The Yamato was a Japanese battleship launched in 1940; she and her twin Musashi were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships
ever made, as well as the only warships ever armed with cannons of caliber 460 millimeters. Their armored belt was intended to withstand
impacts from projectiles of such caliber, but it was a relatively short one, which left the ends of the hull very vulnerable. The
underwater protection was a proportionally poor one for a ship of that size. The draught was relatively shallow and this gave as result a
large beam. The characteristic bulb in the prow reduced the hydrodynamic resistance about 8 percent when navigating at maximum speed.
The fire blasts of the main armament were so wide and intense that the light antiaircraft mountings were shielded and the lifeboats were
stored under the deck.
Actually, the powerful Imperial Japanese Navy was experiencing a delusion. The battleship fleet was completely formed by super-dreadnought
battleships, which had been modernized in an attempt to make up their obsolescence, and only the ships of the Yamato class stood out
among those ships. But also these modern battleships were a notorious delusion. The excessive displacement was not compensated by the
relatively limited power of the propulsion plant, and this caused a reduced maximum speed as well as a huge fuel consumption. The armor
was a really thick one but the quality of the steel has been questioned. The antiaircraft armament was certainly numerous, but the
mountings were of poor quality compared with those installed in Allied warships; a large part of them lacked motorization and even the
motorized ones had a slow rotation speed.
Neither the Yamato nor the Musashi would have a chance to prove their worth against the enemy battleships. In April 1945, being the
Japanese Fleet already subdued by the lack of fuel, the Yamato was sent on a suicide mission to defend the island of Okinawa from the
Allied invasion, carrying enough fuel for arriving to the island but not for returning to Japan. A furious attack performed by hordes of
carrier-borne dive bombers and torpedo planes caused the sinking of the legendary battleship and the annihilation of the largest part of
her complement. In October 1944 the Musashi had succumbed in similar circumstances. This was a clear testimony of the end of the battleship
era, as the reign upon the seas had been taken by the aircraft carriers. Because of this the third unit of the class, the Shinano, was
completed as an aircraft carrier, whereas the fourth unit was scrapped when only a third part of her construction had been completed.
The illustration shows the Yamato as she was during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. Notable features are the abundant antiaircraft
armament and the facilities located astern, where the Mitsubishi F1M2 dive bombers and the Aichi E13A1 seaplanes were operated. The
superstructures are populated by numerous fire control devices which direct the aim of antiaircraft mountings and search lights.
Class: Yamato (2 units - Musashi, Yamato)
Type: Battleship
Length: 263 meters
Beam: 38.9 meters
Draught: 11 meters
Displacement (standard): 65020 tonnes
Propulsion: 4 x shaft, 4 x steam turbine Kampon, 12 x boiler Kampon, 153000 horsepower
Speed: 27.5 knots (50.8 kilometers/hour)
Range: 7200 nautical miles (13330 kilometers) at 16 knots
Fuel: 6400 tonnes of petrol
Complement: 2200 in 1941; 2800 in 1945
Armament (in 1941): 9 x 460-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 12 x 155-millimeter 55-caliber cannon, 12 x 127-millimeter 40-caliber cannon,
24 x 25-millimeter cannon, 4 x 13.2-millimeter machine gun, 6 x aircraft
Armament (in 1945): 9 x 460-millimeter 45-caliber cannon, 6 x 155-millimeter 55-caliber cannon, 24 x 127-millimeter 40-caliber cannon,
146 x 25-millimeter cannon, 4 x 13.2-millimeter machine gun, 6 x aircraft
Armor: 100-410 millimeters in belt, 300-340 millimeters in bulkheads, 200-230 millimeters in deck, 380-560 millimeters in barbettes,
190-650 millimeters in main turrets, 25 millimeters in secondary turrets, 500 millimeters in conning tower
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