YAMATO ΤΟ ΜΕΓΑΛΥΤΕΡΟ ΘΩΡΗΚΤΟ ΜΕΡΟΣ 2ο

Yamato images are hard to find. Japanese systematically destroyed all information about Yamato class ships, including all of the photographs they could lay their hands on. Most existing images are taken either during the running trials or by the American fighter pilots. Here is a collection of images I have managed to locate from various sources. Note that there are lot of images also in the Final Voyage section, that are not shown here. Please let me know if you have some material that is not yet published here.

Yamato in Action.

Yamato Anatomy - click for enlargement. Reconstructed from NOVA.

 

Yamato during running trails on the 30th October 1941. This photograph was seized by Occupation Authorities in Japan following the end of World War II.

Part of the crew gathered in front of the main guns.

Yamato during running trials on October 30th 1941.

This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea.

Yamato at the construction deck at Kure. Note the sailormen on the deck compared to the size of the main guns.

Yamato is hit by a bomb near her forward 18 inch gun turret, during attacks by U.S. carrier planes as she transited the Sibuyan Sea. This hit did not produce serious damage. Picture from US Naval Historical Center.

The superstructure of Yamato. Increased number of AA guns as well as the cremembers on the right are clearly visible.

HIJMS Yamato

Yamato, Musashi and Nagato at Brunei on October 1944.

Japanese Center Force fleet leaves Brunei on October 22nd to head into the battle of Sibuyan Sea and Battle off Samar. Yamato, the third ship from the right, is about to fire her big guns for the first time as is Nagato which is following right behind her. The last ship is Musashi, which is to be hit by 17 bombs and destroyed two days later. After the war the only surviving ship is Nagato, which was sank soon after in a series of American atomic tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946.

Yamato under heavy air attack from the Allied Task Force 58 on he 19th March 1945. She survived this one. Photographed from a USS Hornet (CV-12) plane. Source: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm

Yamato own ammunition explodes and she goes down on April 7th, 1945, 2:43 PM after fighting without air-support against 400 Allied warplanes.

The back deck of Musashi's was similiar to the one on Yamato. The crane was used to lift the floatplanes back onboard.

Yamato elevation

 

Drawing from Warships of the Imperial Navy, 1869-1945, Naval Institute Press, 1970

 

Artist's view of Yamato

 

The biggest naval guns ever.

Big Guns: 9 x 46cm (18,1 inch) main guns called '16 inch specials' to confuse the enemy
Secondary Guns: 6 x 15,5cm (6,1 inch) secondary guns that could fire up to 17 miles.
Anti-Aircraft Guns: 24 x 12.7 cm, 162 x 25 mm AA, 4 x 13 mm AA
Airplanes: Seven floatplanes

Big Guns

Yamato's nine main guns, mounted in three turrets, were the largest to ever crown a warship. They fired shells 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter, and each armour piercing shell weighed as much as a small car. They also could strike at an unprecedented range of 25 miles (40 km). Ironically, while designed to sink enemy battleships, they were never tested against one. Yamato fought allied ships only once, in the battle of Samar Gulf, where she sank one American escort and one destroyer with other ships form the Japanese force A. For her final mission, the imperial navy swapped out some armor piercing projectiles for incendiary, anti-aircraft shells, but Yamato's guns were still ill equipped for aerial warfare.

It's pretty widely known fact that Yamato's guns were the biggest on a warship ever. However, did you know that the Brits built almost equal size gun on HMS Furious already twenty years before? An 18 inch gun - just a tenth-of-an-inch smaller, was mounted. It was never really used since the ships hull couldn't take the impact and HMS Furious was eventually turned into an aircraft carrier.

One fascinating factor about the ammunition: since Japan suffered heavy losses in her naval aviation community early in the war, capital ships were expected to provide their own defense against allied aircraft. As a result of this, the 18-inch gun was provided with an anti- aircraft shell of its own, called "San Shiki" (the Beehive) Model 13. This round weighed 2,998 pounds and was filled with 900 incendiary tubes (of rubber thermite) and 600 steel stays. A time fuze was supplied, set before firing, that went off at a predetermined altitude and when the fuze functioned, the explosive and metal contents burst in a cone extending 20 degrees forward, towards the oncoming aircraft. Instantly after detonating, the projectile shell itself was destroyed by a bursting charge, increasing the quantity of steel splinters. The incendiary tubes ignited about half a second later and burned for five seconds at 3000 degrees C, producing a flame about 16 feet long.



Due to the enormous size of the guns, all AA-guns had to be protected from the blast, which would blow off anybody's skin wihin 15 meter radius.

Part of the crew gathered in front of the main guns. The blast of the 18,1 inch main gun would blow off anybody's skin wihin 15 meter radius. The AA guns were especially protected against the blast.


Each gun turret weighed more than an entire American destroyer. A single turret was about 3000 tons, while for example the whole USS Hoel (dd-533), a Fletcher-class destroyer, weighted 2100 tons.

Big guns from Musashi, another Yamato class battleship. (left)
Big guns from Yamato itself. (right)

Yamatos 18 inch main guns rebuilt in 1/1 scale. Crewmembers are visible giving an idea of the size of the guns. Scene from the movie Otokotachi no Yamato.

Placement of the big guns as seen in the model built in Yamato Museum, Kure, Japan.

A submarine examining one of the giant gaping holes where the main guns were mounted.

18 inch shell in the Yamato museum in Kure, Japan. One of these shells weighed 3218 pounds, 1460 kilograms, if it was an armor piercing shell. Normal shell weighed 2998 pounds, 1360 kilograms. And yes, these could be shot against enemies 25 miles, 40 kilometers away. However, shells had a very long fuse delay and were disappointing in service. They tended to pass through the target before exploding!

Secondary Guns

While dwarfed by the main artillery, Yamato's secondary guns were still impressive. Her six inch guns - that is, guns firing shells six inches in diameter, had a range of 17 miles (27 kilometers). And her 24 five inch guns, mounted in 12 turrets, could destroy targets nine miles away. The secondary guns had one significant advantage over the main artillery: they could shoot more rounds per minute. It took more than 40 seconds to reload the main guns, an interminable time during an air attack.

     
Secondary guns rebuilt for the model used in the filming of Otokotachi no Yamato.

Anti-Aircraft Guns

When first outfitted in 1941, Yamato had only 24 small anti-aircraft (AA) machine guns. By April 1945, anticipating an onslaught of Allied planes, the Imperial Navy armed Yamato with more than 150 machine guns, most in triple-mounted turrets. The majority of the guns shot 220 rounds per minute, but a few stationed at the tower bridge fired at twice this rate. Unlike the heavier artillery, the machine guns could tilt at 90-degree angles to aim at planes directly overhead. But the crews manning these guns were among the most vulnerable to direct enemy fire.

 

Placement of the AA guns as seen from a Yamato model in the Yamato Museum at Kure, Japan. (left)
Photo of a shielded Type 89 12.7cm Musashi AA gun pattern (right)

    
The Type 96 25mm AA guns are rebuilt in real size for the filming of the movie Otokotachi no Yamato.

Placement of Guns