Largest battleship

Largest battleship
Who
Yamato , Musashi
What
263/38.7/10.8 dimension(s)
Where
Japan (Hiroshima)
When
1941

The largest battleships ever built were Japan’s Yamato and Musashi, which had a full-load displacement of 71,659 tons and measured 263 m by 38.9 m (862.9 ft by 127.6 ft). Built by Kure Naval Arsenal, Hiroshima and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nagasaki and commissioned in 1941 and 1942, their main armament comprised nine 18.1” guns in three turrets and they carried seven float planes. Steam turbines developing 150,000 shp drove four shafts for a top speed of 27 knots (50 km/h; 31.07 mph). Both ships were sunk by American carrier-based aircraft, Yamato in April 1945 and Musashi in October 1944.

Five ships were envisaged but the fourth and fifth were cancelled. The third was completed as the aircraft carrier Shinano, commissioned on 19th November 1944 and torpedoed nine days later by USS Archerfish. In 1941 Japan planned to build even larger ships mounting six 20” guns in three turrets.