About the Japanese Yamato
Yamato, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of
the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was the first built (the lead ship) of the
Yamato class. She and her sister ship Musashi were the largest, heaviest, and
most powerful battleships ever constructed, weighing 72,802 tons at full load.
The class carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to any warship, nine
460 mm (18.1 inch) guns.
The ship held special significance for World War II Japan as symbol of the
nation's naval power (the word 'Yamato' was sometimes used to refer to Japan
itself), and its relatively effortless sinking by US aircraft in the final days
of the war during the suicide Operation Ten-Go is sometimes considered symbolic
of Japan's defeat itself.
