The legendary Yamato finally dropped into War Thunder with the Leviathans update back in May 2025. Years of hype later, the biggest battleship ever built is yours to grind. Hold off rushing in though – this thing’s a headache.

The Historical Giant Behind the Legend

Yamato (大和) pulls her name from Yamato Province and hits peak battleship design. Alongside sister ship Musashi, she stretched naval engineering to the edge. Those nine 46 cm (18.1 inch) guns? Largest naval artillery ever slapped on a warship – shells heavy as a family sedan.

Laid down in 1937, commissioned right after Pearl Harbor in late 1941. Japan built her for Kantai Kessen – one knockout fleet battle to smash US naval power. Flagship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, a straight-up floating castle.

Twist is, all that firepower and armor barely saw action. She flagged Admiral Yamamoto at Midway in June 1942 without firing mains. Only surface target salvo came October 1944 at Leyte Gulf – barely scratched the score.

Operation Ten-Go ended it. April 1945, one-way run to Okinawa. April 7th, 386 US carrier planes piled on. Took 10-12 torpedoes and seven-plus bombs before a magazine blew – biggest non-nuke blast ever. Ripped her in half; 3,332 crew mostly sunk.

That doom gave her “Hotel Yamato” tag – more admiral HQ than fighter.

Landing in War Thunder’s Naval Battles

Leviathans brought Yamato, Iowa, and Bismarck. Japan’s tree slots her at Rank VII (folks argue Naval Rank VIII, BR 14.0, but top-tier either way).

In-game model’s her 1945 setup – all those AA mods Japan tacked on once air ruled the Pacific. Counts big for staying alive, then and now.

Technical Beast: Numbers That Actually Matter

Size and Movement

Yamato runs 263 meters (863 feet) – three football fields nose-to-tail. Game files peg displacement at 72,809 tons (history waffles 72,800-73,000). Crew: 3,332 across 8 damage sections.

Catch? Tops 27 knots (50 km/h). Slow. Turning’s worse – devblog calls it “staggered,” meaning molasses. Huge circle, sluggish accel, repositions need prayers.

Players swear real Yamato out-turned cruisers. Devs and testers disagree – right now, she’s a mountain that hates corners.

The Main Event: Those Guns

Three turrets, nine 460mm/45 Type 94 barrels total. 900 shells – make ’em count, reload drags.

• Reload time: 41.3 seconds stock crew; 31.7 seconds aces (2 RPM tops)
• Gun elevation: -5° to +45°
• Traverse speeds: 21.7°/s horizontal, 86.8°/s vertical

Fire control nails long shots where she shines. Shells at 780 m/s, car-weight – hits erase stuff.

Secondary Firepower

Three 155mm/60 Type 91 turrets (three guns each) handle mid-range:

• 900 shells
• Reload: 13 seconds stock → 10 seconds aces
• Elevation: -7° to +55°
• Traverse: 65.1°/s horizontal; 108.5°/s vertical

Not fillers – solid vs cruisers and DDs dodging mains.

Anti-Air Defense: A Wall of Lead

1945 loadout jams 150+ AA guns deck-wide – Japan’s panic button vs US air:

• 12 turrets × 2 guns of 127mm/40 Type 89 dual-purpose (4,800 shells; reload 5.6s → 4.3s)
• 50 turrets × 3 guns of 25mm/60 Type 96 (225,000 shells total; belt capacity 15; reload 2.6s → 2s; 261 rounds per minute)
• 2 turrets × single 25mm/60 Type 96 (3,000 shells)
• 2 turrets × 2 guns of 13.2mm Type 93 MG (7,200 shells; 476 rpm)

155mm and 127mm double as AA. Right belts? Flak storm shreds incoming planes – if gunners track.

Ammunition Performance: What Penetrates What

Ammunition and Penetration Tables

460mm Main Gun Penetration

Type	1000m	2500m	5000m	7500m	10000m	15000m
HE Type 0	123mm	114mm	100mm	87mm	76mm	74mm
AP Type 91 APCBC	870mm	836mm	782mm	732mm	686mm	603mm

AP’s nightmare fuel. 870mm at 1km? Nothing floats through that. 603mm at 15km still kills.

HE packs ~60 kg boom per shell (huge), but devblog says less punch than 406mm – filling quirk.

155mm Secondary Gun Penetration

Type	1000m	2500m	5000m	7500m	10000m	15000m
HE Type 0	40mm	36mm	36mm	36mm	36mm	36mm
APHE Type 91	317mm	277mm	218mm	169mm	128mm	82mm

APHE wrecks cruisers close – 317mm at 1km.

127mm AA Gun Penetration

Type	1000m	2500m	5000m	7500m	10000m	15000m
HE-TF	25mm	25mm	25mm	25mm	25mm	25mm

Flat across ranges – for air proximity, not plate.

25mm and 13.2mm AA Penetration

25mm Type 96 (Default Belt):

10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
55mm	53mm	44mm	37mm	32mm	29mm

13.2mm Type 93:

10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
28mm	27mm	24mm	21mm	19mm	17mm

Shred planes and boats up close, ignore thick stuff.

Armor: The Thickest Ever… Sort Of

Numbers clash across sources.

Devblog: turret face 650mm (“colossal”), main belt over 400mm angled, deck 200mm min.

Game tables: main turret 660mm / 250mm / 190mm (front/side/rear), citadel 340mm / 410mm / 380mm, hull 25mm, superstructure 16mm.

650 or 660mm turret? Thickest ever. Citadel layers *should* tank hits.

History layered torpedo bulges, voids, 75mm bulkhead – needed ~20 torps sans bombs. Reality: 10-12 torps +7 bombs, mag boom finished.

The Grind: Economics and Progression

Silver Lions and RP hit hard:

Initial Costs:

• Research requirement: 400,000 RP (some say 1,150,000 – sources flip)
• Purchase price: 87,000 SL

Repair Costs:

• Arcade Battles: 32,070 SL → 41,755 SL (stock to spaded)
• Realistic Battles: 35,797 SL → 46,608 SL

Crew Investment:

• Crew training: 330,000 SL
• Expert qualification: 1,150,000 SL
• Ace crew: 2,800 Golden Eagles

Modification Costs:

• Total modifications: 303,000 RP and 505,000 SL
• Talisman: 2,800 GE

Rewards:

• Multiplier: AB 450% / RB 600%
• SL bonus: 232%

Mods cover Seakeeping, Dry-Docking, Rudder Replacement, Propeller Replacement, Engine Maintenance, Damage Control Division, Fire Division, Shrapnel Protection, Ventilation, New Pumps, Ammo Wetting; ammo unlocks (155mm Type 91 APHE, 460mm Type 91 APCBC, 155mm Type 0 HE); Anti-Air Armament Targeting, Auxiliary Armament Targeting, Improved Rangefinder, Primary Armament Targeting, Hydroplane…

Stock HE-only? Pain vs armor. Need AP yesterday.

Combat Reality: When Theory Meets Gameplay

Damage Thresholds (According to Tests)

Sink Yamato with:

• 2 × 4,000 lbs bombs, OR
• 3 × 2,000 lbs / 1,000 kg bombs, OR
• 7 × 500 kg bombs, OR
• 23 × 250 kg / 500 lbs bombs, OR
• 4-5 torpedoes

Tough on paper. Tests went nuts: 25 Yamatos vs 25 Iowas, 50 bombers per ship, 20 torp runs, even A-10s with guided stuff.

Spawns ~10km – no pure range game. SB2C Helldivers, TBF Avengers showed spotty results. One A-10 run sank seven ships, downed nine planes – bloody.

Iowas edged 25v25s…

The Brutal Truth: Player Experience

Community’s pissed – forums explode, legit gripes.

Core issue: Instant deaths.

One shell to bad ammo rack? Boom, screen. 30 seconds in, bot 15-inch hits unemptiable secondary – gone.

Bug reports piling:

1. Magazine depot modeling bug: Ammo clips thru belt, pens that miss still detonate
2. Incorrect armor angles: Plates wrong tilt; belt under second turret low, weak spots
3. Missing internal partitions: Only new BB without deck splits, anti-frag layers
4. Auxiliary storage detonations: Hits to secondary/shell rooms cat-kill – acknowledged, fix coming?

Sovetsky Soyuz? Overkill vs Yamato – no mag fires, while Yamato glances and pops.

Survival Tactics (From Players Who Refuse to Give Up)

• “Stay as far as possible… don’t angle, or at least not by much. Better to show your strong belt than the weak corner plate or frontal plate.” Hard angle exposes corners.
• “Wait to spawn, preferably at the location which has the most friendlies. And then pray no one spots you…” Cluster with team, delay spawn.
• “Just turn around and runaway to 18km or even further. In that distance u will be safe.” Back to 18-20km – her zone.
• “Don’t play the Yamato atm. just stick with the Amagi and Mutsu i guess.” Brutal truth – skip standard maps.
• “Outside of EC, it is flat out impossible for Yamato to fight in Naval. The best results I got were when the enemy team was nice enough not to shoot me.” Oof.
• “Most penetrating hits are automatically fatal no matter where, and I’ve had bots one-tap me like 30 seconds into the match because a random 15in shell hit my secondary ammo rack (which you cannot empty), and this thing does not survive any ammo detonation.” Rack bug kills.

Works in big maps/EC at 18km+ range/firepower. Close vs Iowa/Soyuz? Repair bill.

What Makes Her Strong (When She Works)

• Armor supremacy: 650-660mm turrets, 400mm+ belt, 200mm+ deck – thickest ever.
• Firepower dominance: Nine 460s, 870mm pen at 1km. Broadside owns.
• AA saturation: 150+ guns flak-hell planes – good belts/gunners.
• Psychological impact: Fleet king – threat locks zones.
• Range performance: 20km+ built-in; pens/accuracy hold, foes fade.

What Makes Her Weak (Current Reality)

• Catastrophic vulnerability to ammunition detonations: Pen to mag? Dead.
• Broken damage modeling: No partitions, bad geo – fake holes.
• Maneuverability deficit: Slow turns, big circle, weak accel.
• Close-range weakness: Corner plates, ammo show – brawls kill.
• Stock grind hell: HE vs plate + fat repairs = suffer.
• Map dependency: Small maps trash her; needs ocean.
• Overpowered opposition: Soyuz ignores rules Yamato can’t.
• Community morale: Vets say skip – broken bad.

Who Should Actually Play This Ship?

Patient naval vets only – beta-test with repair pain.

Ideal conditions:

• Large maps only (EC best)
• Patient positioning gameplay (18km+ ranges)
• Understanding of bug limitations and workarounds
• Willingness to monitor patch notes for model fixes
• Financial buffer for repair costs during the learning curve

Avoid if:

• You want aggressive brawling gameplay
• Small-map rotation frustrates you
• You expect historical accuracy to equal in-game performance
• Repair costs stress you out
• You’re grinding on a budget

Devs noted changes possible pre/post – they gotta. Ammo/armor/partition bugs? Fix ’em.

Final Verdict: Legendary But Broken

Full rundown: most powerful BB ever, most frustrating in WT. Specs nail history – 460s, armor, tonnage – but damage/survivability? Busted.

Gap between fortress long-range queen and ammo piñata? Naval mode’s mess.

Bookmark for grind intel – specs, player pain, bugs, tips. Saves repair tears.

Gaijin fix bugs? Likely. Rebalance vs Soyuz/Iowa? Fingers crossed. Grind now? Large maps, long game, bug tolerance only.

Legend’s here – damage model’s lagging.