readx; The secondary guns of the Amaterasu were 12 guns of 155 mm caliber (four triple packs) of 60 times the diameter of the heavy cruiser removed from the conversion of the most advanced heavy cruisers, with a turret weighing 150 tons and 25 mm armor plates. The maximum firing range (45 degrees of elevation) www.biquge.info is 27,400 meters, the maximum firing height is 12,600 meters (can also be used for anti-air shooting), the rate of fire is 5-7 rounds per minute, each gun has 150 rounds of ammunition, and a rangefinder with a baseline of 8 meters is adopted. The configuration of the secondary gun is quite distinctive, with four turrets located in the front and rear of the superstructure and on the sides of the ship's superstructure. (These two were later dismantled to make room for the installation of anti-aircraft guns). This configuration ensured that 3 of the Yamato's 4 secondary gun turrets could be pointed at one side at the same time, while most battleships could only ensure that half of the secondary guns were pointed at the same side.

The Amaterasu was the heaviest battleship in the history of battleships (however, it was not as heavy as the Chinese Red Navy and the Sandezi Super H45). Not only that, but the ship's armor belt also had a good bulletproof profile, its broadside 1640 mm armor had a 20-degree inclination (inclination to the inward), the broadside armor inclination was the largest among the last generation battleships (followed by the American "Iowa" class and "South Dakota" class, with a broadside roll angle of 19 degrees), and the 920 mm armor at the edge of the deck in the Amaterasu also had a 7-degree inclination. The bullet resistance of the armor of the Yamato ship was greatly improved.

According to the design requirements, the armor should be able to withstand the blow of its own 570-mm gun at a distance of 20,000-30,000 meters, and the middle deck should also withstand 3,200 kg of aerial bombs dropped from a height of 3,900 meters. In order to achieve the above requirements, a total of 91,580 tons of armor and defense plates were installed, accounting for 33% of the normal displacement of the whole ship.

The ship's ammunition compartment, main engine, boiler room and other vital parts are concentrated in the middle of the battleship and protected by heavy armor belts in the defensive zone (from the front of the front main gun to the rear of the rear main gun). The broadside armor of the defensive zone extended from the waterline of the ship's amidships to the bottom of the ship, with the thickness of the main armor belt at the upper waterline reaching 4640 mm (using VH armor steel, i.e. Vickers hardened steel), and the thickness of the broadside plates below the main armor belt was 300-800 mm (decreasing from top to bottom). The armor on top of the defensive division was laid on the middle deck of the battleship and was 800-920 mm thick (homogeneous nickel-cadmium alloy steel with molybdenum added). The front and rear ends of the defensive division were protected by 1080-1200 mm thick armor across the walls.

The steering room outside the main defense zone was also laid with thick armor, the top armor of the main and auxiliary steering nacelles was 800 mm, the bulkhead armor was 1400-1440 mm thick in the main steering room and 1000-1400 mm thick in the auxiliary rudder nacelle. As a wheelhouse and an important communication pipeline, the command tower located at the bridge of the Yamato is also a key protection area. Its side walls and top armor are up to 2,000 mm thick, while the communication lines that run down from the conning tower to the main defense zone are protected by 1,200 mm thick heavy armor.

The main gun turret is the most heavily protected part of the ship, with armor up to 2,600 mm thick on the front (45 degrees), 1,000 mm on the sides, 760 mm on the rear, and 1,080 mm on the top. At that time, when Europe and the United States designed the main gun turret armor of battleships, they always designed the side and rear armor to be much thicker than the top, but the Amaterasu ship was just the opposite, and the reason for this was not only the vigilance of the Japanese at that time to drop bullets at a large angle in long-range artillery battles, but also the pressure exerted by naval aviation victory theorists during the construction of Amaterasu.

The front, side armor of the main gun base was 2240 mm thick, and the rear armor was 15201560 mm. In order to strengthen the protection of the Amaterasu's main gun ammunition depot, the Japanese also laid 140-200 mm thick alloy copper guards on the main deck in front of their main guns (which could withstand 1000 kg of bombs dropped by enemy dive bombers).

In order to reduce weight and ensure the speed of rotation of the turret, the ship's secondary guns were designed to be relatively weak, and its turret armor was 100 mm, which could only defend against shrapnel and near-miss kills. The turret base of the secondary gun used 300 mm thick alloy copper armor to protect the access to the ammunition depot. The two secondary turrets, which were installed on the center line of the hull with weak defense, were adjacent to the main turret, and the ammunition depot was too close to each other, which was an obvious flaw that could easily spread to the main gun ammunition depot if it was hit, so the protective measures were later strengthened.

The lower part of the Amaterasu's chimney was equipped with 200 mm of armor, and in the opening of the chimney, located on the middle deck, a very unique "honeycomb" armor plate with a thickness of 1520 mm was installed, and the surface of the plate was covered with small holes with a diameter of 720 mm. This not only ensures smooth smoke exhaust, but also effectively protects the area.

In terms of underwater protection, Yamato was required to be able to withstand an explosive yield of 1600 kg TNT (the last generation of American battleships was required to be able to withstand a blow of 1200 kg TNT, and the German H45 super battleship was required to withstand 1000 kg TNT), and in the case of hitting 8-12 torpedoes could not affect combat effectiveness, in order to prevent mines from water, the bottom of the ship was 12 layers of bottom. At the same time, in order to improve the sinking resistance, the whole ship was divided into 4,588 watertight compartments. However, as a battleship with artillery warfare as its main task and emphasis on centralized defense, the total length of the underwater protection system accounted for only 40% of the total length of the battleship, which was obviously not conducive to its defense against torpedo strikes.

The Amaterasu was not equipped with radars when it was built, and later it was equipped with three radars.

In September 1942, the No. 21 radio wave detector (anti-aircraft radar) was installed on the 60-meter main gun ranging at the top of the bridge of the Yamato, with a radar wavelength of 6 meters and a power of 100-120 kilowatts, which could detect a fleet at 240 kilometers and a single aircraft at 140 kilometers. The angular error is large. No. 22 sea wave detector (sea radar), the radar is 40 cm long, it is an ultra-short wave sea radar, magnetron electron tube, power 8 kilowatts, detection battleship 140 km (distance error plus or minus 2800 meters), cruiser 80 km, destroyer 68 km, angle error plus or minus 5 degrees. The radar was installed on both sides of the bridge of the Amaterasu in January-April 1943.

The No. 13 radio wave detector (anti-aircraft radar), installed on the rear mast of the Amaterasu from January to April 1943, with a power of 40 kilowatts, can find a group of aircraft at 200 kilometers, and a single aircraft at 100 kilometers, with a distance error of plus or minus 2-3 kilometers and an angle error of plus or minus 10 degrees. This type of radar has a certain improvement in performance compared to the 22, and at the same time, the size is much smaller.

The E27 reverse detection can accept radar waves emitted by targets up to 600 km away.

On the whole, the radar of the Japanese Navy is inferior to its American counterparts in terms of performance, and the Japanese ships do not have fire control radars, so the Amaterasu's night combat capability is lower than that of American battleships.

A total of 28 Zero two-seat water observation aircraft and Zero three-seat water reconnaissance aircraft are on board.

Mitsubishi F1A2 Zero Biplane Water Observation Aircraft, maximum speed: 370km/3440m; dead weight 1928kg; Maximum range: 740km; Armament: 7.7mm machine gun x3, 60kg bomb x2, wingspan 11m, total length 9.5m.

Aichi E13A1 Zero three-seat water reconnaissance aircraft, maximum speed: 376km/2180m; self-weight 2642kg; Maximum range: 2090km (1644km for data); Armament: 7.7mm machine gun x1 (rear rotary), 60kg bomb x4, wingspan 14.5m, total length 11.49m.

The main task of both aircraft was to provide reconnaissance for battleships, as well as to observe the landing points of shells in artillery battles.

In 1941, it carried 4 17-meter ship-borne torpedo boats, 4 15-meter traffic boats, 4 11-meter motorboats, 16 12-meter motorboats for officers and sailors, and 4 8-meter motorboats, 9-meter rowing boats, and 6-meter rowing boats, totaling 40 boats. In order to prevent damage to the shipboard boat due to the wind blast of the main gun, a short boat gander (metal frame, covered with brown wool and leather) is provided outside the hangar, and two 6-meter and 9-meter rowing boats are stacked on top of two 12-meter fireboats. There is a large protective door at the exit of Gnaku, which is usually closed. With the increasing anti-aircraft firepower on the ship, the crew increased from 10,000 to 12,000, and the living facilities were tight, so most of the garage was converted into living quarters. By the end of the war, the Amaterasu-class usually carried only two 11-meter motorboats and two 12-meter motorboats.