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Anatomy of Yamato


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She was conceived in the mid-1930s, when battleships were the ultimate weapons in naval warfare. The Imperial Japanese Navy intended Yamato and a class of sister ships to be the greatest battleships of all—with more powerful guns, advanced optics, and impenetrable armor. But by the time Yamato entered service on December 16, 1941, aircraft carriers had begun to overshadow battleships. The attack on Pearl Harbor just a week earlier made it clear that airpower would be decisive in the Pacific War. In the war's last days, as Yamato lay on the seafloor, orders were given to destroy all documentation of the ship. Fortunately, some photos and fragmentary drawings survived, and a passionate historian named Janusz Skulski, over the course of 20 years, developed detailed drawings of the ship's anatomy. In this interactive, explore Skulski's drawings and learn what made Japan's seemingly unsinkable ship vulnerable to attack.—Susan K. Lewis

  

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