72,000 Tons Under the Waves: Sinking the Battleship Yamato Took Nearly 400 American Aircraft and 11 Torpedoes

72,000 Tons Under the Waves: Sinking the Battleship Yamato Took Nearly 400 American Aircraft and 11 Torpedoes

In April 1945, Japan sent the Yamato — the largest and most powerful battleship ever built — on a one-way suicide mission to Okinawa. With only enough fuel to reach the island, she was meant to smash through the American invasion fleet and then run herself aground to serve as a stationary gun battery. Instead, she was overwhelmed by nearly 400 American carrier aircraft in a single afternoon and sank with the loss of more than 3,000 lives.