Japanese battleship Musashi
Musashi leaving Brunei in October 1944 for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where she was sunk by air attack
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History | |
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Japan | |
Name | Musashi |
Namesake | Province of Musashi |
Ordered | June 1937 |
Builder | Mitsubishi Shipyard, Nagasaki |
Laid down | 29 March 1938 |
Launched | 1 November 1940 |
Commissioned | 5 August 1942 |
Stricken | 31 August 1945[1] |
Fate | Sunk by American air attack during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 24 October 1944 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Yamato-class battleship |
Displacement | 63,000 long tons (64,000 t) (standard) |
Length | 263 m (862 ft 10 in) (o/a) |
Beam | 36.9 m (121 ft 1 in) (waterline) |
Draft | 10.86 m (35 ft 8 in) ( full load ) |
Installed power | 12 × Kanpon water-tube boilers
150,000 kW ) |
Propulsion | 4 × propellers; 4 × steam turbines |
Speed | 27.5 knots (50.9 km/h; 31.6 mph) |
Range | 7,200 nmi (13,300 km; 8,300 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement | 2,500 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Armour |
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Aircraft carried | 6–7 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 2 × catapults |
Musashi (武蔵), named after the former Japanese province,[2] was one of four planned Yamato-class battleships[N 1] built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), beginning in the late 1930s. The Yamato-class ships were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed,[4] displacing almost 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) fully loaded and armed with nine 460-millimetre (18.1 in) main guns. Their secondary armament consisted of four 155-millimetre (6.1 in) triple-gun turrets formerly used by the Mogami-class cruisers. They were equipped with six or seven floatplanes to conduct reconnaissance.
Commissioned in mid-1942, Musashi was modified to serve as the
Design and description
Since the IJN anticipated it would be unable to produce as many ships as the United States, the Yamato-class ships with their great size and heavy armament were designed to be individually superior to American battleships.
The battleship had four sets of
Armament
Musashi's
While the ship was under repair in April 1944, the two 155 mm
Armour
The ship's waterline armour belt was identical to Yamato's at 410 millimetres (16.1 in) thick and angled outwards 20 degrees at the top.[12] Below it was a strake of armour that ranged in thickness from 270 to 200 millimetres (10.6 to 7.9 in) over the magazines and machinery spaces, respectively; it tapered to a thickness of 75 millimetres (3.0 in) at its bottom edge. The deck armour ranged in thickness from 230 to 200 millimetres (9.1 to 7.9 in). The turrets were protected with an armour plate 650 millimetres (25.6 in) thick on the face, 250 millimetres (9.8 in) on the sides, and 270 millimetres on the roof. The barbettes of the turrets were protected by armour 560 to 280 millimetres (22.0 to 11.0 in) thick, and the turrets of the 155 mm guns were protected by 50-millimetre (2.0 in) armour plates. The sides of the conning tower were 500 millimetres (19.7 in) thick and its roof was 200 millimetres thick. Underneath the magazines were 50-to-80-millimetre (2.0 to 3.1 in) armour plates to protect the ship from mine damage. Musashi contained 1,147 watertight compartments (1,065 underneath the armour deck, 82 above) to preserve buoyancy in the event of battle damage.[13]
Aircraft
Musashi was fitted with two catapults on her quarterdeck and could stow up to seven floatplanes in her below-decks hangar. The ship operated Mitsubishi F1M biplanes and Aichi E13A1 monoplanes and used a 6-tonne (5.9-long-ton), stern-mounted crane for recovery.[14]
Fire control and sensors
The ship was equipped with four 15-metre (49 ft 3 in)
Musashi was built with a Type 0
Construction
To cope with Musashi's great size and weight, the construction slipway was reinforced, nearby workshops were expanded, and two floating cranes were built. The ship's keel was laid down on 29 March 1938 at Mitsubishi's Nagasaki shipyard, and was designated "Battleship No. 2". Throughout construction, a large curtain made of hemp rope weighing 408 t (450 short tons) prevented outsiders from viewing construction.[17][18][N 2]
Towards the end of fitting out, the ship's flagship facilities, including those on the
Service
Musashi was commissioned at Nagasaki on 5 August 1942, and assigned to the 1st Battleship Division, together with Yamato,
Musashi was assigned to the
On 17 May, in response to American
In mid-October, in response to suspicions of planned American raids on
The ship remained in Truk Lagoon until 10 February 1944, when she returned to Yokosuka. On 24 February, Musashi sailed for
In May 1944, Asakura was promoted to rear admiral; Musashi departed Kure for
Battle of Leyte Gulf
Captain
The following day, the submarine USS Dace torpedoed and sank the heavy cruiser Maya near Palawan. The destroyer Akishimo rescued 769 survivors and transferred them to Musashi later in the day.[27]
Loss at Sibuyan Sea
On 24 October, while transiting the
An hour and a half later, another eight Helldivers from Intrepid attacked Musashi again. One bomb hit the upper deck and failed to detonate; another hit the port side of the deck and penetrated two decks before exploding above one of the engine rooms. Fragments broke a steam pipe in the engine room and forced its abandonment, as well as that of the adjacent boiler room. Power was lost to the port inboard propeller shaft and the ship's speed dropped to 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). Anti-aircraft fire shot down two Helldivers during this attack. Three minutes later, nine Avengers attacked from both sides of the ship, scoring three torpedo hits on the port side. One hit abreast Turret No. 1, the second flooded a hydraulic machinery room, forcing the main turrets to switch over to auxiliary hydraulic pumps, and the third flooded another engine room. More counterflooding reduced the list to one degree to port, but the amount of flooding reduced the ship's forward
At 13:31, the ship was attacked by 29 aircraft from fleet carriers
Kurita left Musashi to fend for herself at 15:30, and encountered her again at 16:21 after reversing course. The ship was headed north, with a list of 10 degrees to port, down 8 metres (26 ft) at the bow with her forecastle awash. He detailed a heavy cruiser and two destroyers to escort her while frantic efforts were made to correct her list, including flooding another engine room and some boiler rooms. Her engines stopped before she could be beached. At 19:15, her list reached 12 degrees and her crew was ordered to prepare to abandon ship, which they did fifteen minutes later when the list reached 30 degrees. Musashi capsized at 19:36 and sank in 1,350 metres (4,430 ft) of water at 13°07′N 122°32′E / 13.117°N 122.533°E.[N 4] Inoguchi chose to go down with his ship; 1,376 of her 2,399-man crew were rescued. About half of her survivors were evacuated to Japan, and the rest took part in the defence of the Philippines.[11] The destroyer Shimakaze rescued 635 of Maya's survivors from Musashi.[31]
Wreck
Discovery
For over 70 years after her sinking, various attempts were made by shipwreck hunters to locate the wreck of the Japanese battleship, but none succeeded. Musashi, like other Japanese warships, did not have its name on its sides, making it more difficult for divers and shipwreck hunters to find her. A research team sponsored by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen eventually found her after eight years of searching for the wreck, going through various historical records in different countries, and deploying the high-tech yacht Octopus and a remotely operated vehicle to aid in their search. In March 2015, Allen announced that the team had found Musashi under the Sibuyan Sea, some 900 metres (3,000 ft) beneath the surface.[32][33]
The ship had been thought to have sunk in one piece; in reality, it exploded underwater,[34] scattering debris across the ocean floor. The bow section from the number one barbette forward is upright on the sea floor, while the stern is upside down. The forward superstructure and funnel is detached from the rest of the ship and lies on its port side.[35] In the live streaming video tour conducted by the expedition team, a mount for the seal of the Imperial Japanese Navy—a chrysanthemum made out of teak, long rotted away—can be seen amid the debris. The video also showed damage made by U.S. torpedoes, including a warped bow and hits under the ship's main gun.[35] Other items found in the area of the wreck, as well as other features found inside, led maritime experts to claim with 90% certainty that the wreck was Musashi.
To further confirm the identity of the wreck, Shigeru Nakajima, an electrical technician on Musashi who survived by jumping overboard after the order to abandon ship was given, told the Associated Press that he was "certain" that the wreck was Musashi upon seeing its anchor and the imperial seal mount. He also expressed his gratitude to the expedition team for having located the shipwreck.[32]
Preservation and protection
The discovery of the wreck beneath the surface of the Sibuyan Sea raised issues in the Philippines because the provincial government of Romblon, which has jurisdiction over the shipwreck site, and the Philippine Coast Guard were unaware that Allen and his team had an ongoing expedition in the area, though Governor Eduardo Firmalo publicly welcomed discovery of the ship. In response to the find, the Philippine Coast Guard stated that foreign-owned vessels need clearance from the Philippine Foreign Affairs Department, the Customs Bureau, and the Immigration Bureau before entering Philippine waters.[36]
Although discovering the shipwreck was very important to the Japanese people because of the presence aboard of over 1,000 Japanese sailors' remains, the National Museum of the Philippines stated that "any further activity [pertaining to the shipwreck would] be governed by established rules and regulations." The Museum pointed out that the wreck site of Musashi, as stated by the law, is considered an archaeological site under Romblon's jurisdiction, and was "giving priority to verifying the discovery, obtaining and sharing key information, facilitating the protection and preservation of the site, and formulating appropriate next steps."[36]
Footnotes
- ^ Four ships were begun, but only two were completed as battleships. The third, Shinano, was completed as an aircraft carrier and the fourth was scrapped before completion.[3]
- ^ The amount of sisal rope necessary to complete the curtain was so great that it caused a shortage in the fishing industry.[19]
- ^ The exact tally of hits is not precisely known; most Japanese sources report 11 torpedo and 10 bomb hits,[11] Garzke & Dulin report 20 torpedo and 17 bomb hits,[29] and analysis by the US Naval Technical Mission to Japan reports 10 torpedo and 16 bomb hits.[30]
- ^ Jentschura, Jung & Michel give a different location of 12°50′N 122°35′E / 12.833°N 122.583°E.[4]
References
- JSTOR 1986067.
- ^ Silverstone, p. 334
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, pp. 74–80, 84
- ^ a b Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 39
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 45
- ^ a b c Sturton, p. 178
- ^ Skulski, p. 10
- ^ a b Jentschura, Jung & Mickel, p. 38
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, pp. 91–92
- ^ Skulski, p. 20
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Hackett & Kingsepp
- ^ US Naval Technical Mission to Japan. "Ship and Related Targets: Reports of Damage to Japanese Warships" (PDF). fischer-tropsch.org. United States Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, pp. 100, 104, 122
- ^ Skulski, pp. 25–26
- ^ Skulski, pp. 20–21
- ^ Skulski, p. 21
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, pp. 51, 53, 66
- ^ Yoshimura, p. 29
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 51
- ^ Yoshimura, pp. 83–85, 97, 109, 115–117
- ^ Yoshimura, pp. 123–125
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 66
- ^ a b Whitley, p. 216
- ^ a b Stille, p. 42
- ^ Padfield, p. 285
- ^ Polmar & Genda, pp. 420–422
- ^ Lacroix & Wells, pp. 346–347
- ^ Padfield, pp. 286–287
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 18
- ^ Holtzworth, p. 22
- ^ Lacroix & Wells, p. 347
- ^ History.com. A&E Networks. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
- ^ Agence France-Presse (4 March 2015). "US Billionaire Paul Allen Discovers Wreck of Japan's Biggest Warship Musashi". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
- ^ Yamaguchi, Mari (13 March 2015). "Japanese WWII Battleship Musashi Exploded Under Water, New Footage Suggests". StarTribune. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ^ a b Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Allen, Paul G. (12 March 2015). "Musashi (武蔵) Expedition". YouTube. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ^ ABS-CBN News. Kyodo News. 6 March 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
Sources
- Garzke, William H. & Dulin, Robert O. (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-101-0.
- Hackett, Bob & Kingsepp, Sander (2012). "IJN Battleship Musashi: Tabular Record of Movement". Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
- Holtzworth, E.C., Commander (January 1946). "Reports of the US Naval Technical Mission to Japan: Ship and Related Targets – Article 2: Yamato (BB), Musashi (BB), Taiho (CV), Shinano (CV)" (PDF). United States Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Jentschura, Hansgeorg; Jung, Dieter & Mickel, Peter (1977). Warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1869–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 0-87021-893-X.
- Lacroix, Eric & Wells, Linton (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3.
- ISBN 1-84158-080-5.
- Polmar, Norman & ISBN 1-57488-663-0.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Skulski, Janusz (1995) [1988]. The Battleship Yamato. Anatomy of the Ship. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-490-3.
- Stille, Mark (2008). Imperial Japanese Navy Battleships 1941–45. New Vanguard. Vol. 146. Botley, UK: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-280-6.
- Sturton, Ian (1980). "Japan". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Thorne, Phil (March 2022). "Battle of the Sibuyan Sea". Warship International. LIX (1): 34–65. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 1-55750-184-X.
- Yoshimura, Akira (1999). Battleship Musashi: The Making and Sinking of the World's Greatest Battleship. Tokyo: Kodansha International. ISBN 4-7700-2400-2.
External links
- Media related to Japanese battleship Musashi at Wikimedia Commons
- Maritimequest.com: Musashi photo gallery