April 7, 1945 – The Japanese battleship Yamato, the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, is sunk on her way to Okinawa
Yamato was the lead ship of her class of battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy shortly before World War II. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing nearly 72,000 tonnes at full load and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 in) Type 94 main guns, which were the largest guns ever mounted on a warship.
The Yamato was Japan’s only hope of destroying the Allied fleet off the coast of Okinawa. But insufficient air cover and fuel cursed the endeavor as a suicide mission. Struck by 19 American aerial torpedoes, it was sunk, drowning 2,498 of its crew.
