On her last morning, before the first American planes intercepted her,Yamato would have appeared indestructible. After all, she was theheaviest and most powerful battleship ever built, carrying the most formidableguns ever mounted at sea. This photograph was taken in December 1941, shortlyafter the Yamato first took to the sea.
As she came under attack on that April morning, theYamato fired her 18-inch guns at approaching American aircraft,one-third of which were torpedo bombers that hit from low altitudes. This imageof the battleship gives a sense of the 18-inch guns' enormous size (note sailors on deck).
Cloud cover precluded accurate firing of thebattleship's guns. Almost all of the nearly 400 American fighters and bomberssent to engage Yamato made it into position above her and soon began tostrafe the battleship with bullets and drop 1,000-pound bombs. Here, anaircraft's overhead view of its target. This particular image was taken during an earlier battle with American carrier aircraft on October 24, 1944 as Yamato transited the Sibuyan Sea.
Torpedoes explode against Yamato's port sideas she turns to avoid the onslaught from bombers.
While the Americans' 1,000-pound bombs held fearsome destructive power, as seen in this one exploding off Yamato's port bow, it was their air-launched torpedoes that ultimately led to the supership's demise. American aviators received orders to drop theirtorpedoes such that they would penetrate Yamato below the waterline nearher bow and stern where her armor was thinnest. They were also instructed toconcentrate their torpedoes on just one of Yamato's sides, an approachmost likely to cause flooding and eventual sinking. Note the fire in one of theship's aft turrets.
Eight Japanese destroyers and one cruiser, the Yahagi (left), tried to assist Yamato in fending off her attackers. By the end of the battle, Yahagi and all eight destroyers were lost.
After a dozen torpedo hits, even the Yamato's1,000 watertight compartments couldn't save her, and her lower decks rapidlybegan to flood. A Curtiss Helldiver bomber like the one seen at rightphotographed the destruction. At this point, after just a few hours of battle,most of the American pilots returned to their carriers, knowingYamato's injuries were fatal. In all, Yamato took 12 bomb andseven torpedo hits within two hours of battle.
An astounding series of explosions onboardYamato produced the mushroom cloud seen here shortly before she sank. Yamatosettled on the seafloor 1,200 feet down and about 50miles southwest of Kyushu, Japan. Experts believe that a fire raging in thebattleship's aft secondary magazine caused tons of ammunition to ignite almost simultaneously,producing the blasts that tore the ship in half and sank her. Theseblasts were perhaps the largest ever to occur at sea.
One of the final photographs of the supership shows her severely damaged hull burning just prior to disappearing beneath the waves. When Yamato sank, marking the last Japanesenaval action of the war, she took 2,747 men with her—all but 269 of her crew.Surrounding Japanese ships lost an additional 1,167 men. Only 10 American aircraft went down in the battle, with the loss of just 12 men.
