USS Emmons Memorial Dive

AFN Okinawa
April 6, 2024 | 0:30

American and Japanese divers conducted a memorial dive to the USS Emmons (DD-457/DMS-22), a U.S. Navy Gleaves-class destroyer later converted to a minesweeper shortly before the Battle of Okinawa, the ship’s final resting place, located off the western coast of Okinawa near Kouri Island April 6, 2024. First commissioned on December 5, 1941, USS Emmons served across the globe from New England, Normandy, and North Africa to the Mediterranean, the Gold Coast, and finally, Okinawa. On April 6, in the first week of the Battle of Okinawa, USS Emmons was attacked by five kamikaze aircraft. With 60 dead, 77 wounded, and the badly damaged ship drifting towards enemy-controlled territory, USS Ellyson sank Emmons by gunfire in the early morning hours of April 7, 1945. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason Isaacs)