Musashi Japanese battleship

Battleship20th CenturyJapan

Sunk (wreck located 2015)

Musashi was one of two completed Yamato-class battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and along with her sister ship Yamato she belonged to the heaviest and most powerfully armed class of battleships ever constructed. She is a favorite modeling subject because of her enormous scale and the dramatic story of her final battle.

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Kits of this ship

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No image	IJN Battleship Musashi 1942 (TOKU-23)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
	Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Musashi Commissioned	Pit-Road	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Discontinued
	1/700 IJN Musashi Battleship Waterline Model Kit	Tamiya	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
	IJN Musashi - Standard Kit	Very Fire	1:350	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Musashi Full Hull	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Discontinued
	1/350 Scale Musashi Japanese Battleship	Tamiya	1:350	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	Japanese Navy Battleship Musashi (Showa 19 / Operation Ichi-Go)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
	Japanese Navy Battleship Musashi (with Photo-Etched Parts)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Musashi - Deluxe Kit	Very Fire	1:350	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Battleship Musashi 1942 (Full Hull Model, KG-2)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	Japanese Navy Battleship Musashi (1944 / Operation Sho Ichigo) Full Hull Model	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Discontinued
No image	Warship Next IJN Musashi	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Discontinued
No image	Warship Next IJN Battleship Musashi (1942)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Battle Ship Musashi (Renovated Before Equipment)	Fujimi	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Battleship Musashi 1944 (Battle of Leyte Gulf)	Pit-Road	1:700	Injection-Molded Plastic	Available
No image	IJN Musashi	Angraf	1:200	Card	Available

Plans

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Resources

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History & specifications

KPBS: Japanese World War II Battleship Musashi's Wreck FoundArticle
News coverage of the 2015 discovery of Musashi's wreck by Paul Allen's expedition, useful for confirming current vessel status.
Wikipedia: Japanese battleship MusashiWebsite
Comprehensive overview of design, specifications, and service history useful as a general modeling reference.

Photos

Wikimedia Commons: Category - Musashi (ship, 1942)Photo
Category page aggregating dozens of free-licensed historical photographs of Musashi useful for additional modeling reference images.
Wikimedia Commons: Japanese battleship Musashi underway in 1944 (NH 63473)Photo
High-resolution public domain US Navy/NHHC photo of Musashi underway off Brunei in 1944, excellent reference for hull and superstructure detail.

History

Service history

Commissioned in mid-1942, Musashi was modified to serve as flagship of the Combined Fleet and spent her first months working up before transferring to Truk in early 1943, from where she sortied several times in unsuccessful searches for American forces. In 1944 she was used to ferry troops and equipment between Japan and occupied islands, was torpedoed by a US submarine and repaired, and was present but not engaged at the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She was sunk on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Sibuyan Sea (part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf) after being struck by numerous US carrier aircraft bombs and torpedoes.

Notable facts

Her wreck was located in March 2015 by a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen aboard the research yacht M/Y Octopus, resting roughly a kilometer deep in the Sibuyan Sea off the Philippines, bringing closure after decades of uncertainty about her final resting place. Her captain, Toshihira Inoguchi, chose to go down with the ship, and roughly half of the 2,399-man crew were lost in the sinking.