Japanese battleship Musashi

Musashi leaving Brunei in October 1944 for the Battle of Leyte Gulf
History
Empire of 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
Struck:	31 August 1945
Fate:	Sunk during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, 24 October 1944
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Yamato-class battleship
Displacement:	64,000 long tons (65,000 t) (standard) 71,659 long tons (72,809 t) (full load)
Length:	244 m (800 ft 6 in) (p/p) 263 m (862 ft 10 in) (o/a)
Beam:	36.9 m (121 ft 1 in)
Draft:	10.86 m (35 ft 8 in) (full load)
Installed power:	150,000 shp (110,000 kW) 12 × Kanpon water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	4 × propellers 4 × steam turbines
Speed:	27.46 knots (50.86 km/h; 31.60 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:	1 × Type 21 air search radar 1 × Type 0 hydrophone system
Armament:	3 × triple 46 cm Type 94 guns 4 × triple 15.5 cm 3rd Year Type guns 6 × twin 12.7 cm Type 89 12 × triple 25 mm Type 96 AA guns 2 × twin 13.2 mm Type 93 AA machine guns
Armour:	Waterline belt: 400 mm (15.7 in) Deck: 200–230 mm (7.9–9.1 in) Gun turrets: 250–650 mm (9.8–25.6 in) Barbettes: 380–560 mm (15.0–22.0 in) Conning tower: 500 mm (19.7 in) Bulkheads: 300–340 mm (11.8–13.4 in)
Aircraft carried:	6–7 × Nakajima E8N or Nakajima E4N floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	2 × catapults

Musashi (武蔵^?), named after an ancient Japanese province, was one of two Yamato-class battleships 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, displacing almost 72,000 long tons (73,000 t) fully loaded and armed with nine 46-centimetre (18.1 in) main guns. Their secondary armament consisted of four 15.5-centimetre (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 flagship of the Combined Fleet, and spent the rest of the year working up. The ship was transferred to Truk in early 1943 and sortied several times that year with the fleet in unsuccessful searches for American forces. She was used to transfer forces and equipment between Japan and various occupied islands several times in 1944. Torpedoed in early 1944 by an American submarine, Musashi was forced to return to Japan for repairs, where the navy greatly augmented her anti-aircraft armament. She was present during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, but did not come in contact with American surface forces. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Over half of her crew was rescued. Her wreck was located in March 2015 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his team of researchers.