Musashi

History

Musashi (武蔵), named after the former Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), beginning in the late 1930s. The Yamato-class ships were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing almost 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) fully loaded and armed with nine 46-centimetre (18.1 in) main guns. Their secondary armament consisted of four 15.5-centimetre (6.1 in) triple-gun turrets formerly used by the Mogami-class cruisers. They were equipped with six or seven floatplanes to conduct reconnaissance.
Commissioned in mid-1942, Musashi was modified to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and spent the rest of the year working up. The ship was transferred to Truk in early 1943 and sortied several times that year with the fleet in unsuccessful searches for American forces. She was used to transfer forces and equipment between Japan and various occupied islands several times in 1944. Torpedoed in early 1944 by an American submarine, Musashi was forced to return to Japan for repairs, during which the navy greatly augmented her anti-aircraft armament. She was present during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, but did not come in contact with American surface forces. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Over half of her crew was rescued. Her wreck was located in March 2015 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his team of researchers.

Design

Musashi's construction shipyard was surrounded by a ginormous curtain to make sure people couldn't spy on her by land. Instead, people spied on her by air.

Service

After 4 years of immensely secretive construction, super-battleship Musashi was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese navy on the 5th of August 1942, joining the 1st Battleship Division alongside Nagato, Mutsu, and her sister-ship Yamato. Stationed at Nagasaki, she spent the rest of 1943 working up. She officially joined the Combined Fleet on the 15th of January 1943, under the command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. She arrived at Truk one the 22nd of January, and replaced Yamato as the Combined Fleet’s flagship by the 11th of February. She remained at Truk until mid-May of 1943, where she sortied to the northern Pacific in response to American attacks on Attu island, but failed to make contact with American forces. She sortied a second time with an even stronger fleet shortly after, but was called back to Yokosuka after failing to reach Attu before the American forces captured it. On the 23rd of May, she embarked Yamamoto’s ashes and carried them to Tokyo for a formal state funeral. After returning to Yokosuka for thorough inspections, she was visited by Emperor Hirohito and his staff during late June. She returned to Truk by the 6th of August 1943, resuming her position as flagship of the Combined Fleet, now under the command of Admiral Mineichi Koga.

Her next big sortie came on the 17th of October 1943. Having intercepted American radio traffic suggesting another raid on Wake Island, Musashi sortied from Truk at the head of a powerful fleet including five other battleships, three carriers, eleven cruisers and several dozen destroyers to intercept the American carrier force, but once again Musashi and her fleet fail to find the American forces. She spent the remainder of 1943 at Truk Lagoon where she functioned as the command ship for the region. She finally left Truk on the 10th of February 1944, when she returned to Yokosuka. After Yamato and Musashi were reassigned from the First Fleet to the Second Fleet, Musashi embarked several thousand men of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Special Naval Landing Forces and their equipment and set sail for Palau, arriving by the 29th of February where she remained until late March. On the 29th of March, Musashi departed Palau in the dead of night to avoid a potential air raid, but was discovered by submarine USS Tunny, who fired off six torpedoes at Musashi and scored a hit on her port bow, tearing open a 5.6 meter diameter hole, flooding her with 2,630 tons of water. Before she departed Palau however, Admiral Koga departed Musashi via plane for the Philippines to set up a new headquarters at Davao. Admiral Koga’s plane was caught in a typhoon, and Koga perished. After momentary repairs, Musashi set sail for Kure, managing 24 knots under cover of darkness. Entering dry dock at Kure on the 10th of April 1944, the hole in her bow was properly repaired, while her anti-aircraft armament suite was substantially increased, with her wing 15.5cm turrets being removed to make more room for 25mm triple-mount AA guns, and her AA firepower was further improved by the addition of 4 more radars.

In early May 1944, Musashi departed Kure bound for Okinawa, joined by six aircraft carriers and four destroyers. She then moved to Tawi-Tawi by the 12th of May, joining Vice Admiral Jisaburou Ozawa’s fleet alongside Yamato. She sortied towards Batjan on the 10th of June, preparing to launch a counterattack against the Allied invasion of Biak. Two days later, after receiving news of American attacks on Saipan, Musashi was diverted to the Mariana Islands, joining Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s 2nd fleet on arrival. She was present for the following Battle of the Philippine Sea, but was not attacked. Following the disastrous defeat at the hands of the numerically and technologically superior American Fast Attack Forces, Musashi and the survivors returned to Japan. On the 8th of July, Musashi and Yamato embarked 3,500 men and set sail for Lingga Island off Malaysia, arriving on the 17th of July. Musashi remained at Lingga performing training exercises until the 18th of October 1944, where she sailed for Brunei Bay in Borneo to join the main Japanese fleet building up for the planned counterattack against American landings at Leyte. Musashi, at the head of Kurita’s “1st Diversion Force”, set sail for the Philippines on the 22nd of October.

While transiting the Sibuyan Sea through the Philippines on the 24th of October, Musashi’s fleet was spotted by American reconnaissance aircraft from American carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11). Two hours after being initially spotted, eight Helldiver dive bombers attacked Musashi with 1000-pound bombs; only one hit her No.1 Turret, and it failed to penetrate. Shortly after, a torpedo dropped by an Avenger (also from Intrepid) struck her starboard amidships, tearing a hole and letting in 3,000 tons of water, as Musashi developed a 5.5-degree list. During this initial attack, two Avengers were shot down. An hour and a half later, another eight Helldivers from Intrepid fell upon Musashi, this time with two bombs hitting; one failed to explode after striking the forecastle and penetrating two upper decks before passing through the bow flare above the waterline, while the second penetrated two decks and exploded in the middle deck, disabling several of her portside AA guns. Two minutes later, nine Avengers attack Musashi, with three torpedoes striking her port side amidships. She pushed her engines up to her hampered top speed of 22 knots, while she opened fire with all her guns, including firing anti-aircraft Type 3 shells from her 18” guns – after the first salvo, her No. 1 turret is disabled and evacuated, and had its magazines flooded to prevent a possible explosion. An hour and a half later, 29 more aircraft attack Musashi. Five Helldivers attacked her scoring two near misses, while six Avengers scored four more torpedo hits, one of which hitting forward of Turret No.1, causing a massive internal explosion and rendering most of the ship’s interior bow inaccessible. After the third attack, Musashi’s speed had dropped to 20 knots, and she had sunk almost 13 feet into the water. Nevertheless, all her guns, including her two-remaining operation 18” triple turrets kept firing on the American aircraft. An hour after the third attack subsided, 69 US aircraft began the 5th attack on Musashi’s fleet. At this point, Musashi was leaving a trail of oil in the water and appeared to be barely managing 8 knots. The first nine Helldivers from USS Enterprise (CV-6) scored four 1,000lb bomb hits, scoring three hits on the port bow and the fourth bomb destroying the chief steward’s office. Eight more Avengers attacked Musashi yet again, scoring three torpedo hits that appeared to leave her dead in the water, but Musashi was still pushing herself to 16 knots, but was steadily taking on more and more water. After further counterflooding to stabilise her, her speed falls to 13 knots. A mere ten minutes later, 75 aircraft attack Musashi’s fleet, 37 of them directly targeting the mortally wounded Musashi. Ten Helldivers attacked her, scoring three initial hits and further destroying Musashi’s AA armaments. One of these bombs penetrated the bridge and detonated in the operations room, killing several of Musashi’s high-ranking officers and totally annihilating the operations room. Three more bombs strike Musashi’s superstructure, followed by another two. At this point, almost all Musashi’s superstructure was either destroyed or in flames. Twelve more Avengers attacked her yet again, scoring eleven hits, with only two failing to explode, while one last bomb falls upon her decks. Her speed drops to six knots.

By 16:21 on the 24th of October 1944, 259 aircraft had attacked Musashi’s fleet, and Musashi herself took 19 torpedo hits, 17 bomb hits, and 20 near-misses from bombs. She hadn’t gone down yet though. Throughout this attack, Musashi’s damage control parties had put in herculean effort to keeping her afloat, but by the late afternoon she was listing to port by 10 degrees and had sunk more than 26 feet into the water. In a desperate last-ditch effort to save her, all free hands and wounded men on board assembled topside starboard to counteract the list, and all consumables and timber on board are loaded onto the starboard side. Rear Admiral Toshihira Inoguchi personally went below decks to flood the crew’s spaces on the starboard side, several boiler rooms and the starboard outboard engine room. Inoguchi attempts to beach Musashi, but by that point her engines had stopped entirely. By 19:15, Musashi was listing to port by 12 degrees, and Inoguchi gave the order to “standby to abandon ship”. The XO, Captain Kato Kenkichi assembled the crew on the aft starboard deck. The battle flag is lowered, and Rear Admiral Toshihira Inoguchi retires to his cabin, and is not seen again. By 19:30, Musashi was listing at 30 degrees and slowly began to turn over. Captain Kato gives the order to abandon ship, and to remove the Emperor’s portrait. Destroyers Kiyoshimo and Hamakaze move in to rescue 1,423 survivors, including Captain Kato, but 1,023 of her 2,399-man crew are lost, including Rear Admiral Toshihira Inoguchi, who was posthumously promoted to Vice Admiral. At 19:36 Musashi capsized to port completely, and sank by the bow. As the ship’s stern sank beneath the water, the aft turret fell off and two explosions were heard. The surviving sailors and officers are taken to Manila Bay, where they were designated the “Kato Regiment” after he name of their surviving second-in-command, Captain Kato, and joined in Japanese defensive operations both on land and at sea until the end of the war. On the 31st of August 1945, Musashi was removed from the Navy List.

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  Musashi leaving Brunei in October 1944 for the Battle of Leyte Gulf

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  Musashi, August 1942, taken from the bow. The curvature of the deck is dramatically visible.

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  A view of Musashi's bow in mid-1942. Taken from high in the superstructure, sailors are engaged in calisthenics.

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  Taken from nearly the same vantage point as the previous photo, this is a view aft. Note the catapults are trained out over the stern.

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  Right elevation drawing of Musashi as she appeared in 1942.

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  Musashi as she appeared in mid-1944.

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  Yamamoto's ashes return to Japan aboard Musashi, 23 May 1943.

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  Musashi and Yamato in Truk Lagoon in early 1943.

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  Emperor Hirohito and his staff on board Musashi, 24 June 1943.

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  Taken in Brunei prior to departure for Leyte in October, 1944, Musashi is distant left.

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  The Japanese fleet leaves Brunei in September of 1944 to confront the US landing on Leyte. The battleships in rear of line are, from left to right: Nagato, Musashi, and Yamato.

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  Musashi maneuvering under air attack, 24th of October, 1944 in the Sibuyan Sea. Note the soot-blackened decks and turret tops.

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  Musashi under heavy air attack, 24th of October, 1944.

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  Another view of Musashi under heavy attack, 24th of October, 1944. Note the very heavy, very dark smoke being produced; a consequence of unrefined or minimally refined fuel oil obtained in Brunei.

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  Musashi under attack by American carrier aircraft from TF 38 in the Sibuyan Sea during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

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  Musashi down by the bow after the air attacks, shortly before her sinking.