Yamato on trials, October 1941 — several years before the final sortie.
NH 73092 / Yamato Museum photograph, via Wikimedia Commons.
About this photograph
Commons marks this photograph public domain in Japan and the United States. Commons records cleanup, rotation and cropping in this derivative. Exact day and photographer attribution differ in catalogue versions; month-only caption used. NHHC page could not be retrieved directly.
6–7 April 1945 · Japan & Okinawa
Yamato1945
Yamato sailed with a mission to attack the invasion forces off Okinawa. Before her guns could reach them, American carrier aircraft found her at sea.
Start chapter 1: The Last Sortie →The Okinawa surface force
One battleship. A mission beyond reach.
Yamato · Yahagi · eight destroyers
Orders, fuel and the means to return
The chapter sources distinguish the departure roster, planned cooperation and what the ships actually achieved.
Yamato and her escorts leave Japan.
Carrier aircraft attack the force before it reaches Okinawa.
Survivors and surviving documents leave different views of the same operation.
Find your bearings
The destination she never reached
Tokuyama
The force departed the Inland Sea on 6 April 1945.
Bungo Strait
The passage south between Kyushu and Shikoku led out towards the open sea.
Okinawa
The intended operational destination. Carrier aircraft destroyed Yamato on 7 April before she reached it.
These places explain the mission’s geography. No line is used to imply an exact track, sinking position or completed voyage to Okinawa.
Follow the story
Begin with the background and follow the events through to their consequences, or choose a chapter below. Ships, aircraft and source documents are connected throughout.
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
- 06
One life within the battle
Commander T. Miyamoto
Second Fleet staff gunnery officer · aboard Yamato, 7 April 1945
His account of survival includes a gap. Keeping that gap matters as much as preserving what he remembered.
Read the personal account →