The Yamato was the biggest battleship ever built. However, it was built at a time when the days of the battleship as an instrument of sea power had been replaced by the aircraft carrier. A lot of manpower and money were spent on the construction of the battleship, which for the record weighed 64,000 tons. The Yamato also had the heaviest long range guns.
This colossus, however, served no purpose for the Imperial Japanese fleet. Firstly it was slow and lagged behind the main armada and secondly it was a sitting duck for enemy aircraft. The Battleship appeared after Pear Harbor. In case the Battleship had been launched earlier there is a good chance that it could have augmented the Imperial Navy’s firepower during the assault on Pear Harbor.
Japanese battleship Yamato listing to port and on fire, under attack by US Navy carrier planes north of Okinawa, April 7, 1945. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In real terms, the battleship spent a most inactive war. It was hardly ever used and towards the end of the war was sunk by American seaplanes, when it capsized and sank. Despite this, the Yamato will always be remembered as the biggest battleship ever built. There is a museum in memory of the Yamato in Japan
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