Japanese Battleship Yamato - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

During the 1930s the Japanese government adopted an ultranationalist militancy with a view to greatly expand the Japanese Empire. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1934, renouncing its treaty obligations. After withdrawing from the Washington Naval Treaty, which limited the size and power of capital ships, the Imperial Japanese Navy began their design of the new Yamato class of heavy battleships. The class design was not finalized until 1937. When the class was finally laid down, a great effort was made in Japan to ensure that the ships were built in extreme secrecy to prevent American intelligence officials from learning of their existence and specifications. As part of the secrecy, the Japanese referred to their armament as 16 inch guns. It was not until the end of the war that her true displacement and the caliber of her weaponry were known. Yamato was the lead ship of the class. Planners recognized that Japan would be unable to compete with the output of naval shipyards of the United States should war break out, so the vessels of the Yamato class were designed to be capable of engaging multiple enemy battleships at the same time. They displaced over 70,000 tons each, and it was hoped that their firepower would offset American naval production capabilities.

Yamato's keel was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal, Hiroshima, on 4 November 1937, in a dockyard that had to be adapted to accommodate her enormous hull. The dock was deepened by one metre, and gantry cranes capable of lifting up to 350 tonnes were installed. Fearful that the United States would learn of the vessel's characteristics, the Japanese erected a canopy over part of the slipway to screen the ship from view. Yamato was launched on 8 August 1940, with Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Miyazato Shutoku in command.