Posted on 07/03/2006 8:42:25 AM PDT by GATOR NAVY
A Japanese museum has obtained a rare photo of Japan's World War Two battleship the Yamato shortly before it departed for the East China Sea, where it was sunk by US warplanes.
The aerial photo was taken by a US reconnaissance plane on April 6, 1945, off Tokuyama in Yamaguchi prefecture, western Japan, five hours before the Yamato made its final sortie.
The Yamato Museum in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture, recently obtained a digital image of this photo, which is stored in the US National Archives in Washington.
The Yamato, the world's largest-ever battleship, sank on its way to Okinawa after being attacked by US naval aircraft on April 7, 1945.
The image shows the Yamato preparing for departure, and six other escort vessels, including the light cruiser Yahagi, which were anchored around the Yamato.
The Yamato was remodeled several times to counter US air attacks. A researcher says the picture is the first photo that clearly shows anti-aircraft guns installed near the Yamato's stern.
The Yamato Museum Director, Kazushige Todaka, says the photo is important since there is a lack of data on the battleship shortly before it sank.
Ther's a link to a video (in Japanese) in the sidebar on the right side of the page.
Very intersting news considering the small amount of photos available of Yamato.
For your ping list.
that is big. How does it compare to our current battleships?
It makes a lovely reef.
Ours are on top of the water?
what current battleships?
I believe that all our battleships are of WWII vintage.
Your link is to the wrong article. Is there anywhere that a bigger picture can be obtained?
But if you're referring to the Iowa class, the Yamato class weighed in around 70,000 tons and mounted 9, 18-inch gins. The Iowa weighed in around 45,000 tons with 9 16-inch guns.
That said, in a one-on-one dual, I would put my money on the an Iowa except at point blank range.
There are no current battle-ships.
The IOWA class was dsigned and built to have two of them beat the snot out of the BISMARCK. The YAMATO was bigger still, with larger guns.
we have no current battleships...
last one built was the USS Missouri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Missouri_(BB-63)
Well Color me stupid. I had no idea we haven't had any Battleships for a while. I guess the last time I saw one was around 20 years ago.
That's good.
US military aerial recon photos? :^)
This guy has really analyzed the performance of the various battleships built.
Got it. The link is to the home page and the article link is on the sidebar. More coffee.
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I'd really like to see the Iowa become a Museum Ship.
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