World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
1 Jun 2016 04:29:55 PM

Another photo of the Yamato under air attack by the US Navy, October 24/25 1944. She survived this battle, but her sister ship Musashi was sunk after taking twenty (20) torpedo hit and seventeen bomb hits.

2. Anonymous says:
15 Mar 2019 12:50:04 PM

Are you sure that is Yamato and not her sistership? From what I can tell, the way to clearly tell them apart was the black turret casing on Turret No. 1. Yamato did not have the same casing from what I’ve seen thus far while previous images of Musashi have the same black turret. I’m sorry if I am wrong, but I’m simply making a comment in case it is an accidental mislabeling. If there is another explaination, I’ll be happy to hear it.

3.  C. Peter Chen says:
20 Mar 2019 05:21:41 AM

To anonymous of 15 Mar 2019:

Thank you for raising the question. I do believe this is a picture of Yamato. I must admit that I am not aware of the color of Turret No. 1. However, after some guidance by a colleague who is an expert in this area, I think the anti-aircraft armament arrangement shown in this photograph clearly identifies this ship as Yamato.

Yamato had these three rows of AA armament on either side of her superstructure, listed from outboard to inboard, or in other words, from railings toward the center line:

Outer most row -- 25mm mountings
Center row -- Three 12.7cm mountings, domed shielding
Inner most row -- Three 12.7cm mountings, no shielding

As for Musashi:

Outer most row -- 25mm mountings
Center row -- Four 25mm mountings, no shielding
Inner most row -- Three 12.7cm mountings, domed shielding

Note the difference between "center row" and "inner most row" above. I believe we can clearly see the domed shielding in the center row in this photo, thus this should be a photo of Yamato.

4. Anonymous says:
24 Mar 2019 05:06:37 PM

This is the same person that posted the question

Thank you for the information, I did not know in that and I am glad that you had mentioned that so I know that now. I did know that the Musashi and Yamato both had the retrofit to remove the two Mogami gun turrets on the side but I did not know which one was which

I did know that one of them had the front turret painted black, though I assumed that was Musashi and not Yamato. Seems I am likely wrong on that and I thank you for the information that corrected me.

Glad to now have that sorted out and now know that Yamato had the black Turret No1, at least so it seems from this image and the one directly after it on the next page, as well as how the superstructure was retrofitted differently between them.