The Yamato, one of two 65,000-ton battleships! At over 800 ft. long it was the terror of the enemy and a symbol of Japanese Naval strength in the Pacific. Yamato and her sister ship Musashi were the biggest, must powerful battleships ever built. Her size wasn’t what made her so powerful but her nine 18.1 inch guns.
Both the Yamato and her sister took part in the battle of Leyte Gulf where Musashi was sunk by U.S. planes. Yamato was sent home to have her anti-aircraft guns upgraded.
But the end was near for the Yamato. On April 6, 1945, she was to participate in Ten-gō sakusen (Operation Heaven One) or Operation Ten-Go. Operation Ten-Go was the last Japanese navel operation in the Pacific. Yamato and nine other ships were to procede to Okinawa and attack U.S. navel forces there. Operation Ten-Go was a suicidal mission and the Japenese knew it. The plan was for the ships to destroy as many U.S. ships as possible and then the Yamato would beach herself and act as a ground battery. When destroyed Yamatos surviving crew would attack U.S. ground forces.
Fortunately Yamato and the nine others would never make it to their destination. The destroyer, Asashimo, had engine problems and had to turn back. The rest were soon detected and U.S. planes where on their way! The first wave of planes including mostly F6F Hellcat fighters, SB2C Helldiver dive-bombers, and TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, began their attack. The Japanese began evasive maneuvers, firing their anti-aircraft guns up at the approaching enemy. The light cruiser Yahagi was hit and stopped dead in her tracks. A destroyer, Isokaze, tried to help the Yahagi, (which sunk soon after) but was hit and later sunk. Though most of the bombs missed the Yamato, two of them, and one torpedo, started a fire that was not extinguished. The second and third waves of U.S. aircraft attacked the Yamato with no mercy and she was hit by 8 torpedo and 15 bombs. The torpedo mostly hit the port side of the mega-ship which meant that soon, if nothing was done, the Yamato would capsize. The crew succeeded in keeping her afloat for about 30 more minutes, soon though they began to abandon ship. But before she capsized a huge explosion rocked the waves around the sinking ship and a mushroom cloud bellowed into the air. The explosion was probably caused when fires reached the main magazines. Only a few of the Japanese ships participating in Operation Ten-Go made it back to Japan. Losses where 3,700 Japanese and 12 Americans.
So the Yamato joined her sister, Musashi, in Davy Jones locker.
This clearly showed that without air cover ships could not survive long, that air superiority is worth having even if the enemy has the biggest ship in the world. It also showed Japan’s willingness to sacrifice even their biggest ship and national symbol to keep the enemy from taking their land.
