Musashi Walk-Around
As built, IJN Musashi displaced 65,000 tons under standard loads and up to 72,810 tons under full loads. She held an overall length of 800.5 feet with a beam measuring 121 feet and a draught down to 35.7 feet. Power came from 12 x Kanpon water-tube boilers feeding 4 x Steam turbines developing 150,000 horsepower to 4 x Shafts under stern. This gave the vessel a top speed of 27.5 knots with a range out to 7,200 nautical miles. Aboard was a crew of 2,500 personnel. Two catapults served the six or seven Nakajima-brand floatplanes which were recoverable by onboard crane. Type 21 air-search radar was carried as was a Type 0 hydrophone system.
Armament and Armor
Armament became 9 x 460mm (18") Type 94 main guns set as three triple-gunned turrets. This was backed by 12 x 155mm (6") 3rd Year Type Dual-Purpose (DP) secondary guns held in four triple-gunned turrets. 12 x 127mm (5") Type 89 guns in six twin-gunned turrets offered a heavy punch against attacking enemy aircraft and 36 x 25mm (1") Type 96 guns in twelve triple-gunned emplacements were carried for similar reasons. Rounding out the armament fit were two or more 13.2mm Type 93 heavy machine guns for extreme close-in defense against aerial targets.
Armor protection included 15.7" at the waterline, up to 9.1" at the deck, 25.6" being reached at the gun turrets, 22" found along the barbettes, 19.7" seen at the conning tower, and up to 13.4" in thickness found at the bulkheads.
Fast, well-armored and powerfully-armed, IJN Musashi and her sister were exactly what IJN authorities had envisioned. After commissioning in August of 1942, the warship joined Yamato, Nagato, and Mutsu as part of the 1st Battleship Division.
Musashi's End
Musashi's part in World War 2 came to an abrupt end during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The battle involved forces of the IJN pitted against the Australian and American navies for control of Leyte Gulf and the Philippines. Outnumbered, the IJN forces fell badly in this decisive Allied victory of the war. Musashi, Yamato, and Nagato were part of Vice-Admiral Kurita's Force A contingent during the melee. During the subsequent retreat action of the Japanese, Musashi was one of the warships to fall to attacking American naval aircraft - sunk by direct hits from some nineteen torpedoes and a further seventeen aerial bombs (all estimated totals). Taking on water, listing, and sinking at the bow, the warship was sent to Davy Jones's Locker with her crew abandoning ship after the battle. The vessel went down in over 4,400 feet of water with 1,376 of her 2,399 crew saved. Her wreckage was not discovered and identified until March of 2015 by American researchers.
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