Serving as the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the Yamato nearly took part in the Battle of Midway in 1942 but failed to even arrive within range of her main guns. After that near-engagement, the Yamato took on a new look with its armament, having several of her 155mm turrets removed in favor of anti-aircraft systems. On the move once more, the Yamato and her sister were called into action in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, with the Yamato utilizing her main guns for the first time, in 1944 which the Musashi was lost to American Navy air groups. The resilience of the Yamato continued on, however, suffering little critical damage from direct hits from bombs and torpedoes alike. She definitely was starting to fit the part of the invincible ship.
By April of 1945, the last-ditch plans of the Empire of Japan were being laid down. Among those was to sacrifice the Yamato in what was for all intents and purpose a suicide mission at having the great battleship run aground off of Okinawa to provide a stationary and permanent defense base off the coast. American Navy planes, already on patrol to find the Japanese Task Force, located the mighty ship and engaged. The Yamato was hit with conventional bombs, armor piercing bombs, high explosive rockets and cannon fire, dropped from low altitude to ensure direct hits. As expected, uncontrollable fire soon began to take over portions of the deck and sub-decks. Unrelenting additional attacks ensued throughout the day, this time with bombs and torpedoes. The Yamato could do little as her anti-aircraft positions were put out of action and her larger ordnance proving useless against aircraft. She began listing and taking on water to which the order to abandon was given. As the fire spread uncontrollably at this point, a massive ammunition explosion (reportedly seen from the southern part of Japan itself some 120 miles away) officially did the vessel in, allowing just 280 of her crew to be rescued. The battleship as a type was sealed by airborne elements of a carrier group positioned miles away - the aircraft carrier had arrived. The Yamato sank in just two hours after incurring some 13 torpedoes and 6 direct bomb hits.
The IJN Yamato was officially sunk on April 7th, 1945 just north of the island of Okinawa. She was orignially ordered in 1937 and laid down that same year. The vessel was launched in 1940 and officially commissioned the following year serving until her ultimate demise. A museum at Kure, Japan has been set up in her honor and contains a 1:10 scale model of the mighty ship.
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