Yamato sank just one American Casablanca-class escort carrier, the USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73), the only American carrier sunk by enemy surface gunfire during World War II; and reportedly one destroyer.

The Japanese Navy’s best chance to turn the tide in the Pacific came with Vice Admiral Takao Kurita’s audacious plan, ...

KURE, Hiroshima Prefecture--A massive lathe used to precision shape the main gun barrels of Japan’s mighty World War II battleship Yamato is now on public display at the Kure Maritime Museum here.