3.


The Japanese Yamato-class of battleships were some of the most powerful


warships ever


built, but even they would have paled in comparison to the A-150s. Based on the Yamato and her class, the A-150, called the “Super Yamato” by some, would have been the most heavily armed and armored warships ever built, if completed.


In keeping with the Imperial Japanese doctrine to ensure their main warships were leagues ahead of their enemy’s in firepower, these ships would have been armed with six 20.1 inches (510 mm) guns. To put that into perspective, the largest guns fielded on Allied battleships of the day were 16 inches (406 mm) with the Yamato herself “only” being armed with 18-inch (457 mm) guns. These were, at the time, the largest naval guns ever fielded on a warship. The proposed 20.1 inches (510 mm) guns of the “Super Yamato” ships would have dwarfed even these.


Much like the Yamato-class, the superstructure of the ships would


4.


also be bristling with “many” 3.9 inches (100 mm) caliber guns and a nest of anti-aircraft weapons. Their displacement would likely have been very similar to the Yamato-class, though likely larger given the vessels’ main armament and requirement to also resist similar caliber weapons hitting the vessel.


The proposed armor belt of the ship was far beyond the steel mill capability of Japan at the time and would, therefore, require “double strakes of armor plates” over their most vital parts. While less effective than purpose-built single plates, this thickness of armor would have made them very formidable opponents in ship-to-ship combat.


Beyond some scant evidence of their plans, little else is known of these vessel designs beyond the fact that they would probably have displaced 70,000 long tons and had belt armor about 18 inches (457 mm) thick. From


The Whale Ship never left the drawing board


what can be garnered, designs for the ships began after the completion of the Yamato and Musashi in the late-1930s with work more or less complete by 1941.


However, at this time the Japanese navy had shifted focus to building aircraft carriers and other smaller capital ships in preparation for the upcoming Pacific conflict.


For this reason, no A-150s were ever laid down, and most of the details of the ships were apparently destroyed before the war’s end. If these ships had ever been built, the outcome of the Pacific Theatre may very well have gone very differently.


However, considering how disappointing the Yamato and her sister ship were during the conflict, it probably quite likely that these “Super Yamatos” would have suffered much the same fate as their “smaller” predecessors.


Photo source: Thomas Angermann/Flickr


The A-150: like the mighty Yamato only on steroids


Photo source: Seb/Flickr


66 | The Report • June 2022 • Issue 100


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