Shipbucket

(AU) Japan, Yamamoto-Class (40's)



Design

The A-150 Design, also known as the Yamamoto-class, was a Japanese battleship design project, started between 1938 and 1939, and completed in 1944. The A-150 design has been the "most powerful battleship in history" due to the large size of its 12-piece 510mm main battery, as well as numerous smaller caliber guns.

background

Initial plans for the A-150 battleships specify 12 x 510 mm guns in three quadruple turrets. The success in building a 480mm gun between 1920 and 1921 made the Japanese think that a 510mm gun could be built. Additionally, a speed of 30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h) was defined as a target, which would have allowed it to be faster than the 27 knots of its North Carolina Class peers. However, these magnificent specifications were reduced when the tests, concluded in a ship that responded to these, should have a displacement close to 90,000 tons; which, conveyed the feeling that a ship of that size would be "too big and too expensive".

Specifications

Initial studies began after the completion of the Yamato-class plans in 1938–39; the design goal, was a ship with a displacement similar to the Yamato class. Since the Japanese expected the Americans to be able to achieve the true characteristics of that class, especially with regard to their 460mm main armament, a 510mm main artillery was considered vital to maintain the policy of individual superiority over Japanese ships. Americans; The A-150s were the countermeasure to a possible reply from the United States to the Yamato class ships, just what ended up happening with the montana class.

The plans were "essentially completed" sometime in 1941; however, they met a similar fate as the Yamato-class documentation. Many of the A-150-class documents and plans were Sheltered deep within the Japanese empire, the specifications of these ships are not fully known. They are known to have a much more powerful main artillery barrage than the Yamato—a main battery of twelve 510 mm guns mounted on three double turrets and a secondary battery formed by 24 guns of 100 mm/65 and 18 pieces of 155 mm organized in 4 triple turrets, the displacement was to be similar to the Yamato class, around 60,000–70,000 tons. His belt has 460 mm armor. This was a much larger amount of steel than Japan was capable of manufacturing, so its construction took longer than expected.

IJN-Yamamoto (August-1946)



IJN-Yamamoto (September-1946)



IJN-Minechi (November-1946)



IJN-Yoshika (August-1946)



IJN-Heihachico (May-1946)

Awesome work!

_________________

MS State Guard - 08 March 2014 - 28 January 2023

The Official IJN Ships & Planes List

#FJB