Throughout 1942 she served as the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and in June 1942 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the fleet from her bridge during the Battle of Midway, a disastrous defeat for Japan. Laid down in 1937 and formally commission a week after the Pearl Harbor attack in late 1941, Yamato was designed to counter the numerically superior battleship fleet of the United States, Japan's main rival in the Pacific. The Yamato and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load and was armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 inch) main guns, split equally between the ship's three turrets. The Yamato was named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, with the Yamato serving as the flagship of Imperial Japanese Navy battleships during World War II.

The Yamato-class battleship was the largest class of battleships ever built. Yamato (1941), Musashi (1942) & Shinano (n/a, converted into aircraft carrier)ħ,200 nautical miles 16 knots (13,300 km 30 km/h)ġ2 Kanpon boilers, driving 4 steam turbinesĤ10 mm side armor (400 mm on Musashi), inclined 20°

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