Yamato

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Japan

Overview: Yamato was the lead ship of her class of Imperial Japanese Navy battleships and, alongside sister ship Musashi, is considered one of the two heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever built. She was designed specifically to counter the numerically superior U.S. Pacific battle fleet and remains one of the most famous warships of World War II. Specifications: Yamato and Musashi displaced nearly 72,000 tonnes (71,000 long tons) at full load, an extraordinary figure for the era, and mounted nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns — the largest naval guns ever fitted to a warship. These characteristics make her hull and turret arrangement a favorite subject for large-scale modelers seeking to capture her massive main battery and heavily armored citadel. Service History: Laid down in 1937, Yamato was formally commissioned about a week after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and served through 1942 as flagship of the Combined Fleet, including during the Battle of Midway. She later took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but despite her firepower she saw comparatively little direct action against enemy battleships and was ultimately sunk in April 1945 during Operation Ten-Go, a one-way sortie toward Okinawa, after sustained attacks by U.S. carrier aircraft. Notable Facts: Yamato's wreck was located in 1985 lying broken into two sections roughly 340 meters (1,120 ft) below the surface. The ship's name and legacy live on well beyond naval history circles through the influential Japanese anime series Space Battleship Yamato, which reimagined the vessel as a spacefaring warship.