Sauragnmon wrote:
Ok... question, re - Broadside AA. Yamato's upper 12.7cm were open, Musashi closed, was Musashi then to have all twelve as enclosed, had her fit been completed? Was this then to be the standard between the two, with both only receiving a partial refit - Yamato with the lower deck enclosed, Musashi with upper enclosed and no lower deck guns?
When first completed both ships had three enclosed 12.7cm AA guns in the upper row, a single 15.5 cm triple anti-surface turret in the lower row. The enclosure is to protect the gun crew from the blast of the 18.1 inch guns.
The refit in 1944 removed the 15.5 cm triple. It was intended to replace it with 3 more 12.7 cm AA guns in the lower row. Yamato was so fitted. But there wasn't enough extra blast proof enclosure available to cover the new 12.7 mounts, so the enclosures for the upper row was transfered to the lower row because the lower row guns were more exposed to the blast from the 18.1 inch guns. It's not clear to me if it was intended to eventually fit all 12 positions with blast proof enclosures when these became available. But I think that's a reasonable assumption.
Musashi had the preparations done to also receive the extra 12.7cm AA guns, but mounts themselves were not available for a time, so she when to Lyete Gulf without the extra guns. Since there is no extra lower row 12.7 cm guns, her original upper row 12.7 cm guns retained their original blast proof enclosures. I am sure had the ship survived long enough for the extra 12.7 cm mounts to become available, and there is still an shortage of blast proof enclosures, then she would have been treated the same way as the Yamato.