[ATS76]

BradB’s question on his bayonet reminded me an interesting museum in Kure City (呉市, くれし), Hiroshima.
Kure was the home base of Yamato, the largest battleship in the world with full load displacement of about 72,000 tons. Displacement of an Iowa class battleship is about 57,000 tons. Kure is still a major port for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
There is a Naval History & Science Museum (Yamato Museum) in Kure. The major exhibition is a 90’ long, 1/10 scale model of Yamato.
http://yamato.kure-city.jp/english/e-index.html
The shell on the right is from 18” guns on Yamato. The left one is from 16” gun on Battleship Nagato, displacement 42,000 tons. Nagato was the flagship of the Combined Fleet in 1941, flying the flag of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku during Pearl Harbor Attack. Both ships were built in Kure Naval Dockyard. Kure was the biggest arsenal town in Japan during WW2. After the war, the dockyard built many super tankers.

****** update *******

There were 3 Yamato class vessels:
1. Yamato
2. Musashi: sank in Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, October 1944
3. Shinano: She was converted to a carrier and broke several records:
Largest aircraft carrier until the commissioning of the supercarrier USS Enterprise in 1961
Shortest life carrier: commissioned on 11/19/44 & sank on 11/29/44 during the voyage to Kure City
Largest ship sank by a submarine: USS Archer-Fish

Captain of USS Archer-Fish, Joseph Enright wrote a book about the sinking of Shinano, Sea Assault in 2000. It’s a very good paperback.

 

[bones92]

Great stuff. I remember seeing a documentary about YAMATO and her loss not far from Japan.

 

[raym]

Model or Gunboat?

That "model" looks seaworthy! Wouldn't the bore of those guns come out to about 1.8"? Nice piece of modeling. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dieter]

That is a nice model! Wish I would have known about this place when I was in Hiroshima last year. Next time, next time....

 

[ATS76]

The museum is about 10 min walk from JR Kure Station. You will see an anchor, a 16” gun and a propeller from battleship Mutsu at the front. Edokko, these may fit your front yard better.

 

[204sailor]

ATS76,Thanks for posting pictures of the Yamato museum.And I thought my 4' r.c. Elco P.T. was big.
Charlie

 

[cartoonist]

Carve out a hole in the front for a wave motion cannon and brings back fond memories of my favorite cartoon growing up, Star Blazers (aka Uchu Senkan Yamato in Japanese... but carefully edited for American television). Didn't realize until much later that all my childhood I was drawing pictures of the Yamato and not the Argo.

cartoonist

 

[ATS76]

ungrounded mum

Here is the ungrounded mum on Yamato in 1941 (reproduction) and today under 1,400 ft of water. The following photo is from www.battleshipyamato.info. The mum is about 72” in diameter, ungrounded.

 

[raym]

Doss, put up the diving gear! That's too deep for you and your files. You need to hire someone in a hard suit to get to that one. I bet it would look good displayed behind your tables at the gun shows.

 

[BIG ED]

Hey Doss your gonna need one big grinder to get that mum down to the bare metal.

 

[mity2]

i went there last year. I got pics I took somewhere...

 

[Edokko]

That's one "flower" that I woudn't mind gluing onto the front of my Bronco.

 

[Dr Beer]

By the looks of the wreckage the yanks did a good job of it ,isnt there another one of them on the bottom of the pacific??.

 

[ATS76]

Shinano

There were 3 Yamato class vessels:
1. Yamato
2. Musashi: sank in Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, October 1944
3. Shinano: She was converted to a carrier and broke several records:
Largest aircraft carrier until the commissioning of the supercarrier USS Enterprise in 1961
Shortest life carrier: commissioned on 11/19/44 & sank on 11/29/44 during the voyage to Kure City
Largest ship sank by a submarine (USS Archer-Fish)

Captain of USS Archer-Fish, Joseph Enright wrote a book about the sinking of Shinano, Sea Assault in 2000. It’s a very good paperback.