Line drawing by Alexander van Maanen
Together with her sister ship Musasho was the Yamatothe the super battle ship ever built with the heaviest guns ever carried by a warship. Of the five units of the Yamato-class were just three built, two as a battleship and one as the aircraft carrier Shinano. She was ordered in March 1937, on stocks at the Kure Naval Arsenal at Hiroshima 4 November 1937, launched 8 August 1940, commissioned 15 December 1941 and finally sunk by planes of the USN carriers on 7 April 1945 with 2,498 victims north of Okinawa.
With a displacement of 65,027 long tons standard and 71,659 long tons while full load were her dimensions 839’11” (waterline)-862’10” (over all) x 127’7” x 36’1”. The four steam turbines and 12 Kanpon boilers supplied 150,000 hp driving four screws allowing a speed of 27 knots and with a speed of 16 knots had she a range of 7,200 nautical miles. Her crew varied between 2,550-2,800 men. The original armament consisted of 3×3-46,0cm guns, 4×3-15,5cm guns, 6×2-12,7cm guns, 8×3-24mm anti aircraft guns and 25-12mm anti aircraft guns. She also carried 4 or 7 planes launched by her two catapults. The armour consisted of 16” for the sides of the gun turrets, a 16” belt and a 7.9-8.92” armoured deck.
