Yamato (OS)

This article describes the space battleship Yamato from the original series and its sequels. For information on other vessels bearing the name Yamato in this series or in other series or movies, see the Yamato disambiguation page.

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Yamato is a space battleship serving in the Earth Defense Force. As the first Earth ship to utilize wave motion energy, Yamato would go on to save the planet and the human race from multiple interstellar and intergalactic threats. Yamato was destroyed in 2203 in an attempt to prevent the water planet Aquarius from flooding Earth's surface, but after lying dormant in the icy remains of Aquarius, Yamato was repaired and upgraded for future missions.

Construction

The wreck of the World War II battleship Yamato, sunk in the sea near Okinawa, was used to hide a military spacecraft created by the Earth Defense Force in the late 22nd century. At this time Earth was under attack from an alien race, the Gamilas, who were raining down radioactive asteroids that evaporated Earth's oceans and rendered its surface uninhabitable. The new space warship was built inside the wreckage of the ancient battleship, which was partially buried in what was now a dry seabed, thus concealing it from the view of the orbiting Gamilas vessels. The arrival of a messenger from the planet Iscandar brought plans for a space drive called the Wave Motion Engine, which would give a spacecraft immense power and enable it to travel faster than light. The message also urged humanity to travel to Iscandar (148,000 light years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud) and obtain a device that would cleanse Earth of its deadly radiation.

History

Gamilon Empire War

The Gamilas Empire War started in the late 22nd Century and began with the siege of Earth were the Gamilons used radioactive asteroids to bombard the third planet. The nations of Earth formed the EDF to fight this threat, but failed due to their technological inferiority. The continued bombardment soon rendered the planet's surface uninhabitable and forced all surviving humans into underground cities. The arrival of a message from the mysterious planet Iskandar with the promise to heal earth, together with the new, ftl capable "Wave Motion Technology", however, made it possible for the EDF to consruct the Yamato - both the first FTL capable battleship, and strong enough to face the dangers on it's journey to Iskandar.

White Comet Empire War

The Yamato is now a Solar System Patrol ship and most of it's members are split up. Kodai is Acting Captain. The Yamato is attacked by Gatlantis on the way back to Earth. Investigating the threat the Yamato without orders leaves Earth to investigate Gatlantis.

Bolar Wars

pre SUS war and The restoration history of Space Battleship Yamato

2207 Yamato project planning is approved by Earth Federation Congress. It starts with a survey of the destroyed Yamato sunk in Aquarius. Review of the internal design is carried out.

2208 Survey of Yamato is completed. The hull is divided into three parts and its damage is much more serious than expected. In order to raise the possibility of restoration and reaffirm the plan, restoration begins for the battleship Musashi, sunk in the Sibuyan Sea. It is confirmed that residual energy is present in each part of Yamato‘s generator. Gravity ballast is removed by remote control, and utilizing the residual energy in each section, work begins to raise the separated hull sections 10 kilometers from the surface in order to rejoin them.

2209 Battleship Musashi reconstruction dock is completed in the deep sea and full-scale restoration begins. Materials are assembled for building a duplicate reconstruction dock in the sea of Aquarius. Aquarius personnel start transferring to space colonies. A new Wave-Motion Engine is successfully designed and development begins.

2210 Reconstruction is completed on the hull of Space Battleship Musashi. The possibilities of a new American design for the Wave-Motion Engine are taken into consideration and an overall review of Yamato‘s internal design is carried out.

2213 Space Battleship Musashi covertly becomes a Wave-Motion Energy research ship. Excavation begins on Aquarius’ surface.

2214 Completion of Space Battleship Musashi. It launches on a mission of Wave-Motion Energy research in Pluto orbit. Musashi‘s restoration team transfers to Aquarius and completes preparation to begin work on Yamato.

2215 Musashi‘s data on the study of wave energy and the Wave-Motion Engine lead to the completion of Yamato‘s internal design specs.

2216 Space Battleship Yamato is raised to a point 10 kilometers from the surface and successfully rebuilt in the repair dock. Full-scale reconstruction work begins. The Transition Wave-Motion theory is confirmed by experimentation on Musashi.

2217 Repairs are completed on Yamato‘s hull and major reconstruction begins.

2218 Yamato‘s reconstruction is disguised.

2219 Yamato‘s reconstruction is completed. Testing begins on the new Wave-Motion Engine and the Transition Wave-Motion theory. Yamato‘s repair team leaves the maintenance staff on Aquarius and returns to Earth.

2220 The present time line of SUS Empire-Earth Federation War .

SUS Empire-Earth Federation War

The Urup Interstellar Alliance attacked the Earth Federation 1st and 2nd Emigration fleets underway to Amarh.

Features

Main systems

The Yamato has three bridges; Bridge 1 contains the helm, radar, communications and command positions (including those for engineering and ship's defenses), and is the scene of much of the action and interaction in the series. In the second season it gains a time radar system capable of viewing a region of space as it appeared hours previously.

At the top of the command tower is the Captain's personal quarters, a chair on a vertical track giving him the option of moving to his command post in Bridge 1 quickly. Either side of the main bridge are radar units, and below is Bridge 2, the main navigation center of the ship. Directly below the command tower, on the underside of the ship, is the ill fated Bridge 3; it is featured significantly only once, when the Yamato was upside-down in what seems to be methane sea on Pluto, and seems to exist largely to be blown off the ship dramatically to increase the tension of the combat. There are also observation domes either side of the command tower, and larger windowed sections either side of the main hull.

Elsewhere aboard the ship are a conference room (with a large floor-mounted screen) and a hologram chamber (the "resort room") for projecting images of Earth to combat homesickness. There is also a cryogenics chamber in which much of the crew apparently sleeps during the series (most notably female crew members, as Yuki is the only woman seen aboard after episode 10 of the first season). An engineering and development section contains an automated multi-purpose construction unit capable of building any required device. More mundane locations include the surgery, galley, stateroom and gym. Travel within the ship is achieved by means of lifts, moving walkways and, for emergencies, chutes. During the hostile interaction with Gamilas subspace submarine, Sanada adviced to create a subspace sonar. This sonar is located within the hatch underneight the bow and could be extended at any given time. Upon the conflict with the Black Nebula Empire, the Yamato was refitted with Spherical Sensor Station to enhance the battleship's alertness. Four chairs are fastened to the celing of the spherical room by jointed arm, which allow the operators to swivle to any quadrant of the room for closer inspection of the sensor reading.

In the remake of the Yamato in the year 2220, the ship contained a Data Processing Center, also called ECI, located in the third bridge. Like the Spherical Sensor Station, this help the vessel have situiational and tactical advantage. The ECI is usually controlled by the Information Processing Officer. The front third of the Yamato below the wave motion gun is a large hangar that housed the auxiliary missile boat Shinano.

Propulsion

• The Wave Motion Engine (波動エンジン, hadō enjin^?): the ship's main engine, based on alien technology; it is capable of converting the vacuum of space into tachyon from which energy is harvested. It can function like a normal rocket engine, but how this actually works is a mystery. The wave motion engine requires the Wave Motion Core to make Warp possible. In order to jump start the wave motion engine it requires energy from the sub-engines. This arrangement is similar to how a gas turbine or jet engine is started.^{[N 1]}

• Auxiliary engine (補助エンジン, hojo enjin^?): twin jets below the main engine port, used for quick bursts of speed. When the Yamato first launches, the Wave Motion Engine is not yet ready and the auxiliary engine is used instead.

• Wings (主翼, shuyoku^?): to provide lift in atmospheric environments, two large wings unfold from the sides of the hull, fully-functional with ailerons.

• Rocket Anchors (ロケットアンカー^?): either side of the bow are rocket-powered anchors at the ends of strong chains, which the Yamato can use to anchor itself to asteroids and, if necessary, provide a gravity-assisted slingshot. They can also be used to deflect enemy ships from collision.
• Directional Jets: a set of retractable jets on each side of the bow and stern to provide maneuverability for roll and yaw control.
• Hover Jets: Used for assisted fast take off, hover at an altitude, and occasional pitch control.

Weaponry / defences

• Shock Cannons (ショックカノン^?): the three 45.9cm and two 15.5cm three-barrelled gun turrets of the original Yamato have been converted into powerful energy guns. Each turret fires three energy beams which are capable of spiraling around each other to form a single, more powerful beam, capable of severely damaging or destroying enemy warships. The cannons are operated by seated human controllers, aiming orders generally shouted from Bridge 1. In addition to firing energy blasts, the guns can be loaded with other ammunition, most notably cartridges containing the devices used in the Rotating Asteroid Defence (see below). In the movie Be Forever, Yamato, they are used to fire missiles containing Wave Motion energy, which even with a hundredth the power of the Wave Motion Gun, cause tremendous destruction. In the movie Yamato the New Journey, and in Season 3 thay have three white rings on each barrel. When the Yamato was resurrected in 2220 the main shock cannons cm changed from 45.9 to 46cm and the 15.5 to 20cm.

• Pulse Lasers (パルスレーザー^?): based on the 25 mm and 13 mm anti-aircraft machine guns of the original Yamato, the Pulse Lasers are a set of two- and four-barrelled gun turrets lining the sides of the spaceship, firing energy pulses which can destroy fighters and detonate missiles. The turret clusters generally aim at the same targets.

• Torpedo Tubes (艦首ミサイル, Kanshu Misairu^?): six forward-firing torpedo tubes, principally for use underwater and missiles at forward target. In the year 2220, the remake Yamato fired missiles that project a round energy discs that acts as an energy shield.

• Side Missiles (両舷側ミサイル, Ryōgensoku Misairu^?): a set of anti-missile missiles launched from missile ports in the hull of the Yamato; rather than hitting directly, they explode at a safe distance and form an energy web that detonates incoming missiles. In the year 2220, shield missiles where also shot from these launchers.

• Smokestack Missiles (煙突ミサイル, Entotsu Misairu^?): six cells with ship-to-air missiles (SAM) fired vertically from what was once the smoke stack of the original Yamato.

• The Black Tigers (ブラックタイガー^?)/Cosmo Tigers (コスモタイガー^?): a fleet of fighter planes, contained within a hangar in the ship's rear underside. The Black Tiger fighters of the first season are superseded by the Cosmo Tigers of the second season, though both seasons feature the Cosmo Zero fighter piloted by Susumu Kodai, which is usually launched from one of the catapults on the top deck near the stern. The hangar also contains other, non-combat planes for reconnaissance and transport.

• Rotating Asteroid Defense (アステロイド防衛, Asteroid Bōei^?): used in the first and second seasons, this involves using the Shock Cannons to fire showers of small metal probes into asteroid fields; these devices are magnetically-controlled and can bring the asteroids close to the ship, forming a hard shell resistant to enemy fire. This can then be turned into a fast-rotating orbiting ring, its angle controlled from the bridge, which can be used to block individual shots. As a final act, the asteroids can be expelled at high speed in all directions to destroy any ships that venture too close.

• Reflective shield (空間磁力メッキ, Kūkan Jiryoku Mekki^?): a defense conceived by chief scientist Sanada (Sandor in Star Blazers) when he realized that the Wave Motion Gun is merely an extremely powerful laser, this involves quickly covering the Yamato entirely with reflective material; this was only used once, when Gamilas leader Desler used his self-titled Desler Gun against the Earth ship, and successfully reflected the blast back against its source.

• Bubble shield (防塵カバー, Bōjin Cover^?): although the Yamato lacks defensive shields like those used in Star Trek, on one occasion (while trapped in the Octopus Cluster) it generated a shield over its decks which protected it from the fury of a space storm, and even maintained a breathable atmosphere.
• Probe Missile Launcher: Located in the third bridge of the remake Yamato in 2220 are six missile launchers that fires missiles which deploy as probes that send back surrounding data back to Yamato's Data Processing Center (also known as the ECI).
• Anti-Hyper Radiation Cannon: A gun that pops out of the bow and fires laser beams that can destroy missiles. Only used in Final Yamato against the Denguil's Hyper Radiation Missiles.

Wave Motion Gun

The Wave Motion Gun (波動砲, hadō hō^?): the "trump card" of the Yamato, the Wave Motion Gun functions by connecting the Wave Motion Engine to the enormous firing gate at the ship's bow, enabling the tachyon energy power of the engine to be fired in a stream directly forwards. Enormously powerful, it can vaporize a fleet of enemy ships or a landmass around the size of Australia with one shot; however, it takes a brief but critical period to charge before firing. It also requires all non-essential power systems be deactivated, and leaves the ship powerless and adrift for a short time after firing, though these aspects are not dwelled upon after the initial test in Jupiter's atmosphere. The recoil absorption mechanism can be manually deactivated with a lever; this is used to save the ship on one occasion.

In 2220 A.D. in Space Battleship Yamato: Resurrection, the rebuilt ship was equipped with a new gun which was able to fire six shots before recharge.

Auxiliary craft

Fighters

The Yamato generally appears to have two standard sized fighter squadrons á 12 fighters. In addition, at the beginning, there are two prototype Cosmo Zeros. The fighters from the squadron tasked with interception and fighter duty appear to have yellow or orange squadron "tail" colors. The fighters from the squadron tasked with ground/ship attack missions appear to have green squadron "tail" colors. The original animation isn't so clear about the differences or details as the official modelkits or later CG supported animation. At the beginning, the main force consisted of standard Cosmo Falcons. Once the Cosmo Tiger became available, the Black Tiger squadron was formed from the interception squadron. In the original, the squadron already existed. The name of the squadron derrives from the paint or color scheme, this is reversed to real world units. This has led to a 38 year long misunderstanding among fan on the fighter's name. The later Black Tiger squadron had red squadron "tail" colors. In the Farewell Yamato movie, the fighter complement was raised to 40 fighters.

In 2220, a Cosmo Zero 21 (コスモゼロ21^?) was used by Kodai and subsequently added to the ship's complement.

Storage and Launching

Fighters were stored in an automatic vertical storage tower like system and launched and landed through the hatch runway. In Rebirth, the ramp runway itself is an airlock and could be closed off. It is further divided into champers with blast walls to protect fighters in the down the line. In the remake, the fighters are stored in a tandem rotary rack system with double sided rotating parking lots. Launching is simply through the hatch while landing is done through the side hangar bulges.

Shuttles

At the beginning the search and rescue squadron consist of Cosmo Seagulls. Later troop transporters like the Cosmo Hound were added.

Others

• Secret military boat (特務艇^?)^[1]/special attack boat - heavy attack boat (特殊攻撃艦・重攻撃艇^?)^[2] Shinano (信濃^?): it was a 81 m long torpedo boat armed with 24 Wave-Motion missiles. It was an addition made to the rebuilt Yamato in 2220 A.D. seen in Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection. It was stored in the forward belly bay.
• tug boat (タグボート^?): It was an addition made to the rebuilt Yamato in 2220 A.D. seen in Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection. It is estimated to be 16.1 m long.

Size controversy

The size used for the Yamato has been and will be the size officially published in "Space Battleship Yamato whole record collection" (宇宙戦艦ヤマト全記録集^?) in 1978.

When asked by fans Leiji Matsumoto staid: "The battleship is about 30 m longer with the rocket nozzle included while the position of the gun and the bridge remain in the same location as with the Yamato."

In the DVD "Rebirth Guide" (「復活編」^?) it's described as being 280 m.

As said in the OFFICIAL FACT FILE 2010-2011 of No. 32 the total length of the Yamato that would fit everything is reasonable about 500 meters to 700 meters. This includes the 40 fighters in the movie. Part of the internals such as the broadside observation launch has mostly been depicted as having more than twice the size. One reason for these differences were due to different designers who were in charge.^[3]

Similar conclusions have been found by fans analysing official sketches and or creating 3D models of their own. The reasonable size factor vary from a minimum of 2 to 10 and more.^[4][5]

Further reading

• Hiromi Mizuno (2007) When Pacifist Japan Fights: Historicizing Desires in Anime Mechademia 2

Trivia

• The Yamato cameos in Gamera Super Monster through stock footage combined with live action footage.

External links

• Space Battleship Yamato at the Starship Schematic Database

References

Notes

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