Yamato and Musashi Internet Photo Archive
Yamato and Musashi Internet Photo Archive
Yamato2

WELCOME TO THE INTERNET'S YAMATO & MUSASHI BATTLESHIP PHOTO ARCHIVE! (EST. 08/2008)

MAJOR UPDATE I - 08/2019 WITH DOZENS OF NEW HIGH RES PHOTOS!

MAJOR UPDATE II - 04/2024 & 07/2024 WITH 46 NEW PHOTOS AND DIAGRAMS ADDED. THEY CAN BE FOUND ON THE LAST 4 PAGES OF THE GALLERY

NAVIGATION INSTRUCTIONS:

INDEX PAGE LINKS ARE LOCATED ABOVE THE INDEX PHOTOS ON LEFT. TO SEE INDIVIDUAL PHOTOS, CLICK ON EACH THUMBNAIL, THEN CLICK AGAIN ON THE ENLARGED PHOTO IN THE LOWER RIGHT-HAND CORNER OF THIS PAGE AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS.

READ ROBERT LUNDGREN'S BOOK ON LEYTE GULF:

'THE WORLD WONDER'D' - BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF by Robert Lundgren

YAMATO SHIRTS, POSTERS, MUGS, CAPS NOW AVAILABLE AT THE YAMATO ZAZZLE STORE:

BATTLESHIP YAMATO ZAZZLE STORE

Archive photos are from the USA National Archives & the USN, & are in the Public Domain.

LINKS:

YAMATO CLASS GENESIS

IJN IN COLOR WEBSITE BY IROOTOKO_JR

MUSASHI EXPEDITION

CLASSICWARSHIPS.COM

IJN YAMATO - TABULAR RECORD OF MOVEMENT

THE ROBERT LUNDGREN HISTORICAL RESOURCE

MODEL WARSHIPS.COM

IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY PAGE (COMBINED FLEET)

IJN SHIP DOWNLOADABLE 'PERSONAS' FOR FIREFOX BROWSER

YAMATO'S FINAL BATTLE CGI FILM

YAMATO AT THE BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF CGI FILM

Historian Anthony Tully, (co-author of "Shattered Sword - The Untold Story of The Battle of Midway"), Forum:

TULLY'S PORT

3 indispensable books for any Yamato enthusiast:

Janusz Skulski-The Battleship Yamato-Anatomy of a Ship

Russell Spurr-A Glorious Way to Die - The Kamikaze Mission of the Battleship Yamato

Yoshida Mitsuru-Requiem for Battleship Yamato (An incredible survivor's account of the battle.)

Reconstruction of Yamato as she appeared during her Final Sortie in April 1945:

1:200 YAMATO MODEL

Battle of Leyte Gulf and Japanese special AA shells 
 
This photo captures Yamato (center of photo) and other ships of Center Force firing the "Sanshikidan" or "Beehive" shrapnel AA shells specially manufactured to be used against airplanes.

Equipped with a timed fuse that was set prior to firing, these shells would explode spraying thousands of ball bearings (in the case of Yamato and Musashi's 18" shells, up to a distance of a kilometer), which would bring down any planes within the kill zone.

The large blast with trailing smoke is probably from Yamato's 18" guns; the smaller blasts to the right of the photo are likely from the 5" AA batteries of Yamato or the other ships visible below.