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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # 80-G-704702: Japanese battleship Yamato running trials, 30 October 1941.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- JAPANESE NAVY SHIPS --

Yamato (Battleship, 1941-1945)

Yamato, lead ship of a class of two 65,000-ton (over 72,800-tons at full load) battleships, was built at Kure, Japan. She and her sister, Musashi were by far the largest battleships ever built, even exceeding in size and gun caliber (though not in weight of broadside) the U.S. Navy's abortive Montana class. Their nine 460mm (18.1-inch) main battery guns, which fired 1460kg (3200 pound) armor piercing shells, were the largest battleship guns ever to go to sea, and the two ships' scale of armor protection was also unsurpassed.

Commissioned in December 1941, just over a week after the start of the Pacific war, Yamato served as flagship of Combined Fleet commander Isoroku Yamamoto during the critical battles of 1942. During the following year, she spent most of her time at Truk, as part of a mobile naval force defending Japan's Centeral Pacific bases. Torpedoed by USS Skate (SS-305) in December 1943, Yamato was under repair until April 1944, during which time her anti-aircraft battery was considerably increased. She then took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October. During the latter action, she was attacked several times by U.S. Navy aircraft, and fired her big guns in an engagement with U.S. escort carriers and destroyers off the island of Samar.

Yamato received comparatively light damage during the Leyte Gulf battle, and was sent home in November 1944. Fitted with additional anti-aircraft machine guns, she was based in Japan during the winter of 1944-45. Attacked by U.S. Navy carrier planes in March 1945, during raids on the Japanese home islands, she was again only lightly damaged. The following month, she was assigned to take part in the suicidal "Ten-Go" Operation, a combined air and sea effort to destroy American naval forces supporting the invasion of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, while still some 200 miles north of Okinawa, Yamato was attacked by a massive force of U.S. carrier planes and sunk.

After the war, the great battleship became an object of intense fascination in Japan, as well as in foreign countries. Yamato's remains were located and examined in 1985 and again examined, more precisely, in 1999. She lies in two main parts in some 1000 feet of water. Her bow portion, severed from the rest of the ship in the vicinity of the second main battery turret, is upright. The midships and stern section is upside down nearby, with a large hole in the lower starboard side close to the after magazines.

This page features, or provides links to, all the images we have concerning the Japanese battleship Yamato.

For more views of the battleship Yamato, see:

  • Yamato in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 22-26 October 1944; and
  • Yamato in the "Ten-Go" Operation, 6-7 April 1945.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 80-G-704702

    Yamato

    (Japanese battleship, 1941-1945)

    Running trials, 30 October 1941.
    This photograph was seized by Occupation Authorities in Japan following the end of World War II.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 615 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 73092

    Yamato

    (Japanese Battleship, 1941-1945)

    Running trials, on 30 October 1941.

    Courtesy of Mr. Kazutoshi Hando, 1970.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 63433

    Yamato

    (Japanese battleship, 1941-1945)

    In the late stages of construction alongside the large fitting out pontoon at the Kure Naval Base, Japan, 20 September 1941.
    The aircraft carrier Hosho is at the extreme right. The store ship Mamiya is in the center distance.
    Note Yamato's after 460mm main battery gun turret, and superfiring 155mm secondary battery gun turret.

    Courtesy of Lieutenant Commander Shizuo Fukui.

    U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

    Online Image: 143KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-309662

    Carrier Raids on Japan, March 1945


    Japanese battleship Yamato maneuvers while under heavy air attack by Task Force 58 planes in the Inland Sea, 19 March 1945. She was not seriously damaged in these attacks.
    Photographed from a USS Hornet (CV-12) plane.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     

    For more views of the battleship Yamato, see:

  • Yamato in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 22-26 October 1944; and
  • Yamato in the "Ten-Go" Operation, 6-7 April 1945.


    NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 13 May 2000
    Coding updated 3 May 2009