

Most importantly, the latter, in the form of the Kantai Kessen or Decisive Battle Doctrine, a naval strategy adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy prior to the Second World War, in which the Japanese navy would win a war by fighting and winning a single, decisive naval action. The design of the Yamato-class battleships was shaped by expansionist movements within the Japanese government, Japanese industrial power, and the need for a fleet powerful enough to intimidate likely adversaries. Navy Musashi by air strikes while participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, the Shinano torpedoed by Archerfish while under way from Yokosuka to Kure for fitting out in November 1944, and the Yamato by air strikes while en route from Japan to Okinawa as part of Operation Ten-Go in April 1945. raids on Japanese bases.Īll three ships were sunk by the U.S.

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 U.S. The class carried the largest naval artillery 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 42 km (26 mi).ĭue to the threat of U.S. A third hull laid down in 1940 was converted to an aircraft carrier, Shinano, during construction.ĭisplacing nearly 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) at full load, the completed battleships were the heaviest ever constructed. The Yamato-class battleships ( 大和型戦艦, Yamato-gata senkan) were two battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), Yamato and Musashi, laid down leading up to World War II and completed as designed. 410 mm (16 in) side armor (400 mm (16 in) planned on Shinano and No.

650 mm (26 in) on face of main turrets.3 (2 battleships, 1 converted to aircraft carrier)
