Key Points and Summary – Yamato, pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the heaviest battleship ever built, met a brutal end during Operation Ten-Go in April 1945.
-Ordered to sprint to Okinawa, beach, and fight as a stationary fortress, she was detected and assaulted by 386 U.S. carrier aircraft.
-Multiple bomb and torpedo hits wrecked her defenses, flooded machinery spaces, and induced a fatal list before a magazine explosion tore her apart, killing over 2,700, including Vice Adm. Seiichi Itō.
-Yamato’s destruction, like Musashi’s earlier, proved carrier airpower had eclipsed big-gun fleets and that lone capital ships were hopeless without air cover in 1945.
The Brutal End of the Battleship Yamato In World War II
The Yamato-class battleships were two battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Yamato and Musashi, whose hulls were laid down in November 1937 and April 1938, respectively, were completed as designed. A third hull, laid down in 1940, was converted to the aircraft carrier Shinano during construction.
Displacing nearly 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) at full load, the completed battleships were the heaviest ever constructed. The Yamato class carried the largest naval guns ever fitted to a warship, nine 460 mm (18.1 in) naval guns, each capable of firing 1,460 kg (3,220 lb) shells over a distance of 42 km (26 mi).
The Yamato was commissioned on December 16, 1941, just nine days after Pearl Harbor. The Musashi was commissioned on August 5, 1942, and the Shinano was commissioned on November 19, 1944.
Due to the threat of US submarines and aircraft carriers, both Yamato and Musashi spent most of their careers in naval bases at Brunei, Truk, and Kure. These were Japan’s most prestigious ships, and they didn’t want to risk losing them.
The Yamato was sent on a suicide mission in April 1945 to disrupt the American landings on Okinawa. She was savaged by US air attacks and sunk.
The Yamato Was The Pride Of the Imperial Japanese Navy
After Japan withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty in 1934, plans for a super battleship were made. The Yamato class was designed to take on and defeat multiple battleships in the event of war with the United States.
Japan feared America’s industrial might and decided to build the most enormous battleships ever designed.
The battleship was 862 feet long with a beam of more than 127 feet and a draught of 34 feet. She was powered by two water-tube boilers that produced 150,000 shaft horsepower (110 MW), which propelled her to a top speed of 27 knots or 31 mph.
Yamato’s Eighteen-Inch Guns
The Yamato-class battleships had primary armaments consisting of three 3-gun turrets mounting 46 cm (18.1 in)/45 caliber Type 94 naval guns – the largest guns ever fitted to a warship. Each of these guns weighed 2,774 tons for the complete mount. Each gun turret was more than the weight of most destroyers.
Each gun was 21.13 m (69.3 ft) long and weighed 147.3 metric tons, and could fire 1,460 kg (3,220 lb) armor-piercing shells and 1,360 kg (3,000 lb) high explosive shells out to 42.0 km (26.1 mi) at a rate of 1½ to 2 shells per minute.
Her secondary armament comprised twelve 155-millimetre (6.1 in) guns mounted in four triple turrets (one forward, one aft, two amidships), and twelve 12.7-centimetre (5 in) guns in six twin mounts (three on each side amidships). These turrets had been taken off the Mogami-class cruisers when those vessels were converted to a main armament of 20.3-centimetre (8 in) guns.
During a 1944 retrofit, the number of 155mm guns was reduced to six, and 162 25mm antiaircraft guns were added for protection against American air attacks.
The Yamato, The Pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy
After serving as Admiral Yamamoto’s flagship during the Battle of Midway, she spent the next two years intermittently between Truk and Kure naval bases, with her sister ship Musashi replacing Yamato as the flagship of the Combined Fleet.
During this time, Yamato, as part of the 1st Battleship Division, deployed on multiple occasions to counteract American carrier raids on Japanese island bases. On December 25, 1943, she suffered major torpedo damage at the hands of USS Skate and was forced to return to Kure for repairs and structural upgrades.
During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Yamato was part of the battleship group that took on the undergunned and tiny destroyer force “Taffy 3,” known as the Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.
During the Battle of Okinawa, the Yamato was sent on a suicide mission as part of Operation Ten-Go; it was, in essence, the most significant kamikaze attack. The Yamato lacked the fuel to engage in prolonged action against the American fleet off Okinawa. She was to sail, beach herself, and then use her guns to repel the US invasion.
However, before she could get to Okinawa to bring her big guns to bear on American forces, she was spotted, and the Americans launched 386 planes to attack the Yamato and her supporting vessels. On April 7, 1945, the aircraft pounced in three successive attacks.
At about 12:30, 280 bomber and torpedo bomber aircraft arrived over the Japanese force. The Surface Special Attack Force increased speed to 24 knots (28 mph; 44 km/h), and following standard Japanese antiaircraft defensive measures, the destroyers began circling Yamato. The first aircraft swooped in to attack at 12:37.
At 12:41, two bombs obliterated two of her triple 25 mm antiaircraft mounts and blew a massive hole in the deck. A third bomb destroyed her radar room and the starboard aft 127 mm mount.
At 12:45, a single torpedo struck Yamato far forward on her port side, sending shockwaves throughout the ship. At 12:46, another two bombs hit the port side, one slightly ahead of the aft 155 mm centreline turret and the other right on top of the gun. These caused significant damage to the turret and its magazines; only one man survived.
Shortly afterward, three more torpedoes struck Yamato, resulting in two impacts: one on the port side near the engine room and another on one of the boiler rooms, causing flooding in the engine rooms. The attack ended around 12:47, leaving the battleship listing 5–6° to port. Deliberate counterflooding of compartments on the other side of the ship reduced the list to just 1°.
One boiler room had been disabled, slightly reducing Yamato’s top speed, and strafing had incapacitated many of the gun crews who manned Yamato’s unprotected 25 mm antiaircraft weapons, obliterating her air defenses.
The second American air attack at 1300 hours savaged the ship. Dive bombers coming in from high altitude and a swarm of torpedo bombers from all points overwhelmed the Yamato’s defenses. Four torpedoes struck in quick succession on the port side and one on the starboard side.
Dive bombers hit the superstructure with four bomb hits, raking what was left of the 25mm antiaircraft guns. More torpedoes slammed into the ship. She was aflame from stem to stern.
A total of ten bomb hits and at least eight torpedo hits rocked the Yamato. She capsized, and then one of her magazines exploded, sending a plume of smoke four miles high where it was seen 124 miles away and took 2,740 of the 3332 crew members with her, including Vice-Admiral Seiichi Itō.
Japan’s Yamato class was the biggest and most powerful battleship ever built. However, it was built too late and suffered the fate of that lateness when the new king of the sea, the aircraft carrier, sank it.
Would The Japanese Strategy Have Worked?
What if the Yamato had made it to Okinawa? Would she have impacted the invasion with her guns? Doubtful. Yes, she could have affected the invasion force to a small degree, but the US had a massive fleet standing by to engage the Yamato in a surface action.
The decision to change that from a surface action to an air attack was a sound one; the Yamato’s big 18-inch guns were ineffective against air attacks. But the US surface fleet was mighty. It consisted of 11 fleet carriers, 22 escort carriers, 18 fast battleships (8 fast, 10 old), 30 heavy cruisers, 13 light cruisers, and over 150 destroyers.
To think that one, albeit mighty, battleship would impact the invasion is ludicrous. She would have been savaged by US surface ships, not to mention the bombs from a total of 30 carriers, wouldn’t have had to sink her, but knock out all of her guns and ways to fire.
And a stationary, beached ship is a lot easier target to hit.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
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