Operation Order No. 3, dated 6 April and issued from the flagship Yamato, survives in the Second Destroyer Squadron’s records. It places the surface force within a wider effort against the American invasion of Okinawa. Warships and transports were its intended targets; aviation and forces in the battle area were supposed to cooperate. YT-Y05
The mission required the force to enter waters west of the island at dawn on 8 April. That was a plan. Yamato’s actual movement ended the previous afternoon, far short of the intended engagement.
What a timetable tells us
The operation’s movement schedule set planned times for passing through the Bungo approaches and reaching Okinawa. These entries can help explain the intended sequence, but they cannot be substituted for a ship’s actual passage record. The departure entry in the squadron account gives 1520 on 6 April. Miyamoto’s postwar interview rounds the time to about 1500. The difference is small enough to understand, but there is no reason to silently turn one into the other. YT-Y09 YT-Y01
The orders also show why the sortie cannot be understood as Yamato acting alone. Yahagi and the destroyers formed part of the fighting force. Their machinery, endurance and ability to remain in company affected what the group could attempt. A battleship could not acquire the functions of its escorts simply by having larger guns.
An order is evidence of intention
The familiar account of the mission often continues with Yamato beaching herself and her men fighting ashore. The selected original pages checked for this edition establish the approach, cooperation and attack tasks. They do not yet certify the complete beaching and disembarkation provisions. That part of the received story requires a fuller documentary comparison.
Nor does the use of a special-attack mission settle the physical fuel load. An expectation of sacrifice and an allowance for movement are separate decisions. An operation might receive fuel sufficient for a theoretical return without offering a realistic prospect of surviving the enemy.
That distinction brings us to the ships’ preparations. Before asking how far Yamato could have sailed, we need to know whether a number describes fuel already aboard, an authorised replenishment, a transfer between ships or the allocation for the entire force.