Japan Warship Yamato Found

A salvage team announced Saturday that wreckage found in the East China Sea is that of the World War II Japanese battleship Yamato, sunk in 1945 while on a desperate mission to try to turn the tide of the Pacific war.

The Japan Broadcasting Corp. televised pictures of twisted and rusted metal canisters for large-caliber guns and the imperial chrysanthemum crest on the prow. It said the pictures were taken under water by a camera in a special deep-sea diving apparatus.

Shigeru Makino, one of the vessel’s designers, confirmed that it was the Yamato after viewing photos and videotapes, the newspaper Yomiuri reported. Details of the find are to be announced by the private search team today. The vessel was one of two 72,800-ton battleships, the largest ever built. It was equipped with huge, 18-inch guns and was regarded in Japan as unsinkable. Yomiuri, which along with several other private companies sponsored the search, reported that the wreck lay 180 miles southwest of Kagoshima, off the southern island of Kyushu, in more than 1,100 feet of water.

It is in two main pieces--a bow-to-midships section roughly 560 feet long, and a 264-foot-long stern section.

Built in secrecy in the 1930s, the Yamato and its sister ship, the Musashi, saw action in the Pacific war, but were hindered by their lack of speed from serving as escorts for carrier forces.

The Musashi was sunk by U.S. carrier aircraft in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944. The Yamato--after seeing action at Midway, the Solomon Islands, Truk and other battles--was kept mostly in port at Kure, near Hiroshima.

However, during the fight for Okinawa in April, 1945, Japanese officers decided to use it for a final sortie that might help turn the fighting in Japan’s favor by beaching the giant ship and using its giant guns against U.S. land forces.

On April 6, 1945, the Yamato sailed from Tokuyama, on Japan’s Inland Sea, with just enough fuel for a one-way voyage. The next day, it was attacked by 380 American planes. Crippled by bombs and at least 12 torpedoes, the Yamato blew apart.