Super Yamato class
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The battleships of the Super Yamato class ( Japanese 超大 和 型 戦 艦 , Chō Yamato-gata Senkan ) were a planning project for Japanese battleship new builds or conversions, which were based on the design of the Yamato class and this was based on firepower should surpass. Due to the course of the war in the Pacific , the plans were discontinued and discarded.
prehistory
The Fifth Naval Building Program, which Japan passed in 1941, was to be implemented in 1942. In addition to the construction of a fifth ship of the Yamato class (hull number 797), this also envisaged the construction of initially two and later two more ships of the Super Yamato class. These should have even larger guns than the units of the Yamato class. In addition to military reasons, political aspects also played a role in these plans.
First of all, the aim of building these ships was to force the United States, with which, many in Japan believed, war would be inevitable sooner or later, into peace until there was a favorable time for Japan to wage it. Because if the USA wanted to remain competitive with the Japanese ships on the subject of battleships, they would also have had to increase their ship caliber. It was believed in Japan that this would have been difficult to implement due to the domestic political situation in the USA, which was also shown by the designs of the Montana class planned at around the same time . These never had larger guns than 40.6 cm or sometimes even only 35.6 cm. The increase in the caliber would also have caused displeasure in terms of foreign policy, after all, the USA had advocated the opposite.
At that time, every naval power still believed that battleships were and would be fought by battleships. Due to their lead in caliber size and a strong expansion of the fleet (total strength of 19 battleships and six battlecruisers by 1950), it was hoped that the USA and Great Britain would be so deterred from a conflict with Japan that both nations would finally free Japan in Asia would admit to avoid war. If this had not been successful, however, the consolation was that they already had ships with 51.0 cm (20.1 ″) guns, while the US still had ships with 45.7 cm (18 ″) guns. ) Guns were working. This caliber corresponded to the ships of the Yamato class (46.0 cm), of which the first ship could already be put into service at the end of 1941 and which should also be converted to 51.0 cm after the completion of the four Super Yamatos.
However, these political considerations were rendered obsolete by the early start of the war in Japan with the attack on Pearl Harbor .
planning
The plans for the Super Yamato class initially envisaged the construction of two units (hull number 798 / Yokosuka marine shipyard and hull number 799 / Kure marine shipyard) and two more later. The design for these ships (design A-150) was based very much on the Yamato class and should have essentially the same dimensions and lines as this class and should have been largely identical. This is not surprising, since the five Yamato-class ships were also to receive the Super-Yamato-class turrets after the four Super-Yamatos were completed.
The Super Yamato class should have six 51.0 cm L / 50 guns in three twin turrets. Since the 51.0 cm twin tower with 2,750 t was only around 240 t heavier than the 46.0 cm treble towers of the Yamato class, the planned displacement remained almost the same at 70,000 t. For this reason, too, retrofitting the Yamato class to the twin towers shouldn't have caused any major problems.
As early as 1940, the development of the 51.0 cm gun, which was based on the 46.0 cm (18.1 ″) L / 45 Type 94 gun of the Yamato class, began. A 1: 1 model of the ammunition and reloading chambers was also built promptly. This should serve to improve the protective measures and to point out any problems with the handling of the now much heavier tank explosive shells (51.0 cm shell 1,900 kg - 2,000 kg / 46.0 cm shell 1,460 kg). Not only the larger bullet weight had to be taken into account. The barrel weight also increased from 165 t for the 46.0 cm gun to 227 t for the 51.0 cm gun. A total of 661 t of the 2,750 t of the twin tower were accounted for by the two 51.0 cm guns.
In 1942, however, the Japanese Navy lost four aircraft carriers in the Battle of Midway and the need for aircraft carriers was much higher than that of "super battleships ". Work on the 51.0 cm gun and thus on the Super Yamato class was discontinued.
In the fleet building program of 1941, four more newbuildings were decided according to the new design, which should be built after the conversion of the Yamato class. These should have eight 51.0 cm guns in four twin towers and achieve around 100,000 t displacement. It is not known to what extent the rest of the design should still be based on the Yamato design, i.e. it was just a stretched version of the Super Yamato class, or whether this would have been given a completely new design. It can be assumed, however, that these ships would again have been classified as a new battleship class.
Conclusion
Basically the time of the battleships had already expired and the rejection of these plans not only made sense, but also necessary due to the course of the war.
literature
- Clark G. Reynolds: The Aircraft Carrier . Bechtermünz, Eltville am Rhein 1993, ISBN 3-86047-054-X .
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1905–1970 . JF Lehmann, Munich 1970, ISBN 3-86070-044-8 .
- Siegfried Breyer: Battleships and battle cruisers 1921–1997 -Internationaler Battleshipbuilding- . Bernard & Graefe, Bonn 2002, ISBN 3-7637-6225-6 .