A kitbashed rebuild of Yamato as an Aegis equipped guided missile battleship. I'd like to think the design itself is mostly sound, even though it's prohibitively expensive to build, to say nothing of what absurd reasons must be contrived to explain how Yamato somehow survived into the 21st century.
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/8dfesK0.png)
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/xUEghvT.png)
Reconstruction of Yamato as an Aegis Combat System equipped guided missile battleship. Her superstructure has been entirely rebuilt, using the more angular shapes typical of modern ship designs. An AN/SPY-1D(V) radar has been added, with the distinctive panels visible near the top of what used to be her pagoda. Her fire control system has been replaced with a modern Mk 160 gun control system with AN/SPG-62 fire control radars, though she retains the optical rangefinders on her superstructure and main battery turrets.
The main battery of the ship consists of nine 46cm/50 Type 94 Mod 2 guns, which are largely identical to her original armament but can fire modern munitions such as laser guided rounds, as well as improved iterations of her original 46cm AP and HE rounds. Due to the heavy muzzle blast from these guns, shielding has been added to the deck and superstructure to direct the blast away from the VLS and fire control radars and prevent damage.
Her four 8"/55 Mk 71 Mod 1 guns were originally designed by the United States under the Major Caliber Lightweight Gun program, but have been significantly modernized with a new stealthier turret as well as a 15 rounds per minute fire rate (compared to 12 for the original incarnation) thanks to an improved autoloader.
A Mk 41 VLS with 192 cells has been added aft of the number 3 turret, replacing most of her aircraft hangar. The bow has been lengthened by some 15m to make room for a further 128 cells forward for a total of 320 cells. Thanks to Yamato's wide beam, these launchers are 16 cells wide, rather than the more traditional 8 as fitted to previous Aegis ships. The launchers carry SM-2MR and SM-3 missiles. Due to the lack of on-board sonar, the VL-ASROC is not normally carried. The rear VLS is entirely strike length (7.7m depth), while the forward VLS carries 64 strike length cells inboard and 64 self-defense length cells (5.3m depth) outboard to follow the contours of the hull. All VLS are outside the protection of her armored citadel.
Canister launchers for the Type 90 SSM-1B ship to ship missile are also carried in addition to the 320 VLS cells, with eight quadruple launchers for a total of 32 missiles. These launchers are placed on the deck amidships, near her funnel.
Additionally, she carries eight 5”/62 Mk 45 Mod 4 guns (identical to the examples fitted to the Atago Class destroyers) as well as four SeaRAM missile launchers and six 20mm Phalanx Block 1B CIWS for point defense. As countermeasures, she carries the NOLQ-3D ECM system as well eight Mk 36 SRBOC launchers.
A helicopter platform has been added on her stern, and space is available in her hangar for two Mitsubishi SH-60K Seahawk helicopters. Boats aboard ship are stowed in the boat hangar near her stern.
The large increase in weight due to the rebuilt superstructure necessitated bulges as well as Denny-Brown stabilization fins to maintain her stability as a gun platform and reduce her draft. The ship's auxiliary rudder, deemed ineffective, has been removed to save weight. Her boilers and steam turbines have been stripped out and replaced with eight IHI/GE LM2500-300 gas turbine engines in a COGLAG (COmbined Gas turbine eLectric And Gas turbine) configuration driving four screws. The combination of new engines with the lengthened bow allows the ship to exceed 30 knots despite the negative hydrodynamic effects of the new bulges.
The improved range of her modernized main guns as well as the massive complement of missiles she carries makes her extremely adept in the anti-ship and anti-air roles. However, she cannot effectively carry out anti-submarine duties due to her large size and lack of on-board sonar, and must rely on her escorts and helicopters for ASW. Support of ground troops is also possible, but Japan's pacifist constitution heavily limits her use in this role.
As the ship possesses more than three times as many missiles as an Atago-class destroyer, the decision was made for Yamato to be reclassified as BBG (Battleship, Guided Missile) rather than BB (Battleship).
This is the first shipbucket style drawing I actually finished (the other one is still a WIP), done on and off over the course of about ten days. I probably shouldn't have done something as ambitious as this as my first attempt, but Yamato's birthday was on the 8th so I had to do this.
The design was largely inspired and based on this image, but is nowhere near an exact representation.
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/ckECAGO.png)
In the drawing I credit Erusia Force and acelanceloet as I drew the most content from their drawings, namely Erusia Force's Kure Museum Yamato and acelanceloet's Kongo-class destroyer. However, there are other people who deserve mention. I used some elements from ALVAMA's 1941 Yamato, as well using McConrads' Atago-class as reference for the mast (with some parts copied directly) and taking some parts from BB1987's IJN parts sheet.
I hope I didn't do anything horribly out of line (drawing, style, crediting or otherwise). It's my first real attempt at something like this, so any criticism is welcome.
![[ img ]](http://shipbucket.com/Parts%20Sheets/Templates/Template%20B%20Side.png)
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/D1uAxDy.png)
![[ img ]](http://i.imgur.com/BogPauf.png)