Tuesday Toy 3/20

If you have never heard of the IJN Yamato, then you have never heard of one of the most amazing machines ever built. The largest battleship EVER, she also sported the largest guns EVER at just over 18 inches. She carried nine of those. The blast from these huge guns was so great that the other gun crews could not be left exposed on deck to operate the smaller guns and had to be protected with thick blast shielding and complex, articulated enclosed gun turrets.

The ship itself was a marvel of design techniques and shapes, a real testament to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the Japanese. She was fast, could turn with a much smaller radius than any of her American counterparts (if they can be called such in comparison to this titan) and strangely enough, I think, really a great looking piece of machinery. During her construction security was tight. A dockworker once bragged to a friend after work about the size of the ship he and his crew were building. He was never seen or heard from again after that night...

Yamato was also important to me in that it was the basis for Star Blazers, but that’s a topic for another day. The point of today’s blurb is that in Japan they have a museum for Yamato and inside is a 1:10 scale model.

Christ, even the model looks good.

What I would give to go there and see this recreation in person. It is one of the ultimate boy-toys, a model so huge and perfect in every detail that you want to be near it. I bet someone is wondering if their GI Joes would fit there. This copy, this work of art, will be the first “Coolest Thing Ever” for this blog-thing.

The Yamato is important for one more reason: she was sunk by airplanes, not ships. The mightiest ship ever to sail, the metal version of might, was done in by airplanes, carriers, and solitary (and brave) pilots. After this, it was all aircraft carriers, and the last vestige of the mighty ship of the line (in my mind) slipped under the Pacific for good.