"List: 35 degrees... ..American planes..rush in for the kill... We are unable to take evasive action, so all the bombs hit their target; prostrate on the deck of the bridge, we endure the concussions.

The death-blow bombing is brutal, not a single bomb wasted. The precision is surgical...they may be the enemy, but they are doing a splendid job. I experience the elation of being taught by true professionals....

Amid all this, men crawling to the chair of the commander in chief: the staff officers, aren't they? The final conference?..

On reflecting afterward,I realize that in that moment the admiral had reached the direct and resolute conclusion: 'Stop the operation'.

The chief of staff edges forward, bracing his left arm on the compass, and salutes the admiral...

The admiral returns the salute, and the eyes of the two men meet....

He (Admiral Ito) shakes hands warmly with the several staff advisers who crawl up to him...

Turning his tall body about, he departs via the ladder to the admiral's private quarters directly under the bridge.

Thus comes to an end the role the admiral has played in our presence, he who since the battle began has remained utterly aloof and has not stirred in the slightest...was this his silent protest against the fate of being remembered as the highest-ranking officer of an operation that will live in naval annals for its recklessness and stupidity?

A man of refreshing directness, the tall and graceful Admiral Ito.

Fondling his pistol, did he experience with his own body the death of the ship?

Thus the last moments of Vice Admiral Ito Seiichi, commander in chief of Task Force II...

It must have been his cherished ambition to die in the line of duty as commander of the last task force sent into battle by the Imperial Navy"

Yoshida Mitsuru, "Requiem for Battleship Yamato"

US Navy Caption: "Japanese battleship Yamato listing to port and afire at the after end of her superstructure, but still underway, while under attack by U.S. Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, 7 April 1945. A torpedo plane's view of battleship Yamato. This is how Japan's mightiest warship appeared as six lone U.S. Navy torpedo planes raced in to destroy her. She is still making 10 to 15 knots, though fires continue to burn amidships."

This is an extreme close-up from a photo taken from a couple of miles away. The dots above the front of Yamato may be US Navy planes that have just strafed her, or completed their torpedo drops and are veering away. Then again, they may just be splotches on the negative.

Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV-10) plane."