But the “Super Yamato-class” never came to fruition despite Japan’s grand ambitions. In fact, let me describe this warship in one word: doomed. Officially dubbed the Design A-150 battleship ...

The Yamato was sunk by U.S. carrier-borne aircraft on April 7, 1945, as it sailed toward Okinawa where its commanders were ordered to beach the vessel and use its mighty arsenal as a gun battery.

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.