A new series has been launched to explain the mechanics of battleships and other ships that appear in the rebooted Space Battleship Yamato series from Yamato 2199 to REBEL 3199. The first installment, which will be a two-part series, will focus on Space Battleship Yamato. How did Yamato change to compete with different forces such as Garmillan, Gatlantis, and Dezarium? We will get closer to the truth.
Text by Yuka Minagawa
Published at Hobby Japan Web on November 10. See the original post here
Space Battleship Yamato – 3rd Remodel
After the disappearance of the Ark of Destruction, the ship went missing, but emerged in the first layer of the Time Fault. It traveled to and from the higher dimension to rescue Susumu Kodai and Yuki Mori. After that, with the formation of the 65th Escort Squadron, it was remodeled to be the flagship of the intergalactic fleet.
Commissioned in 2199
During the battles on the voyage to and from Iscandar, the sides of the ship and the main gun turrets were easily hit and suffered heavy damage. For this reason, the armor was gradually strengthened during the voyage, and there are some differences between the ship’s hull at the time of commissioning and its return. The illustration shows the ship’s hull at the time of launch from Earth.
1st Remodel
The living space was reduced, an onboard factory facility was installed, and the capacity to accommodate spare materials was expanded. The displacement was increased, and the position of the waterline was raised from when it was commissioned. The number of onboard weapons has been increased, the shape of the fairleader has been changed, and the main propulsion nozzle has been enlarged.
2nd remodel (Final Battle Specification)
At the end of the Gatlantis War, hull damage was repaired at the emergency dock in Mars orbit, and anti-aircraft weapons were added in preparation for the final battle. One main gun turret was transferred from the sister ship, the Wave-Motion Experiment Ship Ginga, as well as anti-aircraft weapons and close-quarters defense weapons.
After the Iscandar Incident in 2205, Yamato returned to Earth and was awarded a participation medal for its great achievements in the conflicts with Garmillas, Gatlantis, and Dezarium.
Originally, there was a proposal to turn Yamato into a memorial ship after it returned from Iscandar in 2199. However, a first remodel was carried out, which included re-equipping the Wave-Motion Gun based on the concept of a Wave-Motion Gun fleet, and a second remodel (final battle specification) was carried out toward the end of the Gatlantis War with the aim of increasing armaments. A third remodel was also carried out after the war ended, and it continued to be used as an active ship.
The Yamato at the time of the award ceremony was remodeled to reflect its use as the flagship of the Intergalactic Navigation Fleet and its combat experience in the Gatlantis War. For example, its faster-than-light travel performance has been improved, the hull shape has been optimized, and the window frames of the bridge have been slimmed down. This improves dimensional hydrodynamic stability.
The propulsion system has also been optimized, and the main engine nozzle, which was enlarged in the first remodel, has been narrowed, making it closer to its appearance when it was commissioned. As a result, the overall length of the engine nozzle has been slightly shortened. Changes have been made to the shape of the curved surface from the rear of the hull to the base of the nozzle, and the position of the attitude control thrusters has been adjusted. The position and shape of the main nozzle stabilizers (vertical and horizontal) has also been adjusted to roughly halfway between when the ship was commissioned and when it was first remodeled.
In addition, hatches approximately 40 meters long were added to both the port and starboard sides aft, allowing large support craft to be loaded. As a result of this remodeling, the number of aircraft carried by the air force has been reduced to 16. The location of the drains has also been changed in conjunction with the addition of more hatches.
Based on the combat experience gained during the Gatlantis campaign, anti-aircraft defense has also been strengthened. Additional armor has been added to the main and secondary gun turrets, the armor plates around the pulse laser turrets have been made thicker, and the base of the superstructure is now shaped to protrude due to the additional armor.
The bow gun muzzle has been changed to a “U” shape when viewed from the side, in order to improve the firing performance of the Wave-Motion Gun.
For the award ceremony, a commemorative paint job was applied to the main and secondary guns, with three stripes painted at the muzzle tips and an anchor mark painted on the hull. The anchor mark was added to the forward deck (upper part of the bow), between the rear sub-nozzles, on the upper deck of the Wave-Motion Gun, on both sides of the ship, and on the upper part of the second main gun turret. The mark was created by adding three rings to the Space Navy emblem to signify the conferral of the Order of the Three Circles, and is also referred to as the Yamato mark.
The award was a recognition of Yamato‘s achievements, and also signified her retirement from the front line. However, after the Iscandar Incident, the 65th Escort Division, with Yamato as its flagship, was disbanded and its members were transferred to other areas, so the award ceremony was held in their absence.
According to military documents, Yamato was transferred to the reserve fleet and sent off on a training voyage. However, in reality, this was part of Operation DAD in preparation for Dezarium’s invasion of Earth, and Yamato was being remodeled to be equipped with new equipment as the core of the anti-Dezarium force.