Battleship Yamato: Of War, Beauty and Irony

This quite short book is not so much about the ship itself but rather what might have been the human story of the crew on the finalmission to challenge the American invasion of Okinawa.The Yamato was accompanied by a number of destroyers but crucially had no air cover and had to rely on ship board anti aircraft artillery.At her final refit in January to April 1945 for instance she had her close in 25 mm cannon armament increased to 152 guns.The US Navy carrier based aircraft onslaught destroyed the world's greatest battleship with many bomb and torpedo strikes.A couple of proof reading slips page 62 suggesting the main 18 inch guns fire at "7.5 per minute" and page 67 suggesting that Yamato had "eleven vast 18 inch guns".If the reader is really interested in the battleship itself a book "The Battleship Yamato" by Janusz Skulski is a magnificent point of reference - trouble is at £30 it is a bit pricey.at £30 it is a bit pricey18 inch guns".

This is a unique and reflective musing, essay call it what you will on the ultimate futility of war and evoking the sense of fruitless if stirring sacrifice of the loss of the world`s largest battleship in the dying days of the Second World War. It`s brief-less than an hours read and I suspect that if Jan Morris wasn`t a beloved literary icon now in her 90s this work of self indulgence would not have see light of day. As it stands this is reflection "of war, beauty and irony"will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys her work or is looking for something a little out of the ordinary.

Not a bad little book,but 2 glaring errors.HMS Prince of Wales, Royal Navy battleship,was built by Lairds at Birkenhead,on the Mersey,not on the Clyde.World War 2 began in 1939,not in 1941 as the author states.The USA entered WW2 in 1941,2 years after it started.

Good read

I was hoping for a very different book and did not get it. I have quite a few books by this author and have enjoyed them all. The problem with this one is that if you are expecting any detailed information about the design, service history and so on then you will be disappointed. The second point is that although beautifully produced, the book is so short, you could easily finish it within the hour. In it there are comparisons over the Imperial folly of former times with that of Japan during WWII illustrated with suitable paintings to make the point. However, apart from the above, I was dismayed to see that there are some inaccuracies, for example, the battleship Prince of Wales was built in Cammell Lairds shipyard in Birkenhead, not on the Clyde !! Anyway cutting to the chase...I returned the book.

I ordered this on the strength of having greatly enjoyed Jan Morris's 1995 "Fisher's Face", her idiosyncratic portrait of Jacky Fisher, the great First Sea Lord and progenitor of the Dreadnought. Oh dear - this is a "reverie" (her word) which should have got no further than her study - what was she, what were her publishers, thinking? Too small for a coffee table book, this barely qualifies as a stocking-filler. The landscape format (I hadn't realised beforehand) says much.Good points – a fascinating selection of photographs, and useful diagrams, facts and figures in the last few pages (100-111). But the main part of the book consists of the sketchiest of narratives, interspersed with tangential musings on paintings and music prompted by the story, which make for a pretty book but whose relevance is marginal. Mendelssohn’s Violin concerto, Sibelius, Mahler? Knowing them all pretty well I just don’t see it. Wagner – she doesn’t specify – you could probably find something to fit – Siegfried’s Funeral March, perhaps, if you must. Washington Crossing the Delaware? Guernica? Velazquez’s Surrender at Breda likewise hardly seems appropriate or relevant, to me at any rate. Basically, I miss the point of this book entirely. What, and who, is it for? "Of war, beauty and irony", it says on the cover. Beauty - the cherry blossom on the cover is about it. Irony? The uselessness of the Yamato for the war she was fighting, possibly, though the author does not bring this out.The sinking of the battleship is covered in about 300 words. I haven’t done a careful word count but there can’t be much more than 2000 words of text in the book (excluding picture credits, and timetable of the action at the end). Max Hastings covers the same events in around 3000 words in his magisterial account of the war in the Pacific, “Nemesis”, to much more telling effect. He also provides some much needed context – Yamato’s undistinguished performance at Leyte Gulf where she failed to hit anything, her poor gunnery, a ship as relevant to the last year of the war in the Pacific as Nelson’s HMS Victory.After reading (mainly, flipping through) this book, I feel disappointed, cheated, embarrassed for the author, one of the great writers of the last 60-odd years. Two stars, just - I couldn't bring myself to say I "hate" anything written by Jan Morris, but it's a close call.

A short book on the final moments of the world's greatest battleship. It took me an hour to read. The book is essentially musings on war, life, patriotism, sacrifice ... by Morris using the death of the Yamato as a peg to hang it all on. If you expect a history of the construction, actions of IJN, tactics, politics of WWII etc you will be sadly disappointed. What you will get is a very beautiful little book wonderfully illustrated and produced containing the thoughts and opinions of a great historian on a fascinating topic. Worth reading and a joy to the eye.

I enjoyed this short book for its author's idiosyncratic approach to history and the way her meditations on the subject of war and imperial folly take in both a broad view of her subject before zooming in on the Yamato's last hours. The illustrations help to make her points forcefully, too.