The A140 class is probably the most famous ships that came out of WW2. Although the introduction probably isn’t needed, given their near mythological status but not everyone is a nerd.
Lead sister of her class and crown jewel of the Kure Naval Arsenal, Yamato eventually became the flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was sunk in operation Ten-Go. Her captain at the time was Kōsaku Aruga and he was 47.
Musashi, built by Mitsubishi, she was sunk in the battle of Leyte Gulf. From what little I’ve looked at, she was also at one point a flagship for the japanese combined fleet. Her captain at the time of her sinking was Rear Admiral Inoguchi Toshihira. He was 48.
Shinano was the youngest sister and converted into a carrier mid construction. During her maiden voyage she was torpedo’d by USS Archerfish and later sunk. Her captain was Toshio Abe and it’s a bit difficult to find his age. Some research indicates he was born in 1916 and died in 1944 (Shinano’s sinking) at the age of 27 which would make him quite young to be a captain.
There was once a fourth and even fifth sister but the two were never completed and never given names. They only existed as hull numbers and their numbers were 111 and 797. 797 seems to never have been laid down while 111 was roughly 30% complete at her scrapping.
The class’s characteristics in real life was astronomically thick armor and weight, weighing in at 72,000 tons displacement, nine 46cm guns and deceptively good maneuverability for a hull of their weight. They were built to out range and out last any battleship they could see and had almost 15,000 tons of reserve buoyancy.
Ultimately, Project A140 failed as the age of the battleship had ended almost as soon as the age of the carrier had been born.
As for warthunder, how do they stack?
As Yamato and Musashi play very similarly, I will only note differences instead of individual playstyle. It should be noted that normal battles are vastly different from EC and that will be mentioned as well.
Armament: the biggest guns currently in the game with a 31.7 second reload aced. While not quite the 28 second reload (based on gun elevation, 28 seconds was the absolute fastest documented with 40 seconds being the slowest), it is a very ‘within reason’ choice. The shells have the second highest penetration at close range, beaten only by the Roma and Italia’s 38.1s. by 6 mm and outclassing every other shell at 15km+, the 46cm Type 91 APCBC is gonna hurt. With an asterisk.
Normal battles: While still devastating, (and potentially skill issue, which I will admit), japanese shells generally tend to either completely erase a ship or… Not do much. Inconsistency is the name of the game. They also seem to struggle with belt armor at close range in comparison to the bit more consistent plunging fire.
In comparison to many other battleships she will see, the firerate leaves her open if it doesn’t erase whatever target you engage first. 8/10
EC: There’s two things you do not want to hear on comms with your buddies. Yamato is one of them as these guns are notorious for just nuking you from nearly 40km away like you’re USS White Plains if you don’t know shells are in the air. I wish this was hyperbole. 9.5/10
Conversely, Yamato’s secondary battery is pretty abysmal. With only two (four on Musashi) 15.5cm triple turrets and a mediocre firerate, they’re good for cruisers and DDs but you’ll rarely, if ever, see cruisers and DDs in normal matches. 3/10 (3.5/10 for Musashi)
EC: Similar to the above but at least you see DDs/Cruisers where the secondary battery can do something. 4/10 (4.5/10)
Armor (and survivability): On paper, Yamato’s armor scheme looks pretty nice: Fat belt armor. Fat, long bow…
Except this armor is generally worthless within even 20km due to the turret 2 barbette. Any shells towards the deck between turret 1 and 2 will likely result in an ammunition detonation unless at extreme angles and even then it’s a gamble. Everyone and their mother knows the weakpoint and if they want you dead, you better hope you can survive long enough to kill them first.
And yes, you can just instantly die with only 15 shells left in the frontal magazine. I know this first hand as a victim to it.
Normal: 3/10. If you can keep range and stern angled towards the enemy, you can bounce a fair few shots but you lose hull sections unreasonably quick regardless. Doesn’t help that most maps are 12 to 18km away spawns.
Sadly, the 15,000 tons of reserve buoyancy in real life didn’t translate into warthunder and even the loss of a turret shellroom can flood you to death very quickly.
EC: This is where the armor matters a bit more. At ranges of 20 to 30km, you can shrug a fair few incoming hits if you can keep note of where the shells are aimed. 6/10.
Speed and maneuverability: It’s not great.
Yamatos in real life only had a top speed of 27 knots. In Warthunder, they also have a top speed of 27 knots (31.8 in arcade). This also puts the Yamatos as the slowest 8.7s in the bracket but given their weight, this can be a bit more lenient. 7/10.
EC: Given the large distances, this hurts quite a bit on maps like Denmark. Even with the great guns, 5/10
And now the biggest killer of the Yamatos. Their turning radius. In real life, these ships horrified the allies with their nimbleness and 640m turning circle. For comparison, Iowa had about 720 meters and Soyuz’s construction would have put her in the 940ish meter mark.
In Warthunder? No. Absolute brick of a ship. A Soyuz can outturn her and her horrid maneuverability doubly affects her survivability. 2/10.
EC: Maneuverability isn’t as much of an issue in EC so I’m a bit more lenient in this regard. 5/10
AA and Utility: Installed with arguably the worst AA guns of WW2, one would think Yamato’s AA suite would suck.
Surprisingly, it’s deceptively good. I’d almost argue great in warthunder because of all the dakka. There’s genuinely better AA suites in Warthunder however and I’d personally put Yamato’s at 7/10 just because of the sheer amount. Lack of VTF (variable timed fuse) hurts it but throw enough at the wall and it’ll stick. (Musashi’s AA is considerably worse in volume. 4/10 at most)
EC: It has uses but I haven’t seen many players in naval EC use planes nor would I spawn a Yamato just to kill planes to begin with. 4/10 (3/10)
Utility: Floatplanes. How many of them? Yes. Floatplanes are always useful and the Yamato’s got fairly good ones. However, you’re a huge target and you’re wide open when you’re using it (but this goes for any plane equipped ship) 7.5/10
EC: Being able to scout the carrier with a floatplane is always useful. 8/10
Final verdict: The Yamatos in normal matches can work but they’re generally free RP and credits for anyone who can reliably kill them quickly. Conversely, the guns are damn good and the firing sound is just chef’s kiss. 6/10
EC: 8/10 Nowhere is safe if a Yamato is on station. Nothing like a Yamato jumpscare from 35km away and you’re asleep sailing in a straight line.