In 1917 the Japanese Navy began planning a strong "Eight-Eight" squadron. This was to comprise eight new battleships including the Nagato, Mutsu, Kaga, Tosa, Kii and Owari, and eight new battle cruisers including the Amagi, Akagi, Takao and Atago. In addition four new ships as yet unnamed were to be leviathans with a load displacement of 47,500 tons and carrying eight 46cm guns as their main armament. However, under the Treaty of Washington signed in 1921, the possession of capital ships was limited and the building of new ships was prohibited for 10years. Although the Nagato and Mutsu were completed and the Akagi and Kaga were changed into aircraft carriers, the grand plan was never realized. In 1929-30 when the restrictions imposed were coming to an end, Japan planned to build battleships of 35,000 tons. However, the Washington treaty was followed by the London Treaty in 1930, and this plan was not realized either.

In October 1934 the Japanese Navy started plans for a new superdreadnought battleship, and after 22 months a proposal called A140-F5 was adopted. Substantial modifications were made and in March 1937 the final proposal for a 68,200 ton ship was adopted and building started at Kure Naval Dockyard on November 4th 1937. On August 8th 1940 the Yamato was launched and it was completed on the 16th December 1941. The most characteristic feature of the Yamato was the nine 46cm guns, the biggest ever mounted on a ship. For camouflage the guns were called 40cm guns of type 94. They had a maximum range of 41,000 meters and could penetrate a 43cm armour plate from a distance of 30,000 meters. The rate of fire was two rounds per minute. An armour piercing projectile of type 91 weighed 1.4 tons. The gun barrel weighed about 166 tons and the revolving part of the turret was as heavy as 2,265 tons. In addition to the powerful 46cm guns, the Yamato carried twelve 15.5 guns. The Yamato had excellent protection. Its hull was short and broad for its displacement. The turrets, bridge, machinery, etc. were disposed near the centre where the armour protection was concentrated. Of nearly 43,000 tons of steel, 21,266 tons was armour plating- more than 30% of the load displacement. The length of the Yamato was 256 metres, the breadth 34.6 metes and it had a draft of 10 metres. To gauge how huge the Yamato was, the height from keel to top of bridge was more than 50 metres, the hull contained six decks and the bridge structure thirteen decks. There were about 400 speaking tubes, 750 telephones and eight generators with a total output of no less than 4,800 kw, enough to supply a small town.

The Yamato first saw service in the Battle of Midway in June 1942, but it was not until October 25th 1944 that the 45cms guns were first used in action. On April 6th 1945 the Yamato took part in "Operation Ten No.1" (Operation kikusui), and on the 7th April early in the morning the Japanese unit was spotted by an enemy plane and in the afternoon it was attacked by more than 300 enemy aircraft. The Yamato was hit by ten torpedoes and eight bombs and at 2.23 p.m. it sank with its crew of 2,498 without proving the worth of its huge guns.

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