By far the largest Battleship  of WW II. With a maximum displacement of 71659 tons was  the Yamato class Battleship, she was also the heaviest armed and armored of all battleships. This great ship was built in complete secrecy and it was not until very late in the war that it was found out how large and powerful she really was.

In 1934 the Japanese started design work on the Yamato class Battleship and in 1937 the designs were approved and the Yamato was ordered for construction at the Kure naval yard Japan. The ship was completed in 1940 and she was finally launched on August 8 of that year. Three more Yamato class battleships were ordered but got cancelled soon afterwards.

She was commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 16 1941, 9 days after the outbreak of war with the USA.

The Yamato class was the absolute ultimate in Battleship design. Built in great secrecy, they mounted 18.1 inch main guns which were the largest guns ever to be installed on a ship. To meet the increasing threat from the air, massive anti aircraft armament was fitted all round.

The Yamato was enlisted into the Japanese Imperial Navy's 1st Battleship Division and on February 12 1942 the ship was officially recognized as the Main Flagship when the Admirals flag of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-In-Chief Of The Combined Fleet, was raised.

Admiral Yamamoto attacked Midway in the Pacific in June 1942 and met with failure as history dictates and had to make for port. The status of the Yamato still stood firm as the mainstay of the IJN and as a ship to be reckoned with in any sea battles. The Yamato went to Truk Island in the Solomon islands in August 1942, and from there it embarked to Guadalcanal to support the fighting. It got there too late and returned back to the Truk Attol.

In 1943 after the death of Yamamoto who was shot down  by the American P-38 Lightning's whilst flying on an inspection visit from Rabaul to Bougainville, it was decided to bring the Yamato home by the Japanese. At base in Kure she had a lot of repair work carried out and was re-fitted with extra anti-aircraft guns. In mid 1943 she again sailed back to the Solomon Islands and remained redundant at Truk.

In late 1943 whilst entering the Truk Atoll the Yamato  was attacked by an American Submarine and got hit by a No.3 torpedo on her starboard side. Some 3,000 tons of water filled her third magazine room and she was ordered back to Japan for repairs. The repairs were completed in April 1944 and then the ship sailed on to Singapore. When the US Army landed in New Guinea towards the end of May the Yamato was chosen to attack the Americans but this decision came too late so instead she was sent to the Philippines as an invasion of Saipan became imminent.

In Mid June 1944 the Philippines were attacked by the USA and the Japanese lost three Aircraft carriers and most of her land based fighters. The Yamato's role in this conflict was not decisive.

Due to fuel shortages, The Yamato's last mission was intended to be one way. On the 1st of April, American forces landed on Okinawa, and Yamato was sent to attack the force. On the 7th, still 200 miles short of her target, she was discovered by American aircraft. 

She was attacked mercilessly by the American forces.

The Yamato was first hit by bombs then she started to receive torpedo hits as US submarines closed in. Eight torpedo's hit her port side and two hit her starboard side. Fiction tells us that she merely shrugged off these hits but this was not the case. Each torpedo hit caused massive damage to her steel armour plates which enabled tons of water to start flooding in through the buckled steel.

The picture above depicts the Yamato receiving a direct bomb hit from a US fighter bomber. It was the beginning of the end for the huge battleship.

Two hours later due to the damage and the amount of water she was taking in, she lost her maneuverability and then as she was listing at twenty degrees to port she was hit in the exposed lower hull by two US N0.3 torpedo's. As she started to capsize with flames erupting out of her decks....

...her main ammunition magazine exploded, sending a huge plumb of smoke thousands of feet high. 75% of the crew perished in this explosion.

The Yamato was caught on film as she exploded, then the Largest Battleship the world has ever seen sank seconds later.  The size of the explosion can be scaled by the warship in the left of the picture.

In a two hour battle, some 12 torpedoes and direct hits from 10 500lb bombs were needed to sink her. Only 269 of the 3000 crew were saved.

A Japanese diving expedition found the Yamato in the 1970's and reported that the ship was in two pieces with the bow overturned and the aft section of the ship sitting with a list to port.

The 18.1 inch ( 46 cm) calibre guns used on the Yamato  were the most powerful guns ever installed onto a Battleship. The muzzle blast was known to knock people senseless and blow away their clothes if they stood too close when they were fired ! The Japanese designated these guns as "Type 94 40 cm (15.9 inches)" in order to keep their actual calibre a secret.

18.1 inch(46 cm) Shells at the Headquarters of the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii

Inscription on the Plaque at this site reads:

"These six foot 3,200 pound projectiles were the ammunition for the largest guns ever to go to sea.  Aboard the Japanese Imperial Navy battleships Yamato and Musashi, these projectiles could be hurled more than 25 miles at 40 second intervals by 18 inch guns.  The 71,000 ton Yamato, the largest battleship in the world, was completed December 1941.  Her sister ship, Musashi, was completed eight months later.

Below: The Musashi under attack. Rendered by artist Steve Nuttall

Neither ship reached five years of age, both saw action and were sunk during World War 2, thus ending the brief era of the 18 inch gun.  These projectiles are unarmed target shells.  They were originally discovered at the Yokusuka Navy base and placed on display at the US Naval Ordnance Facility, Yokusuka in 1962.  These, and two similar projectiles on display in Hiroshima prefecture, Japan, are believed to be the only ones in existence today.  They were brought to Hawaii in April of 1971."

Below is an image of a 1/10th scale model of the Yamato at the Kure Naval Museum in Japan, even for a tenth of the size, she is still a enormouse ship !

It appears to me that if you have a ship the size of the Yamato or even the Bismarck it just presents itself as a big target and high on the enemies agenda as something to be removed from the field of play. So subsequently these ships spent most of their short lives in the Harbour away from harms way, which surely was not the intention of having them in the first place.