six heavy cruisers, four light cruisers and eleven destroyers sunk. This represented a total of 305,452 tons or 13.22 percent of the total Japanese warship tonnage losses during the war. After Leyte Gulf, the IJN was finished as an effective force. At the end of battle, the IJN was left with six battleships , , , , and ; five fleet carriers , (never operational), , and the ; the light carrier ; the escort carriers and ; the training carrier ; eight heavy cruisers , , , , , , and ; nine light cruisers , , , , , , , and the ; and some twenty destroyers plus escorts, minesweepers, and patrol vessels. Last Sortie American forces landed on Okinawa on April 1. The Imperial General Headquarters decided to use every available resource to dislodge the enemy. A force, called Ten-Go, consisting of the battleship Yamato, the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers; the , , , , , , , , was assembled. Under the command of Vice-Admiral Seiichi Itō, the force was to be used as bait to draw away as many American carrier aircraft as possible, in order to leave Allied naval forces off Okinawa vulnerable against large scale kamikaze attacks. The Japanese were short of fuel, consequently the Yamato had only enough to reach Okinawa. Off Okinawa, it was planned to beach the battleship and use her guns to support the fighting on the island. Many of the captains of the ships were opposed to the operation preferring to be set loose as sea raiders. The force departed Tokuyama on April 6 at 16:00. At 04:00 on April 7, the Japanese force passed the Ōsumi Peninsula into the open ocean heading south from Kyūshū. The force had defensive formation, with Yahagi leading Yamato and the eight destroyers deployed in a ring around the two larger ships, with each ship from each other and proceeding at . At 09:00, the destroyer developed engine trouble and dropped out of line. At 11:15 the force turned southwest towards Okinawa. However, 15 minutes later the Japanese were sighted by American reconnaissance aircraft. All catapult aircraft on board the warships were ordered back to Kyūshū. At 12:32 some south of Kyūshū, the force was attacked by large numbers of American carrier aircraft. The waves of aircraft were continuous. The Yahagi, Hamakaze, and Isokaze were battered by torpedoes and