Yamato
The Japanese Super Battleships YAMATO and MUSASHl were the largest
battleships ever built by any nation. The YAMATO was completed just
before the outbreak of the war in the Pacific and was Admiral
Yamamoto's flagship during the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle
of Midway. The YAMATO continued to be the flagship of the combined
fleet even after Yamamoto's death, but for most of the war this
ship was kept almost in the backwaters of operation in the south
and central pacific. It was not until the Battle of the Philippine
Sea in June of 1944 that this ship was committed to action, and for
the first time the US Navy got a good look at her. The MUSASHl was
lost in the Battle of Leyte Gulf after taking an incredible 20
torpedoes and 10 bomb hits, even then taking over 4 hours to
finally sink. The YAMATO on the other hand survived long enough to
be sent on a one way mission to try and stem the tide of battle at
Okinawa. The massive battleship was only 50 miles south of Japan
when she was overwhelmed and sunk by US Navy aircraft, again only
after taking an incredible amount of damage from torpedoes and
bombs.
Bismarck
The BISMARCK & TIRPITZ were the largest and last Battleships to
be completed by the German navy. At the time of their completion
these were the largest, fastest and most powerful battleships in
service in any of the worlds navies. The BISMARCK'S career was
short and famous, her only war cruise catching the attention of
almost the entire civilized world. From her quick and incredible
destruction of the Royal Navy's H.M.S. HOOD until her own sinking 3
days later, almost every Royal Navy warship in the Atlantic was put
on alert to help track BISMARCK down. The life of the TIRPITZ
lasted a few years longer, laying in a Norwegian fjord, she
successfully tied down many major warships of both the Royal and US
navies that had to remain on patrol to guard against her breaking
out into the Atlantic shipping lanes.
Scharnhorst
The German Battleships SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU were the most
active of all the big ships that were built by the German navy
prior to the outbreak of World War Two. The SCHARNHORST was an
almost constant consort of her sister ship GNEISENAU when both of
these ships carried out successful anti-shipping raids out into the
vast Atlantic ocean. The cost to the allies in both ships sunk as
well as ships and war supplies to track them down or keep them in
check, far surpassed the effort it took the Germans to construct
and operate these two ships. SCHARNHORST was lost in the Battle of
North Cape on 26-DEC.-1943 while trying to attack an allied convoy
headed to Russia. GNEISENAU was severely damaged in drydock and
never fully repaired.
