It was the largest warship ever built up to that time. It carried larger guns than any warship before it. This pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was named after Japan itself, IJN Yamato, the historic name for Japan. Yet in its brief career, it accomplished nothing of importance and was sacrificed in the final destruction of Imperial Japan and its kamikaze (“Divine Wind”) hysteria.
The roots of the IJN Yamato and its sister super-battleship IJN Musashi can be traced back to the introduction by the British Royal Navy of the HMS Dreadnought in 1905. The British battleship made all others obsolete and started many navies, including the Imperial Japanese Navy, on a search for a bigger and better battleship. They first appeared in 1909 and were followed by several more in the following years. By 1916 the latest IJN battleship, the IJN Nagato, was armed with 10 16-inch guns, the largest afloat at the time.
