Aerial image of battleship Yamato discovered

NHK Online ^ | 03 Jul 06 | Unkn

[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.

[APRPEH]

this one is Lebanon

[COEXERJ145]

Yep, the Montana class would have been the ultimate battleships but alas they were never built.

As an interesting note, during the days of battleship building, Montana was the only state never to have an active duty battleship named for it.

[Doohickey]

Interestingly, Montana got screwed twice. The firest Montana (BB-51) was laid down in 1920, but was cancelled in 1922 by the Washington Treaty.

BB-67 never actually had her keel laid.

[APRPEH]

here is something else the Yamato could never do

[Ready4Freddy]

From the article:

" 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.

[Gator101]

ability to re-fit to modern standards including missile batteries

True, but what I think finally put the BB's out of service was the cost of manning and maintaining a ship that big and that old when it's more cost effective to put those same systems on smaller, more efficient ships (that also have smaller radar signatures). While there is certainly a "diplomatic" benefit of putting a powerful ship off somebody's shore - the modern CVN's fulfill that role with their longer reach.

[Ready4Freddy]

Casey Ryback hadn't delivered it to Pearl Harbor yet... ;>)

...but the Missouri wasn't there at the time.

[ASOC]

Yup, going there on the 19th. Looking forward to seeing the sub they have as part of the memorial.

[Elsiejay]

Appealing to the naval surface warfare experts amng us:
Would their main battery 16-, 18- or 19-inch guns have been the primary weapon in a battleship-to-battleship slugfest, or would guns of lesser weight have been more useful? I assume the "big ones" were primarily intended for long-distance shore bombardment. N'est ce pas?

[Strategerist]

Yeah, both the Yamato class and the Bismarcks are among the most overrated ships of all time (I think Anthony Preston wrote a book devoted solely to overrated and poorly designed ships and had a burning Bismarck on the cover.)

In addition to there really not being as much effective difference in the 16" and 18" guns as people think, there were some serious design flaws in the Yamato armor. I'm quite confident any number of New Jerseys would defeat an equal number of Yamatos most of the time.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

By the time the Montana class was canceled, the aircraft carrier had already supplanted battleships as the dominant force in naval combat. Midway took care of that when Yamamoto was forced to retreat before his battlewagons could have any affect on the battle.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Actually, a USS Montana was begun but canceled due to arms limitations in 1922:

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/bb51.htm

Here's an artist conception of what the WWII Montana class would have looked like.

[Ready4Freddy]

Bushido

[COEXERJ145]

But for many naval historians such as myself, the passing of the battleship was the end of an era that had existed for roughly 500 years. (Starting with the first large wooden gunships.) It would have been amazing to see a Montana class BB.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

bookmark

[COEXERJ145]

I love that picture. Wish I could find it large enough to use it as my wallpaper.

[Humvee]

That broadside would displace the entire ship by about 5-6 feet. That's some kick.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Yeah, both the Yamato class and the Bismarcks are among the most overrated ships of all time

One good thing about the Bismarck and Tirpitz being built, though: Think of how many U-Boats and tanks the Germans could have built had they not spent all the money and steel that went into them?

[Gator101]

I am by no means an expert (just love ships) but yes..the main guns were primarily built to kill other battleships. The secondary armament was built primarily to fend of smaller ships like torpedo boats and eventually aircraft when they came along. Being the longest ranged the main guns were also used for shore bombardment.

Interestingly enough deciding on using the main battery only for fighting other battleships was one thing that made HMS Dreadnought so revolutionary in 1906. Prior to that all the different shell splashes from different sized guns made fire control spotting rather difficult. After watching the Japanese and Russians duke it out in 1904 many of the world's navies realized it was the big guns that made the difference so why weigh down your ships with a lot of secondary armament at the expense of other things like armor.

[APRPEH]

yea the costs were pretty high. but we know what a bad guy in a small raft with a big bomb can do to modern ships too. the bomb that tore a gaping hole in the side of the gmd USS Cole would have left a flash mark on the side of the New Jersey. surface skimming antiship missiles would not penetrate the armor plate either (so i have been told).