page_title: Japanese battleship Musashi
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese battleship Musashi / Construction
caption_attribution_description: English: Drawing of IJN Superbattleship Musashi in her 10/1944 configuration. Français&#160;: Dessin du Cuirassé Musashi de la marine impériale japonaise (octobre 1944). Deutsch: Zeichnung des Schlachtschiffs Musashi der Kaiserlich Japanischen Marine im Bauzustand Oktober 1944). Additional info obtained from: Battleships and Battle Cruisers - Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album Vol.1, Kure Maritime Museum 2005, 4-478-95053-9, Todaka Kazushige (Ed.) The Battleship YAMATO and MUSASHI, Kure Maritime Museum 2005, 4-478-95054-7, Todaka Kazushige IJN YAMATO and MUSASHI, Battleships (Warship Profile No.30), Profile Publications, Windsor 1973, 0-85383-0614, Chihaya Masatake IJN Yamato Class Battleships (Warship Pictorial 25), Classic Warships Publishing, Tucson 2004, 0-9745687-4-0, Steve Wiper Japanese Battleships, Gakken, Tokyo 2004 (2nd. ed. 2005), 4-05-603411-7, Watanabe Yoshiyuki Super Illustration IJN Battleship Yamato - (Model Art Vol.745), Model Art, Tokyo 2008, Model Art Editorial Team The Battleship Yamato, Conway, London 1988, 0-85177-490-3,	Janusz Skulski Battleships Yamato, Musashi (Maru Special "Japanese Naval Vessels", Series I Vol.52), Maru Special Team, Maruzen/Kojinsha, Tokyo 1981 The placement of 4 additional 25mm triple AA-guns on each of the new platforms on the starboard and portside of the funnel is based on: Drawings of Imperial Japanese Naval Vessels, Pictorial Book , No. I, Battleships and Destroyers, Model Art, Tokyo 1989, page 34-40
context_page_description: Musashi, named after the former Japanese province, was one of three Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, beginning in the late 1930s. The Yamato-class ships were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed, displacing almost 72,000 long tons fully loaded and armed with nine 46-centimetre main guns. Their secondary armament consisted of four 15.5-centimetre triple-gun turrets formerly used by the Mogami-class cruisers. They were equipped with six or seven floatplanes to conduct reconnaissance.
  Commissioned in mid-1942, Musashi was modified to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet, and spent the rest of the year working up. The ship was transferred to Truk in early 1943 and sortied several times that year with the fleet in unsuccessful searches for American forces. She was used to transfer forces and equipment between Japan and various occupied islands several times in 1944. Torpedoed in early 1944 by an American submarine, Musashi was forced to return to Japan for repairs, during which the navy greatly augmented her anti-aircraft armament.
context_section_description: To cope with Musashi's great size and weight, the construction slipway was reinforced, nearby workshops were expanded, and two floating cranes were built. The ship's keel was laid down on 29 March 1938 at Mitsubishi's Nagasaki shipyard, and was designated "Battleship No. 2". Throughout construction, a large curtain made of hemp rope weighing 408 t (450 short tons) prevented outsiders from viewing construction.
  Launching the Musashi also presented problems. The ship's 4-metre (13 ft 1 in) thick launch platform, made of nine 44 cm (17 in) Douglas fir planks bolted together, took two years to assemble (from keel-laying in March 1938) because of the difficulty in drilling perfectly straight bolt holes through 4m of fresh timber. The problem of slowing and stopping the massive hull once inside the narrow Nagasaki Harbour was met by attaching 570 tonnes (560 long tons) of heavy chains on both sides of the hull to create dragging resistance in the water. The launch was concealed by means including a citywide air-raid drill staged on the launch day to keep people inside their homes. Musashi was launched on 1 November 1940, coming to a stop only 1 metre (3.3 ft) in excess of the hull's expected 220 metres (720 ft) travel distance across the harbour. The entry of such a large mass into the water caused a 120 cm (3 ft 11 in) tsunami, which swept the harbour and local rivers, flooding homes and capsizing small fishing boats. Musashi was fitted out at nearby Sasebo, with Captain Kaoru Arima assigned as her commanding officer.
  Towards the end of fitting out, the ship's flagship facilities, including those on the bridge and in the admiral's cabins, were modified to satisfy Combined Fleet's desire to have the ship equipped as the primary flagship of the commander-in-chief, as her sister Yamato was too far along for such changes. These alterations, along with improvements in the secondary battery armour, pushed back completion and pre-handover testing of Musashi by two months, to August 1942.
caption: Musashi as she appeared in mid-1944
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