Yamato (battleship)

"Yamato" ^[2] , the first of the battleships of its series, was laid down on November 4, 1937 at the Navy shipyard in Kura , Hiroshima Prefecture . It was launched on August 8, 1939 ^[3] , and officially entered service on December 16, 1941; however, the ship was declared combat ready only on May 27, 1942.

As the flagship of the United Fleet, Yamato formally participated in the battle at Midway Atoll on June 4-6, 1942, but actually had no clashes with the enemy, since it was 300 miles behind the Japanese aircraft carriers. May 28, 1942 "Yamato" relocated to the island of Truk , where he spent about a year, playing the role of the floating headquarters of the United Fleet . December 25, 1943, located north of Truk Island, Yamato was hit by a torpedo (charge mass 270 kg) from the American submarine Skate and took into the hole about 3,000 tons of water. The ship’s combat capability was severely affected by the flooding of the main caliber aft cellar. In January - April 1944, Yamato underwent repairs and modernization in Kura.

In June 1944, the Yamato took part in the battle in the Philippine Sea , and the formation, which also included Musashi and a number of other heavy ships, acted in front of its aircraft carriers. On June 19, Yamato first opened fire in a combat situation, but it later became clear that the battleship fired on its own aircraft.

The Japanese command cherished its battleships for the alleged general battle with the US Navy. In reality, the war in the Pacific Ocean turned into a series of small but debilitating skirmishes, in which the forces of the Japanese fleet melted while the strongest battleships stood up far from the zones of active hostilities. As a result, the Imperial Navy developed a skepticism about these ships, well illustrated by the saying popular with sailors: “There are three biggest and most useless things in the world - the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China and the battleship Yamato” ^[4] .

In October 1944, Japanese Super Linkors were finally thrown into a serious battle. The Americans launched a landing in the Philippines , and if successful, the operations could destroy the Japanese defensive perimeter and cut off Japan from the main sources of raw materials and oil. The rate was too high, and the Japanese command decided to conduct a general battle. His plan "Se-Go" ("Victory") was an outstanding achievement of operational art ^[5] . Since the carrier forces of the Imperial Fleet had fallen into disrepair by then, the main role was assigned to large artillery ships.

The northern group, which included the few surviving aircraft carriers, was to play the role of bait for the 38th operational formation - the main striking force of the American fleet. The main blow to the landing ships was to inflict the 1st subversive formation of Vice Admiral Kurita . It consisted of 5 battleships, including the Yamato and Musashi, 10 heavy and 2 light cruisers, 15 destroyers . The unit was supposed to cross the San Bernardino Strait at night and attack landing ships off Leyte Island in the morning. Support was provided to him by a smaller force of the 2nd subversive unit of Vice Admiral Nishimura , following the Surigao Strait.

Fight at Sea Sibuyan

On October 22, the 1st subversive unit went to sea and the very next day it was attacked by American submarines, sunk two heavy cruisers. On the morning of October 24, when the Kurita compound was in the Sibuyan Sea, massive attacks by American carrier-based aircraft began. Due to random coincidences, the main attacks of the Americans were aimed at the Musashi, which, after hitting about 20 torpedoes and about 20 bombs, rolled over and sank in the evening. ^[6]

Despite the loss of Musashi, Kurita’s compound remained fully operational, as the rest of the battleships were not seriously damaged. However, Kurita hesitated and even turned back. However, the northern group of Vice Admiral Ozawa fulfilled its role of bait - the main forces of the 38th operational unit rushed at it, leaving the northern straits unguarded. The American commander overestimated the achievements of his pilots who reported the sinking of many Japanese battleships, and decided that the 1st subversive compound was not dangerous. Kurita, meanwhile, received a direct order from the Commander-in-Chief of the United Fleet - “Unification must attack with faith in Divine providence!” ^[7] and moved forward.

Leyte Bay Fight

The union at night freely crossed the unguarded San Bernadino Strait at high speed and entered the Leyte Gulf. Around 6:45, the Japanese discovered American ships. It was the northern group of the 7th US Navy, which included 6 escort aircraft carriers , 3 destroyers and 4 escort destroyers . At the Yamato, which became the flagship of the Japanese compound, they took the enemy for one of the high-speed aircraft carrier groups and believed that it included cruisers. Nevertheless, the Japanese entered the battle. "Yamato" for the first time in its career opened fire on a surface enemy at 6:58 from a distance of 27 km. The first salvos fell on the White Plains aircraft carrier, and the gunners thought they had hit.

Subsequently, the battle was reduced to the Japanese pursuit of a slow-moving enemy, who responded with attacks by aircraft and destroyers. Over the next three hours, Japanese ships bombarded numerous targets and considered several American aircraft carriers and cruisers sunk. The shooting was hindered by periodic rain squalls and smoke curtains of the enemy. As a result of a large difference in speed (up to 10 knots), the Japanese connection was stretched, and Kurita lost control of the battle. At 10:20, the 1st subversive unit left the battle and turned back, although the path to Leyte Gulf, where American transports gathered, was open.

It was like a last-minute cancellation of a death sentence, although at that moment the Americans could not understand whether it was a cancellation of a sentence or just a delay in execution ^[8] .

Losses of Americans in the battle in Leyte Gulf amounted to 1 escort aircraft carrier, 2 destroyers and 1 escort destroyer. Despite the confidence of the Yamato gunners in the good results of their firing, post-war studies showed that, most likely, the Yamato did not achieve a single hit with the main caliber, although a number of coverings were recorded ^[9] .

This was the only battle in history when battleships and cruisers were kept in sight by aircraft carriers, and they responded by raising their aircraft. The Japanese lost their chance by losing the final battle with a score of 1: 3 (for one aircraft carrier had to pay the loss of three heavy cruisers). Such a result, despite all its inconsistencies (too much determined the confusion of the Japanese admiral), became quite symbolic - aircraft armed with bombs and torpedoes were stronger than the most powerful artillery. ^[ten]

“Yamato” returned to its native shores only on November 22, 1944 and was immediately put to repair and modernization, which ended in January 1945 and was the last for him. Meanwhile, the war moved to the shores of Japan. On April 1, 1945, American troops landed on Okinawa . Since the garrison of the island did not have a chance to repel the landing, the Japanese command made the main bet on suicidal methods of struggle. The fleet did not stand aside, proposing to use the Yamato to attack enemy landing ships, despite the enemy’s dominance in the air and at sea.

On the morning of April 6, 1945, a unit consisting of Yamato, 1 light cruiser and 8 destroyers went to sea to participate in Operation Ten-iti-go (Heaven-1). The task was set for the connection - "attack the enemy fleet and supply vessels and destroy them." In case of difficulties with returning to the Yamato base, it was ordered to throw on a sandbank off the coast of Okinawa and maintain army units with artillery fire. It was also assumed that this raid would divert enemy carrier-based aircraft and facilitate the massive kamikaze attacks on amphibious assault forces planned for April 7 off the coast of Okinawa. The plan was suicidal from the start.

The Japanese compound was discovered by the enemy early in the morning of April 7th. Starting noon, the Yamato and its escort were subjected to powerful attacks by American carrier-based aircraft (227 aircraft in total). Two hours later, the battleship, having received up to 10 hits of torpedoes and 13 hits of air bombs, failed. At 14.23 local time, due to the displacement of the 460-mm shells from the bank, the bow of the main caliber artillery explosion exploded, after which the Yamato sank. ^[11] Only 269 people were saved, 3,063 crew members were killed. Losses of Americans amounted to 10 aircraft and 12 pilots.

Surveys of the flooded area of ​​the battleship were undertaken back in the early 80s of the 20th century, but it was not possible to clearly identify the fragments of the battleship, since there are several more sunken Japanese ships in the same area. In 1985, an international expedition began searching for the wreckage of the Yamato battleship in the East China Sea , which were discovered on August 1, 1985 using the Paisiz-2 remote-controlled deep-sea autonomous vehicle. Further exploration of the debris was carried out during the Japanese-American expedition "Yamato 99" in August 1999, based on the ship "Ocean Voyager" and equipped with two deep-sea inhabited vehicles "Jules" and "Jim". The battleship wreckage is located (30 ° 43'N 129 ° 04'E) on the edge of an underwater cliff at a depth of 340 meters, about 290 km southwest of Kyushu . Studies performed using a side-scan sonar showed that the wreckage consists of 2 large fragments and many small debris and various objects (ammunition, etc.) that dot the bottom in the area of ​​flooding. The bow, smaller in size, about 90 meters long, lies almost on an even keel with a slight inclination to the starboard side, separately from the 170-meter stern turned upside down with the keel. A survey of the wreckage of the sunken battleship showed that the explosion, which became the direct cause of the flooding, most likely occurred in the gun cellar of the bow elevated turret of the main caliber guns. At the same time, interestingly, the cannon cellar of the second bow tower located in close proximity did not detonate and remained intact. The condition of the stern of the vessel indicates that there could be at least partial detonation of the cellar of the stern tower of the main guns.

The wooden (teak) deck covering has not been preserved. The debris is susceptible to corrosion and is coated with a layer of rust.

During the expedition, several artifacts were raised from the sunken ship (in particular, the signal pipe) ^{[12] [13] [14]} .

In July 2015, a group of deputies of the Japanese Parliament from the Liberal Democratic Party began to hold meetings at which a proposal was put forward and discussed to raise the wreckage of the battleship in order to extract the remains of crew members from them ^[15] .

In May 2016, the wreckage was investigated using modern technology, which confirmed both the previously obtained data and led to new information. So, it was discovered many new elements of the ship, in particular a massive propeller and a separately located tower of main guns. A video recording of this study lasting 9 minutes can be seen at the Yamato Museum in Kure ^[15] .

• 09/05/1941 - 12/16/1941 - Rear Admiral .
• 12/16/1941 - 12/17/1942 - Captain I rank (from 01/01/1942 - Rear Admiral) .
• 12/17/1942 - 09/07/1943 - Captain I rank (from 01/01/1943 - Rear Admiral) .
• 09/07/1943 - 01/25/1944 - Captain I rank (from 05/05/1944 - Rear Admiral) .
• 01/25/1944 - 11/25/1944 - Captain I rank (Rear Admiral from 10/15/1944) Nobue Moricita
• 11/25/1944 - 04/07/1945 - Captain I rank (posthumously - Vice Admiral) Kosaku Aruga .

• Apalkov Yu.V. Warships of the Japanese fleet: Battleships and aircraft carriers. - St. Petersburg: Didactics, 1997.
• Balakin S. A., Dashyan A. V. et al. Battleships of the Second World War. Fleet shock force. - M .: Collection, Yauza, EKSMO, 2006 .-- 256 p .: ill. - (Arsenal Collection). - 3000 copies. - ISBN 5-699-18891-6 , LBC 68.54 L59.
• Kofman V.L. Japanese battleships of World War II. Yamato and Musashi. - M.: Collection, Yauza, EKSMO, 2006.

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