The Ships of Battlegroup: Japan Musashi (BB)

Displacement	64,170 tons	Belt Armor	16 inches
Overall Length	863 feet	Deck Armor	7.75 inces
Beam	127.75 feet	Main Turret Armor	25.5 inches
Speed	27.5 knots	Main Guns	9 × 18.1″

In 1934, the Japanese started design studies for a battleship that was intended to be faster, better protected and have more powerful guns than any other battleship to counteract the numerical advantage of the United States battleline. By designing ships too wide to pass through the Panama Canal (110 feet wide), it was felt that the United States Navy could not match them with equivalent ships. The planned four ship Yamato class completely broke all existing treaty limits but, as the treaties expired in 1940, by the time the ships were completed, they were legal. The Japanese secret service built intervening buildings and set up huge screens to block the view of the construction docks and caused a number of gabby workmen to “disappear” as part of the extreme secrecy that surrounded these ships. The outside world had no idea of the power and size of the new vessels and the class was a mystery to the Allies until all the details came out after the war. Musashi, the second ship of the class (the third ship, Shinano, was delivered as an aircraft carrier and the fourth was dropped in favor of other construction), was laid down on March 29, 1938, launched on November 11, 1941 and commissioned on August 5, 1942. The ship carried a main armament of nine 18.1 inch main guns mounted three per turret; two superfiring centerline forward and one centerline aft. Propulsion was by oil-fired steam turbines that delivered 150,000 standard horsepower. “Musashi” is a province in east central Honshu but was also the name of a noted samurai in fuedal Japan.

Although few seemed to realize it at the time, the Japanese had developed the equivalent of the world’s best buggy whip after everyone had bought a car - the Musashi was essentially obsolete when she hit the water. She spent most of her career swinging at anchor and never fired her monster guns at an enemy ship. She was torpedoed by the submarine Tunny on March 29, 1944 and spent time in the yards for repairs. On October 24, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Musashi (in company with a battleship force which also included Haruna, Kongo, Nagato and Yamato) was sunk by air strikes from the United States aircraft carriers Cabot, Enterprise, Independence and Intrepid that are thought to have scored 20 torpedo and 17 bomb hits plus 16 near misses for good measure.

For the foreign battleships constructed during the same time period, see: Alabama, Bismarck, Iowa, King George V, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tirpitz and Washington.

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for the culprits.