RELIABILITY: Very High
On Apr. 7, 1945, aircraft from the U.S. Navy’s fast carrier task force sank the largest battleship ever built, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Yamato.
Escorted by the light cruiser Yahagi and eight destroyers, Yamato was on its way to Okinawa. It was intended to be a one-way trip: Yamato was expected to beach and use its guns as a coastal battery against the U.S. invasion fleet.
Its approach was detected by American submarines and signals intelligence. Eleven U.S. aircraft carriers launched almost 300 aircraft.
Over about two hours, Yamato was hit more than 15 times by torpedoes and bombs. When The post Why the U.S. Navy Doesn’t Build Battleships Anymore appeared first on War on the Rocks .
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