Capital ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1868-1945 : ironclads, battleships & battle cruisers :an outline history of their design, construction and operations ; Volume III ; the Yamato Class and subsequent planning /Hans Lengerer & Lars Ahlberg.

"87 photos, 202 figures and drawings, 60 tables, and 15 maps and tracks. Recognising the impossibility of improving upon the (in)famous 5:5:3 ratio of the Washington Naval Treaty when the expected naval race would begin as the treaty expired, the Imperial Japanese Navy resorted to a strategy of qualitative superiority to overcome the American quantitative edge. The IJN succeeded, after many studies and false starts, in creating the world's most heavily armed (nine 18.1" main guns in three triple turrets - the largest calibre ever mounted) and protected (410-mm thick VH belt armor, 660-mm thick front shields of the gun houses - the thickest armour plates ever mounted) battleships. With a displacement in excess of 70,000 tons their size was unprecedented but despite this restrictions resulted in defects, which otherwise might have been avoided; other defects were the result of techniques below the highest standard. Because the qualities of a battleship were generally measured by gun power, protection and mobility the authors have focused upon these items after giving a rough outline of the design and building processes. The result is probably the most detailed description based upon Japanese sources published outside Japan."--Provided by the publisher.