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 WITH ABOUT 35 NEW PHOTOS AND DIAGRAMS ADDED. THEY CAN BE FOUND ON THE LAST 3 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:
IJN IN COLOR WEBSITE BY IROOTOKO_JR
IJN YAMATO - TABULAR RECORD OF MOVEMENT
THE ROBERT LUNDGREN HISTORICAL RESOURCE 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: 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:
A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS ON YAMATO - PART III:
Almost all Japanese photos of Battleship Yamato were destroyed in the wholesale burning of military archives after Japan's capitulation (but before the US forces came ashore).
As a result, there has been a fascination among Yamato fans as to exactly what the ship looked like during the different stages of the war. As you will see, she - and her sister ship, Musashi - went through at least 3 different deck and gun configuration phases between 1941 and 1945.
Please note, however, that there undoubtedly are a few other obscure archival photos of the Yamato in action (almost all taken by the US Navy planes that tried, and ultimately succeeded, in sinking her). If you happen to have an archival photo of Yamato or Musashi that is not on this website, I humbly ask you to leave me a comment with your email address and I will get back to you.
The photos in this album are basically arranged in chronological order, and are accompanied by text describing when and where they were taken, their significance, (if known).
Colorized photo courtesy of Irootoko Jr.