A Brief History
On April 7, 1945, the biggest and most heavily armed battleship created by man was sunk without ever fighting another battleship!
Digging Deeper
The Japanese battleship Yamato was the first of a two ship class (Musashi was the second) of battleships designed to survive hits by the guns of British and American battleships, and to sink them with her giant guns.
The 9 main guns of the Yamato fired 2,800 pound projectiles that were 18.1 inches in diameter, the biggest guns ever placed on a ship. By contrast, the German Bismarck had 8 X 15 inch guns, the American Iowa class battleships had 9 X 16 inch guns, and the British King George V class sported 10 x 14 inch guns.
Bigger and more heavily armored than other World War II battleships, Yamato (and her sister ship Musashi) stretched 862 feet long and 127 feet wide, displacing an incredible 73,000 tons when loaded. The American Iowa class battleships were the second largest battleships ever produced, at 861 feet long, 108 feet wide and displacing a maximum of 57,000 tons.
The cracked angle to the story of the Yamato is, despite being built at enormous expense of money and materials that could have been much more effectively allocated to producing aircraft carriers and submarines, Yamato never fought another battleship! Her one and only use of her guns against other ships was when she helped sink an American destroyer and light aircraft carrier.
Yamato spent much of the war staying out of harm’s way as it had become apparent how vulnerable battleships were to attack by airplanes and submarines. Yamato was dispatched on one last mission in 1945, to repulse the American invasion of Okinawa. Given only enough fuel to get there, but not back, the mission would be her last whether successful or not. Her orders were to beach herself if damaged and continue to fight from a stationary position!
Yamato never got the chance to fight her glorious suicidal mission for the Emperor, and was attacked by hundreds of US carrier planes while enroute to Okinawa. Struck by a minimum of 6 armor piercing bombs and 11 torpedoes, the mighty ship rolled over and sank, taking 2498 of her 2767 crewmembers with her.
Battleships had become obsolete, and aircraft carriers had become the capital ships of the world’s strongest navies. No battleships have been built since World War II and it is virtually certain that no giant, big gun, thick armor battleships will ever be built again.
Question for students (and subscribers): If you could serve on any ship of World War II, which would it be? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Skulski, Janusz. The Battleship Yamato (Anatomy of the Ship). Naval Institute Press, 1988.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1700 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1700">97 Comments
If i had to fight on a battle ship i would fight on the American Iowa Class Battleships.
Battleships were indeed awesome, but I think my pick would be the USS Enterprise. One of the most decorated ships in US history.
isnt tht pick of a iowa class
enterprise was a aircraft carrier
Yeah, it’s the Iowa firing her guns. I posted the pic for MB.
I think that it is interesting how they spent all that money on the battleship, but did not intend to have it participate in any battles. What a waste of money!
i would be upset if was on that ship and was excited to do something and just sat there on a boat. also if i was a part of the people who payed for it i would be upset because i would have wasted my money.
I don’t know if I would choose to be part of a battleship. I think this story is interesting especially because it was attacked and sank before it ever went into battle.
I would want to serve on one of the American Iowa battleships because for one, its and American ship and secondly it was the second largest battleship roaming the oceans at that time in history.
I would want to serve on the Iowa. I found the article interesting because the ships never even had a chance to truly go into battle.
I would never want to be on any kind of battleship. However I did find this article interesting to learn about the second largest battleship during that time.
I would want to serve on the Iowa. Its sad that these ships never had the chance to go up against each other.
If I served during WWII I would have wanted to serve on one of the Iowa class battleships. It’s funny to see how Japan made this absolute beast of a battleship yet were too afraid to use it in actual battle.
The American made Iowa was the best battleships of that time period. I agreethat it was a big waste of money to build a ship that would never be used in battle, but America wastes a lot of money on useless things also..
I would have liked to serve on the USS Iowa!
no wonder she was called by crewmen of other ships Hotel Yamato
in the whole WWII there was only one recorded BB engagment and that too was halfassed =-=” as it was US battleships and Japanese Battlecruisers
oh man i would really appreciate if someone would make a time machine and let there be a fair 1vs1 fight between 2 BB’s
I think it was a waste of time and money to spend on these battleships when they weren’t even used. But if I had to chose a battleship I would be on the USS Iowa.
I think I would have liked to serve on these battleships. They were incredible but seemed a bit of a waste.
I would fight for the Iowa battleship.
It’s sad that the time and money used to build this ship was basically wasted since it was sunk without having the opportunity to battle.
Why didn’t the Japanese give the battle ship enough fuel to make it back from the mission? I don’t understand that. If it was such a great ship, then why make certain it couldn’t return? Also, I could picture it not being able to go very fast or turn easily since it was so large and weighted down.
At that point, Japan was running very low on resources, and especially fuel. They were mostly trying to buy enough time to be able to negotiate a conditional surrender in order to allow their emperor to retain power. Their reasoning was probably that such an obstacle would greatly increase the time it took to take Okinawa, because those 18 inch guns would make landing troops and equipment very difficult… not to mention that fragmentation effects from such large weapons would be devastating to invading forces.
Amazing that the ship stood long enough to be hit by 6 armor piercing bombs and 11 torpedoes! Mighty ship indeed.
It is interesting to learn about these battleships, however, in the end it was a waste of money.
It’s weird that they had the battleship built and never really used it for battle.
I think it is good that no battleships have been built since World War II.
It’s always cool to look back and see how far we have come with technology. Battleship were a primary means of war during WWI and II and now they are obsolete.
From the picture, that thing looks like nothing to mess with. How did it float with such artillery?
It must have been disappointing to put all the work to build that ship and not even be able to sail it.
They spent a lot of resources to build it and it end up being a waste.
It is always upsetting to hear about battleship blunders, especially since so much time and money goes into those projects. What a shame!
Millions if not billions of dollars have been wasted on ships that sink and never fight again. The transition to air attack was a way to avoid these sinking ships but tons of planes had to be used in battles. So trade offs happened either way war is the furtherest from cheap.
I think it was interesting that a ship as powerful as that was intended for a suicide mission. I think that like with Kamikazes, it had to do with a Japanese code of honor and cultural beliefs. Although I do agree with Frank, it does seem like a waste of money and resources to build a ship for that purpose.
Why is it that these massive, would been very effective battleships, always manage to be destroy or sink before ever seeing any sort battle?
It’s crazy that such a death toll could be exacted from one single ship. It makes me curious about whether or not any of these ships had procedures in place for when an attack eventually came. If the men had a chance to escape from the ship, perhaps less would have died.
It seems unbelievable that countries could put so much money into ships that airplanes could absolute tear apart the floating fortresses. Air craft carriers were the obvious next step in naval innovation.
So much money and resources were spent on this ship and it never saw a battle or another battleship!
It continues to amaze me what crazy missions people are sent on in wartime. There was no way Yamato was coming back but she still accepted her mission anyway. She didn’t even get to battle any other ships!
Yamato never fought another battleship before she was sunk. She was one of the biggest and baddest ships of her time, but she came at the end of her time. Battleships were on their way out, their era was coming to an end. Aircraft carriers were taking over.
It is hard to think about the future of warships. Will we eventually get to a point that all warships will become obsolete now that aircraft have become so much more effective, and of course drones entering the field.
It is insane how much money and time was invested into this ship knowing that it would get decimated by newer and better aircraft carriers and submarines.
Everything has a lifespan, and it was arguably not worth it for the ship. People are always striving to build bigger and better things that can destroy bigger and better things.
There seems to be a theme with large groundbreaking battleships and uselessness. the Yamato was a colossal waste of money and war resources since it never even fought in battle. the one battle is was supposed to fight in was a suicide mission for the ship, having only enough fuel to get there and not back. what a waste!
It does not surprise me that no battleships have been built since World War II. They seem to have become outdated and a waste of time and money. The Yamato was a waste of money and materials and sunk before it even made it to the battle.
Battleships had become obsolete, but Japan insisted on building more of them. Although this battleship was the most heavily armed battleship in history, it did not stand a chance against airplanes.
The days of battleships are probably over. During World War II, many of the ships became obsolete after being damaged and took several casualties with them.
What a waste of money. Instead of using the materials and money on planes which were more effective they wastes it on this ship. It is weird to think that battle ships aren’t really used anymore but it makes sense with the power of planes these days.
Why battleships were still used at this time is beyond me, and this is a great example of why.
Battleships were really useless, going up against aircrafts they really never stood a chance. But it is always interesting to see what they used during those times of war.
I can not believe how much money, time and effort was spent on building Yamato and it had never fought in a battle! I think that battleships will soon be just an exhibit at a museum because they will be completely replaced by aircrafts.
Another odd article on how much spent on a battleship and yet never used. Very odd and stupid.
It’s hard to believe they put in all this time and money into a battleship that was never used again. After reading many of these articles all I can think is what was the point of making them?
This is essentially a big waste of money for its little use. I feel that the money could have been put to other expenses instead of a one time ship. Something more useful, maybe.
What a shame that Yamato never got the chance to fight like she was built for. The suicide mission she was sent on was a waste of the money spent to build the ship. Waste of time,money and resources.
Why are these ships made but not used?
If battleships had already become obsolete, what was the point in building one? It was a waste of taxpayer money. It’d be like spending $10,000 on a typewriter today.
It is a shame the Yamato never got the chance to accomplish what it was made to do. It is interesting to me that they put all this time and money into a ship that was not even supposed to return.
Even though Yamato never was able to finish their duties, it’s still amazing how she refused to give up while being struck repeatedly by 6 bombs, and 11 torpedoes.
The Yamato was a huge ship which made it a big target for our planes. It took a lot to take her down but she eventually sank.
It’s disappointing hearing that the Yamato did not live up to its full potential.
I am not quite sure why the Yamato was built but not used?
Having Yamato do a suicide mission almost seems like a waste of a ship, even though it was shot down before it was able to take route. With the ship being so large it required many crew members, most of which lost their lives when the ship was sunk.
The Japanese battleship Yamato was a waste of money and supplies. It was eventually destroyed before ever doing anything.
I believe that battleship missions were not very effective. When they were out in the water, they were unable to make a good attack because they were not practical.
I can’t believe that Yamato never fought another battleship! To me, this is a waste of time and money considering the expenses put into Yamato.
It amazes me to see the advances made in technology, and how they relate to war. The author writes how there are no longer battleships being used for battle, and this is shocking to me.
With all of the defeats of battleships in history, it seems to me that battleships were easy, slow targets that were able to be taken down by opponents more easily than other weapons like air crafts. Battleships becoming obsolete after this incident is understandable.
it was a suicide mission since they were not given enough fuel to make it back. If the crew knew this i couldn’t imagine on why they agreed to go on such a mission
I feel that the Yamato was such a waste, who wouldn’t want to use something that so much time and energy was put into to make! Maybe this is why battleships are not really used for battle any longer.
It is interesting that Yamato never fought another battleship. Many people would like to say it wasted money. But, for those sailors and soldiers on the Yamato, they were fortunate.
The Yamato was a useless accomplishment. The ship made a name for itself based on purpose and supposed abilities, never truly going to battle against another ship. The Yamato was a waste of resources and fire power.
I find it interesting that Yamato never fought another battleship. This was such a waste of resources. They were sent on a suicide mission in a sense because they didn’t even have enough fuel.
I found it shocking that there are no more battleships that are being used in battle.
Completely surprised again that a batteshio wouldn’t be a main weapon compared to the other things we read about.
I wonder how many battleships are in the ocean from WW ll. Well at least at the time the manufacturing of these ships brought jobs for people coming out of the depression.
I cannot believe that they never used the ship again. I also am shocked at how many weapons were on this ship!
Its hard to believe that they never used a ship to this magnitude again. There were many weapons aboard the ship, and the manufacturing of these weapons created many jobs.
I wonder why i have never heard about this ship. It was the biggest, and it carried many weapons.
I wonder why the Japanese even spent the money and time on a battleship that was not even used?
I did not know battleships have not been built since WWII
This made me realize the advances in technology throughout our nations history. It is a special thing to stop and think about.
I had never realized that battleships were not produced after WW2. The aircraft carrier is definitely a far more important vessel with the new improvements in the F-line of jets.
Why are these massive, effective battleships, always easily destroyed or sunk before ever seeing any sort battle?
As many before me have said, I did not know that battleships were not produced after World War II. I found that to be interesting, and it makes me wonder if this will ever change or if they will forever be seen as obsolete.
As with many of the most effective weapons of war, there will always be a way to defeat them and make them obsolete.
Now that we have missiles that can travel long distances, we start to see less and less battleships. We still need to keep a presence of force out there so what better than battleships.
Bigger does not make it better. Some will never learn.
The ambitious efforts of the Japanese emperor mirror those of Hitler and his big guns that were a waste. Before technological advances those beastly ships were essential. Today they are as good as paper weights.
Well it goes to show that bigger is not always better, I never knew battleships were not produced after WWII.
It is probably a good thing that battleships are no longer being made. It appears that they were a death trap waiting to happen.
Almost 2500 people just perished in the blink of an eye on the Yamato. The fact that she was sent out with only enough fuel for the trip out but not back, from Okinawa, was absurd.
2767 crew members on board and no ride home. That is amazing to me. That many people willingly went on a suicide mission. Are we sure it was willingly?
I totally agree with you on this one, really makes you wonder if they were forced to go on that suicide mission or was it really voluntary.
Granted the Yamato was a great ship, I still have favoritism towards the USS Saratoga. Also, with sending Yamoto on her last venture with only having gas to get their, did they possibly think they would not be defeated and not have a need to return immediatly?
I could serve on a ship but would not. I’m with Patrick Barker’s comment below…”That many people willingly went on a suicide mission!?”
the biggest and most heavily armed battleship made them win the war
It is amazing that Japanese battleship Yamato was still surviving in the past. Aircraft carriers was one of the greatest invention in the past.