Musashi was one of three Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1930s. They were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Her wreck was located in March 2015 by a team of researchers employed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
About Japanese battleship Musashi in brief
Musashi was one of three Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late 1930s. They were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing almost 72,000 long tons fully loaded. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Over half of her crew was rescued. Her wreck was located in March 2015 by a team of researchers employed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The ship’s main battery consisted of nine 45-calibre 46-centimetre Type 94 guns mounted in three triple gun turrets, numbered from front to rear. She also carried thirty-six 25-millimetre Type 96 light anti-aircraft guns in 12 triple-gun mounts, all mounted on the superstructure. She had a stowage capacity of 6,300 long tons of fuel oil, giving a range of 7,200 nautical miles at a speed of 16 knots. The battleship had four sets of Kampon geared steam turbines, each of which drove one propeller shaft. The turrets were protected by an 650 millimetre armour plate on the face, 250 millimetres on the roof, and 270 millimeters on the barbettes on the sides. The deck armour ranged in thickness from 230 to 200millimetres at its bottom at its base. The total armour was identical to the Yamato’s belt at the top it was a strake over the magazines and machinery spaces; it tapered to a thickness of 75 millimetRES at the bottom of the deck.
She was designed to produce a total of 150,000 shaft horsepower, using steam provided by 12 Kampon water-tube boilers, to give her a maximum speed of 27 knots. She displaced 64,000long tons at standard load and 71,659 long tons at deep load. Her crew consisted of 2,500 officers and enlisted men in 1942, and about 2,800 in 1944. Her ship was modified in mid-1942 to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and spent the rest of the year working up. In early 1943 she was transferred to Truk in early 1943 and sortied several times that year with the fleet in unsuccessful searches for American forces. While the ship was under repair in April 1944, the two 15. 5 cm wing turrets were removed and replaced with three triple 25 mm gun mounts each. A total of sixteen triple 25-mm mounts and twenty-five single mounts were added at that time, giving the ship a total armament of 115 AA armament at a total weight of 25 25 tons. It had a beam of 36.9 metres and a draught of 10. 86 metres atdeep load. The battlecruisers were equipped with six or seven floatplanes to conduct reconnaissance. They had a total length of 244 metres between perpendiculars and 263 metres overall.
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