What is Battleship Yamato?
[[File:Yamato1945.png|thumb|right|350px|{{Center|Drawing of IJN Superbattleship Yamato}}]] The '''Yamato''' was a [[Japan]]ese [[Super battleship (warship)|super battleship]] that served in the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] (IJN) during [[World War II]]. Along with its [[sister ship]], the [[Japanese battleship Musashi|Musashi]], they were the largest [[battleship]]s ever built. == Super battleship == Yamato was built at Kure, Japan.<ref name=USN>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm|title=Yamato (Battleship, 1941-1945)|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|publisher=The United States Navy / navy.mil|access-date=11 November 2014|archive-date=25 March 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325035351/http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/japan/japsh-xz/yamato.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> She entered service on 16 December 1941.<ref name=Skulski8>Janusz Skulski, ''The Battleship Yamato'' (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1988), p. 8</ref> It was one of five planned super battleships although only two were built: Yamato and Musashi.<ref name=Bull291>Stephen Bull, ''Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004), p. 291</ref> The [[Allies of World War II|allies]] had no clue Japan had built these monsters until they were first spotted. Yamato was huge, even by the standards of todays warships and displaced 62, 315 tons.<ref name=Bull291/> Yamato had nine 18-inch [[gun]]s which were the largest in the world at the time. She was {{convert|263|m}} long.<ref name=Yoshidaxv>Mitsuru Yoshida, ''Requiem for Battleship Yamato'' (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1985), p. xv</ref> Yamato's armor was {{convert|460|mm}} thick.<ref name=Yoshidaxv/> Her guns were her most feared weapons. They fired shells that weighed 3,200 pounds each (the size of a compact car!).<ref name=Yoshidaxv/> They had a range of {{convert|44|km}}.<ref name=Yoshidaxv/> Yamato was designed to fight and [[wikt:destroy|destroy]] [[US]] batt