The IJN Musashi was a Yamato-class battleship used by Japan in World War II. This powerful vessel was launched on November 1, 1940, entering service on August 5, 1942; thus, it did not take part in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which had taken place on December 7, 1941. Together with her sister ship, Yamato, it had the strongest armor and the most powerful naval guns ever fitted to a battleship.
The keel of Musashi had been laid on a slipway, in Nagasaki yard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, on March 29, 1938. It had two catapults as it could carry up to seven float-planes in the below-deck hangar. Her launching was done by stealth as her construction had been kept secret.
Service History
As soon as it had been commissioned, the IJN Musashi was attached to the combined fleet, under Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto, replacing her sister ship Yamato as the fleet's flagship on February 11, 1943. It participated in naval operations off the coast of Truk and Brunei. The IJN Musashi, Yamato, and Magato made up the vertebral column of Vice Admiral Kunta's Force A fleet in the naval battle of Leyte Gulf on October 23, 1944, off the coast of Philippines. It would be sunk on the second day of this military engagement, on October 24, by US Navy's Helldiver and Avenger dive-bombers, which had taken off the USS Intrepid and the USS Essex carriers.
Below, the IJN Musashi sailing near the coasts of Brunei, Borneo, Southeast Asia, in 1943
Specifications
Length: 263 m
Beam: 38.9 m
Draft: 10.45 m
Displacement: 64,000 tons (empty)
Armor: up to 410-mm-thick steel plate on ship belt. 230-mm-thick on decks.
Power Plant: four geared steam turbines, which put out 150,000 HP. Steam to the turbines was fed by twelve Kanpon boilers.
Speed: 27 knots
Crew: 2,500 sailors and officers
Armament: nine 460-mm (18 in) naval guns, which were mounted in three triplet turrets, two on fore deck, and one on aft deck. Twelve 155-mm guns; and twelve 127-mm AA guns.
The Musashi moored off the coast of Truk in July 1944.
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