Donnerstag, 24. März 2011

The biggest Battleship the world has ever seen!

THE YAMATO





Some datas about this huge Battleship
    Nation: Japanese Empire
Type: Battleship
Shipyard: Kure Naval Dockyard
   Laid Down: November 4, 1937
 Launched: August 8, 1940
Commissioned: December 16, 1941
Fate: Sunk in action North of Okinawa, April 7, 1945

Specifications:
Displacement: 72,800 tonnes
Length: 862 ft. 6 in. (overall)
Beam: 127 ft.
Draft:: 36 ft.
 Propulsion: 12 Kampon boilers, driving 4 steam turbines and 4 propellers
Speed: 27 knots
Range: 7,145 miles at 16 knots
Complement: 2,767 men

Armament (1945):

Guns:
9 x 18.1 in. (3 turrets with 3 guns each)
6 x 6.1 in.
24 x 5 in.
162 x 25 mm anti-aircraft
4 x 13.2 mm anti-aircraft

Aircraft:
7 aircraft using 2 catapults

Construction:

Naval architects in Japan began work on the Yamato-class of battleships in 1934, with Keiji Fukuda serving as the chief designer. Following Japan's 1936 withdrawal from the Washington Naval Treaty, which forbade new battleship construction before 1937, Fukuda's plans were submitted for approval. Initially meant to be 68,000-ton behemoths, the design of the Yamato-class followed the Japanese philosophy of creating ships that were bigger and superior to those likely to be produced by other nations.

For the ships' primary armament, 18.1" (460 mm) guns were selected as it was believed that no US ship with similar guns would be capable of transiting the Panama Canal. Originally conceived as a class of five ships, only two Yamatos were completed as battleships. With the approval of Fukuda's design, plans quietly moved forward to expand and specially prepare a drydock at the Kure Naval Dockyards for construction of the first ship. Veiled in secrecy, Yamato was laid down on November 4, 1937.

In order to prevent foreign nations from learning the actual size of the ship, Yamato's design and cost were compartmentalized with few knowing the true scope of the project. In order to accommodate the massive 18.1" guns, Yamato featured an extremely wide beam which made the ship very stable even in high seas. Though the ship's hull design, which featured a bulbous bow and a semi-transom stern, was tested extensively, Yamato was unable to achieve speeds higher than 27 knots making it unable to keep up with most Japanese cruisers and aircraft carriers.

This slow speed was largely due to the vessel being underpowered. In addition, this issue led to high levels of fuel consumption as the boilers struggled to produce enough power. Launched with no fanfare on August 8, 1940, Yamato was completed and commissioned on December 16, 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Entering service, Yamato, and later its sister Musashi, became the largest and most powerful battleship ever built.
Operational History:

Two months after its commissioning, Yamato became the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet led by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. That May, Yamato sailed as part of Yamamoto's Main Body in support of the attack on Midway. Following the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway, the battleship moved to the anchorage at Truk Atoll arriving in August 1942. The ship remained at Truk for much of the next year largely due to its slow speed. In May 1943, Yamato sailed to Kure and had its secondary armament altered and new Type-22 search radars added.

Returning to Truk that December, Yamato was damaged by a torpedo from USS Skate en route. After repairs were completed in April 1944, Yamato joined the fleet during the Battle of the Philippine Sea that June. In October, Yamato fired its main guns for the first time in battle during the Japanese defeat at Leyte Gulf. Though hit by two bombs, the battleship aided in sinking an escort carrier and several destroyers off Samar. The following month, Yamato returned to Japan to have its anti-aircraft armament further enhanced.

After this upgrade was completed, Yamato was attacked by US aircraft with little effect while sailing in the Inland Sea on March 19, 1945. With the Allied invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, Japanese planners devised Operation Ten-Go. Essentially a suicide mission, they intended to have Yamato sail south and attack the Allied invasion fleet before beaching itself on Okinawa as a massive gun battery. Once the ship was destroyed, the crew was to join the island's defenders.

Departing Japan on April 6, 1945, Yamato's officers understood that it was to be the vessel's last voyage. As a result, they permitted the crew to indulge in saki that evening. Sailing with an escort of eight destroyers and one light cruiser, Yamato possessed no air cover to protect it as it approached Okinawa. Spotted by Allied submarines as it exited the Inland Sea, Yamato's position was fixed by US aircraft the next morning.

Attacking in three waves, US dive bombers pummeled the battleship with bombs and rockets while torpedo bombers assaulted Yamato's port side. Battered and listing, the order to abandon ship was given around 2:00 PM. As Yamato began to capsize, a massive explosion tore through the after part of the ship as fires reached the stern magazines. Of the ship's crew of 2,778, only 280 were rescued. The US Navy lost ten aircraft and twelve airmen in the attack.


Pic of the Yamato after a bomb hits the ammunition in the front magazine


Modelpicture of the wreck after discovering it in 1982.
It lies 290 kilometres southeast of Kyushu under 340 metres of water in two main pieces, as you can see in the picture below.

61 Kommentare:

  1. Great article, and great photos.
    Thanks for sharing.

    PS:
    your new articles dont pop up in my bloggers dashboard, removed feeds?

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  2. wow.... I thought the germans had the largest one, but this one is more impressive!

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  3. wow you can sure start a war with this thing on your side. not that i want it to happen... just saying

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  4. elexerdelex hat gesagt…

    wow.... I thought the germans had the largest one, but this one is more impressive!


    No, they only had the plan for a larger one ;)
    but this was the biggest ever BUILT battleship.
    (I have a post about it in my blog)

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  5. Oh my god 72800 tons? That is huge!

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  6. Wow that's massive. I wonder if it could hold its own against a modern battle ship.

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  7. This is some pretty interesting stuff.
    Followed :)

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  8. ah havent seen thing blog in a while, still making interesting posts I see

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  9. Quite the marvel of engineering; to be able to sail on a vessel of that size and magnitude has to be nothing short of amazing.

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  10. Oh crap that's huge :O Quite a bright picture of it being on the ocean floor though..

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  11. Impressive stuff. Makes you wonder whats on the other side that can take one of these down.

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  12. This is pretty neat. My grandfather acutually helped build a tank once.

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  13. what a shame that it found its end like that but, in all fairness all weapons should find there demise in war

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  14. wow thats epic. ya i thought the bismark was bigger but yamato is awesome!

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  15. epic indeed. too bad it was too big for its own good. :(

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  16. dammit! that's some huge stuff there. scary for ww II :D

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  17. Seing stuff like this always make me wonder how big scaled battles was and sounded back then. Everything was huge and you had to be next to extraordinary to operate them

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  18. big battleships are fasxcinating.g....

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  19. the first time i heard about this ship was in Fullmetal Panic XD.

    anyway the ship was awesome but i think it fell down way too easy.

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  20. The closest thing any military has ever come to owning a Death Star...

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  21. That's a monster ship

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  22. and it's going to stay there!

    how big was it compared to the Bismarck or other Large allaid ships?

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  23. why did they even need such a big ship? :D

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  24. I want to buy a battleship. When I win the lotto. The Iowa is in storage in seattle waiting for me to buy and make sweet love to her.

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  25. Epic. Literally. Like, really big.

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  26. Now that's impressive! That could do some serious damage I think.

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  27. That was one of the biggest battleships... It's pity, that he wasn't used more practically. Nice post, thanks for info :)

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  28. dude thing is big /: what! launches planes by catapult!

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  29. informative as heck! I definitely plan to subscribe.

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  30. Good information, good photos.
    And i never liked tanks! ;D

    Good blog you have here, keep it up!

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  31. That Landkreuzer on your background. What is that! Following.

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  32. I love your blog! I'll be super supportive and follow along!

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  33. wow. that thing is huge. shame it sunk.

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  34. Youve put loads of effort into these blogs, i learn loads!

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  35. Goddamn that thing is huge. Followed!

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  36. Wow that thing is huge. They obviously still don't use them though right?

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  37. Gotta say, your blog is awesome!

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  38. Awesome! I love this WWII stuff! history Channel FTW

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  39. Wow, that is one big battleship!

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  40. Excellent post man! Was a really interesting read! thanks for sharing!

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  41. Is it just me or do those japanese tactics sound rather shitty...

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  42. Holy crap that thing is massive

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  43. very nice! i am following this blog! :)
    hope you do the same ;)

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  44. Amazing and a really cool blog idea. Followed.

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  45. wow and to think it sunk, what a waste of material....

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