck, half of his left leg was mangled, medics saved it, spent rest of life w/huge metal rod holding it together. Never complained, would brag how Sara the lady, held together & saw majority of crew back to safe port. Sara wasn't called Pacific Tin Can for nothing, not famous like Enterprise, but the experiences of those who served on her shouldn't be forgotten. Talk to these vet's b4we lose them. In their story's real history lives on.

21 Feb 1945 battle at Iwo Jima-5 kamikazes get
through Sara's AA fire & hit the ship,spewing
huge fireballs,& the force of some hits &
their bomb blasts penetrate to hangar deck.
Aerial bombs from bombers hit & some penetrate
to hangar deck.Fires rage.Firefighters prevent
massive explosions of gasoline systems &
ordnance.123 crewmen are lost.My dad was a 19
year old 20mm gunner who survived.I lost him
in 2003.Talk to some of Sara's old warriors
before we lose them all.

15 kamikazes attack Saratoga February 21, 1945
at Iwo Jima. 5 hit the ship. When one hits the
flight deck its 550lb bomb doesn't explode but
slides across the deck into a 40mm gun group,
explodes, killing all the men in the group.
During the battle my dad fights as a 20mm
gunner. 123 crewmen are lost. On Resurrection
Day the sea will give up our American heroes.

Thanks for the info . i guess no ship has a happy ending wether it`s cut up in a scrap yard or used in experiments etc. keep the good video`s coming.

The blast didn't sink her as such, but she sunk several hours later as a result of the effects of the blast. If a crew were aboard, they probably could have saved her, but obviously it was too "hot" to have anyone aboard. The blast took out the smoke stack and the falling sea water stoved in the flight deck. There are 2 Japanese vessels here, HIJMS Sakawa and HIJMS Nagato, the former flag ship.

Thank you so much for this video. Sara deserved better, at least she went down fighting, and settled like the lady she is.

thanks man. so the blast didnt sink her? must have been too badly damaged and radio active for any other use. were there a few jap vessels at the blast site? i heard the the blast sent about 9 ships to the sea bed.

Yes the Saratoga was badly damaged by kamikaze strikes and also torpedoes throughout her career. She was repaired, and her last job was Operation Magic Carpet, returning service men home from overseas postings. She was then taken to Bikini for Operation Crossroads, where she sank after the Baker blast.

correct me if im wrong but i think the sara toger was badly damaged in ww2 and at the end of the war was subjected to the a bomb test in bakini which sent her to the sea bed. wonder if its still radio active.

Saratoga was pretty much obsolete by the end of the war, and was in use as a training ship when she was requisitioned for Crossroads. I wasn't aware that RN personnel had served aboard, but not surprised. Planes were Hellcats and Hell divers.