The Yamato class battleships (大和型戦艦 Yamato-gata senkan) were battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) constructed and operated duringWorld War II. Displacing 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) at full-load, the vessels of the class were the largest, heaviest, and most heavily-armed battleships ever constructed. The class carried the largest ever fitted to a warship, nine naval artillery 460-milimetre(18,1 Inch) naval guns, each capable of firing 2,998-pound (1,360 kg) shells over 26 miles (42 km). Two battleships of the class (Yamato and Musashi) were completed, while a third—Shinano—was converted to an aircraft carrier during construction.
Yamato Battleship Illustration...Due to the threat of American submarines and aircraft carriers, both Yamato and Musashi spent the majority of their careers in naval bases at Brunei, Truk, and Kure—deploying on several occasions in response to American raids on Japanese bases—before participating in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, as part of Admiral Kurita's Centre Force. Musashi was sunk during the course of the battle by American carrier airplanes. Shinano was sunk ten days after her commissioning in November 1944 by the submarine USS Archer-Fish, while Yamato was sunk in April 1945 during Operation Ten-Go.
Musashi Battleship Illustration...
On the eve of the Allies' occupation of japan, special service officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyed virtually all records, drawings, and photographs of or relating to the Yamato-class battleships, leaving only fragmentary records of the design characteristics and other technical matters. The destruction of these documents was so efficient that until 1948 the only known images of the Yamato and Musashi were those taken by United States Navy aircraft involved in the attacks on the two battleships. Although some additional photographs and information from documents that were not destroyed have come to light over the years, the loss the majority of written records for the class has made extensive research into the Yamato class somewhat difficult. Because of the lack of written records, information on the class largely came from interviews of Japanese officers following Japan's surrender.
Versi Indonesia :
Yamato (大和) adalah Kapal Tempur Angkatan Laut Kekaisaran Jepang dalam Perang Dunia II, sekaligus kapal utama dalam Armada Gabungan Jepang. Nama kapal ini diambil dari nama Provinsi Yamato. Sebagai kapal pertama dalam kelasnya, Yamato bersama kapal sekelasnya, Musashi merupakan kapal tempur terbesar dan terberat yang pernah dibangun. Berat kapal dengan muatan penuh 72.800 ton, dan dipersenjatai dengan sembilam meriam utama kaliber 46 cm (18,1 inci).Kapal ini dibangun dari 1939 hingga 1940 di Arsenal ANgkatan Laut Kure, Prefektur Hiroshima, dan secara resmi mulai ditugaskan pada akhir 1941. Sepanjang tahun 1941, Yamato dijadikan kapal pemimpin yang dinaiki Laksamana Isoroku Yamamoto. Kapal ini pertama kali berlayar sebagai anggota Armada Gabungan selama Pertempuran Midway Juni 1942. Selama tahun 1943, Yamato secara terus menerus dipindah-pindahkan dari Truk ke Kure, dan lalu ke Bruneiuntuk menghindari serangan udara Amerika Serikat terhadap pangkalan militer Jepang. Yamato hanya pernah sekali menembakkan meriam utama ke sasaran musuh. Kesempatan itu diberikan kepadanya pada bulan Oktober 1944, namun Yamato segera diperintahkan pulang setelah serangan dari kapal perusak dan pesawat-pesawat tempur dari gugus tugas kapal induk pengawal "Taffy" berhasil menenggelamkan tiga kapal penjelajah berat dalam Pertempuran Lepas Pantai Samar Yamato karam bulan April 1945 dalam Operasi Ten-Go .
Source : Wikipedia Indonesia, English Wikipedia...
