The following account is from the 04/12/45 log of the USS Stanly, provided by Bob Alexander. Bob was a Gunner’s Mate 1st Class on the ship and his memory of the attacks is quite good.
At 1449 diving out of a melee on our starboard boom, an unidentified plane out-ran our Combat Air Patrol and was taken under fire by 5” battery and automatic weapons as it approached on a collision course. The plane, although hit by automatic fire, crashed into our starboard bow, frame 23, about five feet above the water line, parts of it passing through the ship and continuing through the port side. A large explosion of the port bow at this time seemed to indicate that a bomb exploded there after passing through the ship. The plane, as sketched in enclosure (E), was approximately 20 feet long, had a 15 foot wing span and no engine or propeller was observed. Remains of a pilot were found in compartment A-302-L with the wreckage. Our speed at this time was 30 knots. At 1458 while we were maneuvering radically another dog-fight was going on high on our starboard quarter, and two Nips were shot out of the sky by our CAP. Suddenly a plane appeared out of nowhere low on our starboard beam. He closed us so rapidly that he was taken under fire by automatic weapons only. Many hits were observed, and a small section of his wing was shot away as he passed over the ship just aft of #2 stack, ripping our ensign. As we took him under fire to port he attempted to bank but hit the water 2,000 to 3,000 yards off our port bow, bounced once, hit the water again, and disintegrated. This was another engine less, propeller less plane, similar to the one that crashed into the ship. The speed of both planes was estimated to be in excess of 500 knots, and only a “swishing” was heard.
The attack is also described on p 413 of “Tin Cans” by Theodore Roscoe.