Anatomy of Yamato
2. Gigantic Hull
If greatness can be measured by size, Yamato was indeed the
greatest battleship ever built. Her hull was 863 feet
long—longer than all but America's Iowa-class ships.
Fully loaded, Yamato displaced about 70,000 tons of water,
outweighing even the biggest Allied battleships by more than 20
percent. Her hull was so immense that in the mid-1930s no Japanese
shipyard could contain it. A dry dock in Kure had to be deepened by
several feet before construction could begin.