Japanese battleship Musashi

Musashi was one of the Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy beginning in the late 1930s, ships that were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing almost 72,000 long tons fully loaded and carrying nine 460-millimetre main guns. Her keel was laid down on 29 March 1938 at the Mitsubishi shipyard in Nagasaki, and she was launched on 1 November 1940 after 570 tonnes of heavy chains were hung on both sides of the hull to stop it inside the narrow harbour. Four sets of Kampon geared steam turbines, designed for 150,000 shaft horsepower, gave a maximum speed of 27.5 knots. She was commissioned at Nagasaki on 5 August 1942 and fitted out as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and in 1943 the cremated remains of Admiral Yamamoto were placed in his cabin aboard her. An American submarine torpedoed her in March 1944, after which her anti-aircraft armament was greatly increased. She was sunk by American carrier aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and over half of her crew was rescued.