Japanese Battleship Yamato Country: Japan Type: Battleship Service: 1941 - 1945 Ordered: March 1937 Laid down: 4 November 1937 Launched: 8 August 1940 Commissioned: 16 December 1941 Fate: Sunk 7 April 1945 Struck: 31 August 1945

The two Yamato class battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were the largest naval vessels of World War II and were the largest, heaviest battleships ever constructed to this day, displacing 72,800 metric tons (at full load). The class carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to any warship - 460 mm (18.1 in) guns which fired 1.36 tonne shells. Even so, the Yamato class battleships had little direct impact during the war.

Yamato was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was lead ship of her class. The ship held special significance for the Empire of Japan as a symbol of national naval power. Yamato was the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto from 12 February 1942, for the invasion of Midway but she took no active part in the Battle of Midway. Relatively inactive aftward, she joined the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. In October, she participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, during which she first fired her main guns at enemy aircraft and surface ships. Yamato was sunk by US aircraft in the final days of the World War II during a quasi-suicidal attempt to reach Okinawa.