Battleships Yamato And Musashi

Battleships Yamato and Musashi 

 The Battleships Yamato and Musashi were two huge structures of their kind weighing a total of 72,800 tonnes and 73,000 tonnes respectively when fully loaded. Their main batteries were armed with nine 46 cm 45 Caliber Type 94 naval guns, the biggest gun ever put on a warship. Secondary batteries were with 155 mm guns mounted in four triple turrets (one forward, one aft and two midships), twelve 127 mm guns in six twin mounts (three on each side) and a total of 162 25 mm anti-aircraft guns for Yamato  and 130 25 mm anti-aircraft guns for Musashi. The sister ships were indeed two floating fortresses.

Yamato and Musashi were designed and created by the Imperial Japanese Navy to counter their rival in the Asia-Pacific region, the US Navy. Too bad for the Japanese and good for the Americans, these massive structures never lived to their expectations. The battleships were mostly used to transport and escort forces and resources to islands under Japanese control. On March 29, 1944, Musashi was even hit by a torpedo from the US submarine USS Tunny, killing 7 and injuring 11 more of its crewmen. While Yamato, on June of the same year mistakenly fire on returning Japanese aircrafts from the Battle of the Philippine Sea during her escort mission for Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa’s 1st Mobile Fleet. In the Battle Of Sibuyan Sea, Yamato was struck by two armor piercing bombs from aircrafts of USS Essex, she sustained minor damage and remained battle worthy.

The fate was different for Musashi. In this battle she became the focus of attack by the Americans. While transiting the Sibuyan Sea, Musashi was attacked by 8 Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers from USS Intrepid at 10:27 hitting the main turret 1 with a 500 pound bomb though it didn't penetrate. Two minutes later she was struck by a torpedo from a Grunman TBF Avenger starboard amidship and taken in 3,000 long tonnes of water. Less than two hours later Musashi was attacked again by eight Helldivers. One bomb struck the deck but didn't detonate. The next bomb hit port side and penetrated two decks before exploding atop one engine room causing port in board propeller incapacitated and dropping speed at 22 knots. Three minutes later 9 Avengers attack the ship from all directions. Musashi was hit thrice this time. First was abreast turret 1, the second flooded a hydraulic machinery room and the third flooded another engine room. In return, Musashi fired a sanshikidan anti-aircraft shell from the main gun. However, one exploded in the middle gun of turret 1, possibly because of fragments within it. Counterflooding was used to reduce the list to 1 degree to port, but it also reduced the ship’s forward freeboard by 6 feet. Next wave of attack came in at 13:31. 29 aircrafts from USS Essex and USS Lexington. Two Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters strafed the ship’s deck. Four bombs and torpedoes hit near the forward turret causing more flooding. The bow now is 13 feet deep and speed reduced to 20 knots. Two hours later 9 Helldivers from USS Enterprise hit them with four 1,000 pounder armor piercing bombs and 3 more torpedoes. The last attack came in at 15:25 from 37 aircrafts from USS Intrepid, USS Franklin and USS Cabot hitting Musashi 13 bombs and 11 torpedoes. Battleship Musashi capsized and sank in 4,430 feet deep Sibuyan Sea at 19:36 together with its commanding officer Captain Toshihira Inoguchi who chose to stay with the ship. 1,376 of Musashi's 2,399 men crew survived while the Americans loss 5 Helldivers and 3 Avengers in the process.

The first major conflict Yamato saw was in the Battle Off Samar. Here she was used to attack Taffy 3, a group of six escort carriers, three destroyers and four escort destroyers that were there to support invading American soldiers. Yamato was able to hit several American warships including USS Gambier Bay. However, the ship was forced to steer away from the battle when torpedoes were seen by the Japanese going Yamato’s way.

Yamato’s fate were likely sealed in Operation Ten-Go, a desperate operation by the Japanese aimed to defend Okinawa and prevent an American invasion of mainland Japan. The plan was the battleship would sail to Okinawa escorted by a cruiser and 8 destroyers (Surface Special Attack Force) and attack American forces together with kamikazes and Japanese Army units based on the island. She was then to beach herself and act as an unsinkable gun emplacement and fight until destroyed. Unfortunately for the Japanese, their radio communications were already intercepted and decoded by the Americans. The newly formed Surface Special Attack Force would soon be meeting a much superior and overwhelming force.

The battleship made first contact with the Americans at 11:30 of April 7. She fired beehive shells at two American PBM Mariner flying boats but failed to prevent it from shadowing the ships. At 12:00 F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair fighters came to deal of any Japanese aircrafts, there was none. 12:30, some 280 bomber and torpedo bomber aircraft came and encircled the Japanese ships. The Surface Special Attack Force (Japanese destroyer Asashimo were forced to turn back due to engine trouble. The destroyer was also attacked and destroyed by the Americans.) increased their speed to 24 knots and encircled Yamato. The first wave of American aircraft attack were spotted by a Japanese lookout on the bridge at 12:32, Yamato opened fire with her main batteries and anti-aircraft guns. 12:37 fighter aircrafts swooped in to attack, the cruiser Yahagi broke formation to lure away American aircrafts but only attracted some. 12:41 two of the triple 25 mm anti-aircraft mounts were hit and destroyed by two bombs, making a hole on the deck. A third bomb struck and destroyed her radar room and the starboard aft 127 mm mount. Two more bombs hit Yamato’s portside, just slightly ahead of the aft 155 mm centerline turret and the other right on top of the gun. At 12:45 four torpedoes hit her with the first one sending shock waves throughout the battleship. The last attack of the first wave ended at 12:47, counterflooding was used to correct Yamato’s 5-6° listing to port.

Second wave of attack started at 13:00 from all directions. Yamato tried desperately to break up the attack but her anti-aircraft guns were ineffective and main guns firing Beehive shells were almost no effect on attacking aircrafts. The attack struck her 3-4 torpedoes listing her 15-18° to port. Counterflooding lessened it to 10° but this position made her main guns incapacitated and slowed her down at 18 knots. The last wave of attack was the most damaging, hitting her with 4 bombs and 4 torpedoes and many near miss drove in her outer plating. At 14:02 her speed was dropped to 10 knots, abandon ship was ordered. The last torpedo struck the bottom of her hull at 14:05. Continuing her inexorable roll to port her 25 mm anti-aircraft guns started to drop at the sea and power went out at 14:20. Yamato capsized at 14:23 with her 46 cm turrets falling off. When the roll reached 120°, one of the two bow magazines exploded. Yamato sank rapidly losing roughly 3,055 crew including fleet commander Vice-Admiral Seiichi Ito.

Postscript: Operation Ten-Go is the last major naval operation of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific theater of World War 2. This naval confrontation is known as the Battle Of The East China Sea.

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