Yamato

History

Design

The Yamato-class battleships were the next class of warships designed by the Japanese Navy after a long hiatus due to the ratification of a plethora of interwar naval treaties. But by the 1930s, Japan’s increasingly expansionist policies came under scrutiny by the League of Nations. To the world’s shock, Japan decided to withdraw from the League, which also meant she didn’t have to adhere to the aforementioned treaties. The Government understood that her empire would come into conflict with the United States, and devised plans for countering this new, potential threat. Knowing that Japan couldn’t out-produce the US, the IJN opted to make individual ships that were superior to their US counterparts.

Design work on this new class of battleships commenced in 1934, the year Japan pulled out of the League. The ambitious project started out with a selection process of 24 designs. The three most integral components were the ones that were under intense selection: armour, armament, and propulsion. The ideas for propulsion were uncharacteristically creative at a time when turbine power was staple. Many considerations of diesel and hybrid-diesel systems were considered due to the promise of greater endurance. Ultimately, it was narrowed down to conventional turbine propulsion, as previous experimentation with diesel propulsion for a capital ship proved problematic. The system – at such a scale – was highly unreliable, and to replace major components required the removal of many appliqués of armour. As well, the displacement was finally pegged at just under 66,000 tonnes, making this the largest battleship ever constructed, and with such allocation of space, the designers were able to authorize the implementation of 18.1”-calibre guns as opposed to a more traditional choice of 16” guns. By 1937, the designs were finalized, and the construction of 5 Yamato-class battleships was planned.

The ships were imposing beasts; as ambition fuelled much of the design process. From the get-go, the idea was for such a vessel to engage multiple capital ships simultaneously. To do so, it required the armour to maintain sustaining power in a firefight. The belt was no less than 16”, and the bulkheads were a tad thinner at 14”. The top was capped with a plate about 9” thick, made of composite materials consisting of a variety of composite materials consisting of various heavy metals; not traditional rolled homogenous steel. Furthermore, the armoured deck incorporated sloping to save on some weight without compromising on protection. But the thickest plates were not on the sides, but found on the faces of the turrets, at an impressive thickness of 26” at most; they were truly impregnable from the front. The novel technique of arc welding was used in the construction process. Its use was justified, as not only was the seams between the armour plates were even tighter, but it also allowed for designers to attach a larger lower armour belt than with previous methods. The scheme was not perfect though. While the torpedo protection system on paper looked impressive on paper, in actuality the performance was subpar. The bulges were adequate in their performance, but the seam between the upper and lower belt was directly underneath the bulge, which was shown to be prone to rupture upon impact.

To move such a heavy vessel, the class used 12 Kampon oil-fired boilers, which fed to 4 turbines. This generated an impressive 150,000 shaft horsepower, but it was not enough to break the 30 knot mark; shy by three knots. This was a compromise the designers were willing to take, but went against their venerated belief of speed is key. This drawback prevented the battleships to keep pace with fleet carriers in combined-arms action, as fuel consumption would be unsustainable.

The most characteristic feature of these massive ships was their choice in armaments. Welding nine 18.1” guns in three triple-turrets; two super firing in the front, and one facing the rear. This gave the battleships the ability to hurdle 13 tonnes on ordinance onto a target up to 42 kilometers away at a pace of 1.5 - 2 salvos per minute. The hope was that such firepower would be sufficient to deter aggressors from taking action; a feat of intimidation not hard to believe. Supplementary, the ships initially carried twelve 155mm dual-purpose guns in the form of six twin-gun turrets; three on each flank of the main superstructure. Additionally, the Yamato-class carried a dozen 127mm AA guns in six dual-mounts, and twenty-four 25mm AA guns in eight triple-mounts for defence. By 1944 it was understood that the anti-aircraft firepower of these ships were severely handicapped, and the class underwent modifications. Two of the secondary turrets were removed, and in their place, another 12, 127mm guns were added and a whopping 138, 25mm guns were added.

Yamato, named after the Yamato Province, was the lead-ship of her class. Built by the Kure Naval Arsenal, she was laid down on 4 November 1937. She was launched 8 August 1940 and commissioned 16 December 1941.

Service

Throughout 1942, she served as the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Musashi took over as the Combined Fleet flagship in early 1943, and Yamato spent the rest of the year, and much of 1944, moving between the major Japanese naval bases of Truk and Kure in response to American threats. Although present at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, she played no part in the battle.

The only time Yamato fired her main guns at enemy surface targets was in October 1944, when she was sent to engage American forces invading the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the verge of success the Japanese force turned back, believing they were engaging an entire US carrier fleet rather than the light escort carrier group that was all that stood between the battleship and the vulnerable troop transports.

During 1944, the balance of naval power in the Pacific decisively turned against Japan, and by early 1945 its fleet was much depleted and badly hobbled by critical fuel shortages in the home islands. In a desperate attempt to slow the Allied advance, Yamato was dispatched on a one-way mission to Okinawa in April 1945, with orders to beach herself and fight until destroyed protecting the island. The task force was spotted south of Kyushu by US submarines and aircraft, and on 7 April 1945 she was sunk by American carrier-based bombers and torpedo bombers with the loss of most of her crew.

Historical Inaccuracies

• Two triple mount 25 mm anti-aircraft guns fitted to the roofs of turrets 'B' and 'Y' are missing.

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  Yamato on trials in 1941

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  Yamato and Musashi anchored in the waters off of the Truk Islands in 1943

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  Yamato undergoing trials

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  Yamato‍’​s port-side anti-aircraft armament as depicted in the model of the ship at the 'Yamato Museum' in Kure

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  Protection schematics of the class at the rear turret. Here is another cut amidships

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  Visitors to the Yamato Museum examine the museum's 1:10 scale model of the battleship in 2006