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Yamato, named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy. She was the first built (the lead ship) of the Yamato class. She and her sister ship Mashi were the largest, heaviest, and most powerful battleships ever constructed, weighing 72,802 tons at full load. The class carried the largest naval artillery ever fitted to any warship, nine 460 mm (18.1 inch) guns.
The ship held special significance for World War II Japan as symbol of the nation's naval power (the word 'Yamato' was sometimes used to refer to Japan itself), and its relatively effortless sinking by aircraft in the final days of the war during the suicide Operation Ten-Go is sometimes considered symbolic of Japan's defeat itself.
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