Commander T. Miyamoto

Interviewed in Tokyo on 25 October 1945, Miyamoto identified himself as a Second Fleet staff gunnery officer aboard Yamato. His description of the final attacks becomes less certain as damage mounts. He said that he was at the anti-aircraft guns and did not know much of what happened elsewhere. YT-Y02

When Yamato sank, he recalled being drawn underwater. He reached the surface amid disturbed water, then suffered a blow to the back of his head. For several minutes, he remembered nothing. A destroyer recovered him.

Some details of Yamato’s final movement and explosions, he explained, were things he heard aboard the rescuing ship. They were not all things he had watched. His testimony therefore carries two stories: what happened to him, and what he later learned about the ship he had escaped. YT-Y02

A name that needs care

The typescript spells the rescuing destroyer “FUKUZUKI”, while its force list gives “FUYUZUKI”. The linked Fuyutsuki profile explains that editorial identification. The account is one survivor’s testimony, not a complete rescue roll; the different published versions do not create additional witnesses.

Sources for this page

Open a note for the passage, inspection status and limits. Source records link to the available documents.

YT-Y02Miyamoto interrogation: original typescript and diagrams

Original postwar interrogation typescript · digitised microfilm scan

Passage: Original typescript pp.133-2–133-3 / PDF pp.2–3: duties aboard Yamato, sinking and rescue

The witness’s place aboard Yamato, named destroyer force, changing screen, sinking recollection, reported rescue and distinction between personal memory and information heard afterward. Named Isokaze in the 17th Destroyer Division and reported her disablement and later sinking by Japanese forces.

Checked: Seven images inspected in the initial audit; PDF pp.2–5 visually rechecked on 21 October 2026, especially pp.2–3. Catalogue and retained 7-page scan compared; SHA-256 cc37160a1b2c01a173b408100bb43cc8ec0a5a5c8b800a0bd219e4ce7a2788b9. Original pp.133-2–133-3 / PDF pp.2–3 visually rechecked on 21 October 2026 for Isokaze’s division, changing screen and reported loss. Typescript p.133-2 / PDF p.2 visually rechecked on 21 October 2026 for Yukikaze’s division and the changing screen. Personal account: original typescript pp.133-2–133-3 visually rechecked on 24 October 2026 for duties, memory gap and information heard after rescue.

Limits: Same testimony as YT-Y01, not an independent corroborating witness. The force list spells the name FUYUZUKI; the rescue passage says FUKUZUKI in both this typescript and the published transcription. Identifying the latter with Fuyutsuki is an editorial reading of that inconsistency. Its 41st Destroyer Squadron wording is compared with 41dg in the Japanese order. No rescue total, individual casualty roll or complete destroyer action log is supplied. Recalled timing and damage estimates are not final reconciled measurements. Miyamoto was aboard Yamato, not Isokaze; his later-loss answer does not establish an eyewitness scuttling account, exact time, weapon or individual rescue totals.

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