(BB) Yamato Class

Specifications:

Type: Battleship
Displacement: 68,200 long tons (69,300 t) trial
69,988 long tons (71,111 t) standard[2]
72,000 long tons (73,000 t) full load.[2]
Length: 256 metres (839 ft 11 in) at water-line[3]
263 metres (862 ft 10 in) overall[3]
Beam: 38.9 metres (127 ft 7 in)[3]
Draught: 10.4 metres (34 ft 1 in)
Propulsion: 12 Kanpon boilers, driving 4 steam turbines
150,000 shaft horsepower (110 MW)[3]
four 3-bladed propellers, 6 m (19 ft 8 in) diameter
Speed: 27 knots (50 km/h)[3]
Endurance: 7,200 nautical miles @ 16 knots (13,300 km @ 30 km/h)[3]
Complement: 2,767[4]

Armament:

Armament: 9 × 46 cm (18.1 in) (3×3).[2]
6 × 15.5 cm (6.1 in) (2×3).[2]
12 × 12.7 cm (5 in) (6×2).[2]
24 × 25 mm (0.98 in) AA (8×3)
13 × 13 mm (0.51 in) AA (2×2)[5]
Armor: 650 mm (26 in) on face of main turrets[5]
410 mm (16 in) side armor (400 mm (16 in) on Musashi),[5] inclined 20 degrees
200 mm (8 in) armored deck (75%)
230 mm (9 in) armored deck (25%)[5]
Aircraft carried: 7 aircraft, 2 catapults (Yamato, Musashi)
47 aircraft (Shinano)

History:

The Yamato class battleships (大和型戦艦, Yamato-gata senkan?) were battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) constructed and operated during World War II. Displacing 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) at full-load, the vessels of the class were the largest, heaviest, and most heavily-armed battleships ever constructed. The class carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to a warship, nine 460-millimetre (18.1 in) naval guns, each capable of firing 2,998-pound (1,360 kg) shells over 26 miles (42 km). Two battleships of the class (Yamato and Musashi) were completed, while a third—Shinano—was converted to an aircraft carrier during construction.

Due to the threat of American submarines and aircraft carriers, both Yamato and Musashi spent the majority of their careers in naval bases at Brunei, Truk, and Kure—deploying on several occasions in response to American raids on Japanese bases—before participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, as part of Admiral Kurita's Centre Force. Musashi was sunk during the course of the battle by American carrier airplanes. Shinano was sunk ten days after her commissioning in November 1944 by the submarine USS Archer-Fish, while Yamato was sunk in April 1945 during Operation Ten-Go.

On the eve of the Allies' occupation of Japan, special service officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyed virtually all records, drawings, and photographs of or relating to the Yamato-class battleships, leaving only fragmentary records of the design characteristics and other technical matters. The destruction of these documents was so efficient that until 1948 the only known images of the Yamato and Musashi were those taken by United States Navy aircraft involved in the attacks on the two battleships. Although some additional photographs and information from documents that were not destroyed have come to light over the years, the loss the majority of written records for the class has made extensive research into the Yamato class somewhat difficult.[6][7] Because of the lack of written records, information on the class largely came from interviews of Japanese officers following Japan's surrender.[8]