There is a reason why the Japanese navy decided to create the colossal Musashi
The production and industrial potential of Japan fell far behind that of the United States,
and they understood well that they had no chance of winning a naval arms
race going face to face with their rivals.
To compensate for this gap, Japan sought a venturous plan to compensate lack
of quantity with quality.
Their plan was to develop superior technology to construct a battleship wielding guns
with a caliber of 46cm;
a size never-before-seen in history.
Battleship Musashi was designed to be the world’s most powerful battleship,
both in name and reality.
The 46-cm gun mounted on the Musashi was nothing short of that in both firepower and range.
Ironically, the Japanese navy’s dream of naval superiority through powerful battleships
was shattered by none other than themselves.
In 1944, Musashi underwent modification to install more anti-aircraft armaments;
secondary guns on both sides of the ship were dismounted to make space for equipping
as much anti-aircraft guns as possible.
You may recognize this design as the one seen on battleship Yamato in World of Warships.
I joined the Navy back in 1942.
Back then, everyone was expected to enroll in the military around the age of 20,
and take part in the war.
When I joined the Navy, I’ve heard rumors that the Japanese Navy
had a colossal battleship in their disposition, those even the United States had not owned.
Those colossuses was indeed rumors about the Yamato and Musashi.
I was the only one of the graduates to be designated to the Musashi,
and my assigned destination was to be a top secret.
I was forbidden to inform any of my colleagues nor my families.
I’ve kept my silence and boarded my transport on Yokosuka to sail to the Truk Island.
I was posted to the 5th division, in charge of anti-aircraft guns.
My duty was to assist the commander in directing the anti-aircraft armaments
placed on the starboard side of the bridge.
I learnt to operate the range during my training,
so I was appointed to this important role even in my young age.
In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, my assigned post
was the second best place to scan the entire ship, besides the command post.
But since I was in the dead center of the bridge,
it felt as if all of the enemies’ attacks were heading towards me.
It was utterly terrifying.
During the enemy aerial attack in the Sibuyan Sea,
a bomb struck near the bridge and damaged the gun control device.
Shortly after, a torpedo struck near the starboard side, right under my nose.
I would assume this damage also cut off the auxiliary signal circuits.
As a result, not a single command could be relayed to the anti-aircraft guns
where they had to be manually controlled individually.
Until the afternoon, the Musashi was hit with 5 aerial raids in total.
The first waves of incoming enemies were few, but I could feel the enemy focusing
their fire on the Musashi as her damage began to stand out.
After falling behind the fleet, the attack intensified,
and we felt as if several hundred planes were heading towards us.
After being hit with the 5th raid, Musashi’s portside bow was
dipping in and out towards the water.
The slope gradually became steeper, and stern side of the ship was starting to rise.
We have tried to compensate the tip by latching off the port side anchor.
No matter how hard we tried, the slant was getting worse
By night, all crew on board were ordered to assemble above deck…
which meant we were going to prepare for evacuation.
By this time, many survivors climbed out from inside the hull and gathered on the deck.
They were shocked to see the Musashi’s deck riddled with holes and the bridge in ruins
Majority of the crews on board had no way of knowing of the Musashi’s condition.
My senior officer carrying a frightened young soldier was the first to take the jump.
Everyone else followed his lead.
I was lucky enough to land on the water, but many of my comrades were not so fortunate.
I have heard many were torn with the sharp edges of the shell holes.
Later, I was rescued by the destroyer Hamakaze’s cutter boat.
I have later learned that out of the 11 men in my squad, 9 survived.
My senior officer and the young soldier with him were deemed missing in action.
After their rescue,
the majority of survivors were left in the Philippines,
where most of them lost their lives.
Mr. Tsukada was pardoned to return to Japan due to his injuries
and spent the rest of his time during the war in his post as anti-air
defense on land.