On February 11, 1943, Musashi became the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, replacing her sister ship Yamato, which had been docked for repairs.
On May 17, 1943, Musashi returned to Japan carrying the remains of Admiral Yamamoto, the Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet.
On March 29, 1944, Musashi was ambushed by a U.S. submarine while departing from Palau, and was hit by a torpedo in the bow below the waterline, resulting in a large amount of water ingress; she returned to Kure Harbor on April 3 to repair the damage. During the repair, the secondary gun turrets on both sides of the ship were dismantled to increase the anti-aircraft firepower. Musashi was not fitted with six twin large-caliber anti-aircraft guns like Yamato, but only small-caliber anti-aircraft guns.
In June 1944, Yamato and Musashi's Second Fleet was integrated into the First Mobile Fleet to participate in the Battle of the Marianas, providing cover for the carriers.
In October 1944, the Musashi took part in the "Jie 1" battle plan. According to the plan, the 2nd Fleet, which consisted of nearly 30 battleships, cruisers and destroyers of the Japanese Combined Fleet, broke through the San Bernardino Strait on the night of October 24th, while the motorized fleet composed of aircraft carriers distracted the attention of the U.S. carrier task force, and wiped out the U.S. surface fleet located on the east side of the island of Samar, and then in the early morning hours of October 25th, killed the Leyte Gulf and wiped out the landing ships in the Gulf.
Since entering the Sibuyan Sea, the Japanese fleet formed two wheel-type anti-aircraft formations 12 nautical miles apart.
On the morning of Oct. 24, U.S. forces detected the first guerrilla unit of the Japanese fleet in the Sibuyan Sea south of Mindoro Island, and the U.S. carrier task force took off the first wave of the attacking force at 09:10 a.m. A little after 10:00 a.m., U.S. planes were detected by Japanese ship radar.
At 10:25 a.m., the ship's lookouts also saw the U.S. planes, which quickly moved into an attack course. A minute later, the Yamato opened fire first. Due to the large size of the Yamato and Musashi, they were the main targets of the American attack. "The Yamato managed to avoid all attacks. "The Musashi was not so lucky.
At 10:29 a.m., a group of U.S. dive-bombers split into two groups, cutting in and dropping bombs from the bow and stern of the Musashi at the same time. The top of the turret of the first main gun was hit by a 250kg bomb, which did not penetrate due to the thick armor. The bow and both sides of the ship are hit by one close-in bomb. The bow breaks below the waterline and begins to take on water. Then three US torpedo planes dropped bombs.
Two torpedoes were set too deep and passed through the bottom of the ship, but another torpedo scored a direct hit on the starboard aft side at rib 130. The hit torpedo instantly right 5.5 degrees, the defense of the next door deformation, the 7th and 11th boiler room into the water, the speed has been reduced. For the 70,000-ton Musashi, a torpedo and a bomb were no big deal, but the vibration caused by the torpedo caused the main gun azimuth plate to jam and prevent it from rotating, so the main guns lost their ability to fire.
At about 1200 hours, a second wave of planes flew over the fleet. This group of planes split into two when they were about 15,000 kilometers away from the fleet, and attacked the Yamato and the Musashi respectively. The Musashi's chief gunnery officer asked Rear Admiral Toshihira Inoguchi, the captain of the ship, for permission to fire Type 3 shells into the air, but Captain Inoguchi, who was known for his mastery of gunnery command in the Combined Fleet, refused his request.
Captain Inoguchi argued that the Type 3 rounds were so abrasive to the gun chambers that once they were used, it would be difficult to ensure the accuracy needed to fire them after breaking into Leyte Gulf. The U.S. fleet used cloud cover to achieve the suddenness of the attack. 8 dive bombers and 6 torpedo planes attacked Musashi, with 2 of the 8 bombs scoring direct hits and 5 near misses, while 3 of the 6 torpedoes scored hits. The three torpedoes caused great damage to the Musashi, hitting the 80th, 110th and 145th ribs, causing the Musashi to tilt 5 degrees to the left, taking on water in the second pressurized room, sinking the bow by as much as 2 meters, and slowing down the ship's speed.
Two bombs hit on the port side near ribs 15 and 138. The former caused the bow deck to break up and curl, and the latter went through the uppermost and upper decks and exploded in the mid-deck soldier's compartment No. 10, spreading fire to the second machinery room and boiler rooms Nos. 10 and 12. The steam pipes in the second machinery room were burned out and filled the room with steam, forcing the officers and men inside to move to the first machinery room. This left the Musashi with only three axes of propulsion.
The main reason for the Musashi's deceleration was the fire caused by the bombs, which disabled the second mechanical room, and water ingress caused by the torpedoes, which contributed to the tilting and the sinking of the ship's bow. "Musashi reported that she was only able to maintain 22 knots with three-axis propulsion.
At 13:19, another wave of U.S. planes arrived, splitting into two groups to attack the two wheel formations. At 13:40, a group of dive-bombers cut in front of the Yamato on the left side of the bow and dive-bombed it. One bomb hits starboard forward.
In comparison with the Yamato, the Musashi was a much more miserable ship, with American planes launching two "key care" attacks on it. The first time, American dive bombers used the cover of clouds to enter from the stern direction, causing three near misses. Two landed on the starboard side near rib 180 and one on the stern. Two other torpedo planes dropped torpedoes, one passing forward of the bow and one hitting near rib 60 on the starboard side, destroying both the depth sounder and range sounder rooms, and filling the forward wartime medical room with carbon dioxide, causing many to asphyxiate. The second time consisted of 3 groups of American planes.
The first group of dive-bombers, with the aid of a backlit formation, burst in from the right front of the bow and scored 4 hits. The second and third groups of torpedo planes slowly descended to attack altitude and attacked the Musashi from the starboard and port sides respectively. The huge and inflexible Musashi had no way out - four of the eight torpedoes dropped by the two torpedo planes hit.
Three of the four bombs hit the Musashi on the port side near ribs 45, 65 and 70, destroying all the surrounding surface structures and killing the damage control personnel who were working on repairs in front of the ship. Another torpedo hit the starboard side near rib 135, destroying the cook's office. 2 of the 4 torpedoes hit the port and starboard sides, including the torpedo that hit the port side near ribs 70 and 110 and the starboard side near rib 70, causing damage to the defense wall and a large amount of water ingress.
The torpedo that caused the most damage was the one that hit near rib 138 on the starboard side. Since this torpedo hit quite close to the location of the first wave where rib 130 was struck, it resulted in the collapse of all the reinforcement material in the 3rd cooling machinery room and the water pressure line pathway; the protrusion of 30 centimeters from the electrical conduit wall; and the ingress of water in three places on the side of the entrance to the 2nd Defense Command Post.
At about 14:15, the fourth wave of U.S. planes flew over the Japanese fleet, and the fleet split into two groups to attack as it approached 20,000 meters. The two groups of planes concentrated on the battleships Yamato and Nagato. The fourth round of air raids did not directly attack the Musashi, but the ship was already far behind the main force.
At 14:55, a fifth wave of U.S. planes arrived. The isolated Musashi became the focus of the attack, with 11 torpedoes, 10 direct hits and 6 near misses. The first bomb hit the starboard air defense command post and blew up the entire room, cracking the first bridge and damaging the operations room. Captain Inoguchi, who was directing operations from the air defense command post, is seriously wounded in the right shoulder, and the chief anti-aircraft officer and the chief surveyor are killed. The chief navigator on the first bridge was killed in action.
The Musashi was now incapable of commanding air operations and maneuvering the ship. The next three bombs hit almost simultaneously on the port side near the ribs of 105th, 115th and 120th. The upper deck was blown up, destroying the machine guns, the communications room, the first radio room and the telephone room, and the flames burned all the way up to the 8th boiler room. The 5th and 6th bombs landed successively on the starboard side near rib 115, destroying the surrounding anti-aircraft machine guns and the entrance to the 7th boiler room.
The 7th bomb hit the center anti-aircraft gunnery rest house, destroying most of the foremast aft below the flag deck. The 8th bomb landed near rib 62 on the port side, destroying the 5th crew compartment on the upper deck and the mid-deck medical room.
The 9th bomb hit the forward main turret, blowing a large hole 10 centimeters in diameter and 20 centimeters deep. The 10th hit the starboard 75th rib, destroying the officers' room and causing a large longitudinal crack in the uppermost deck. The trauma caused by the torpedoes was also significant. Five torpedoes hit on the port side at ribs 40, 60 and 70 and on the starboard side at ribs 80 and 105, causing a dent in the armor and a large amount of water ingress.
In addition, there were six hits to port. One hit near rib No. 125 and heavy water ingress in boiler room No. 8. One hit at rib No. 145, and the explosion blew away about a 10-meter section of the side wall of the 4th machinery room, which had been protruding during the 2nd air attack, and flooded the 4th machinery room with water. At the same time, the explosion caused a breach under the water supply pump in the 2nd mechanical room, and water entered the 2nd mechanical room, stopping its operation. "Musashi was left with only two axes of propulsion. One hit the 165th rib, and the No. 3 turret magazine was penetrated, allowing water to enter the ventilation ducts and creating knee-deep water in the magazine.
The water also penetrated the No. 6 anti-aircraft gun magazine, the aft compass room, and the left propeller shaft room. Three more all hit nearly the same spot - near the 140th rib. The first torpedo exploded, denting and destroying the armor plate; the last two did not explode, but penetrated into the 25-mm machine gun ammunition magazine, causing the water intake to expand.
At this point, the Musashi tilted 10 degrees to the left, the bow draft increased from 4 meters to more than 8 meters, and the top deck on the port side in front of the first turret was already largely submerged. Although the officers and men of the Musashi were able to save the ship and reduce the lean to 6 degrees by injecting water into the water, there was little improvement in the forward lean.
After 15:30, Musashi had lost power, and at 16:21, the rudder was repaired, but the 10-degree leeward and bow planes could not be corrected because the water-filled area had been completely filled with water. Lt. Gen. Ugaki, Commander of the 1st Battle Group, signaled that all efforts should be made to preserve the Musashi. "Musashi shifted all the weight on the deck to starboard to correct the inclination, and the left main anchor was abandoned. 1,800, Ugaki asked Captain Inoguchi, "Is it possible to self-propel?" The answer 15 minutes later was "starboard inboard propeller shaft operation possible, no problem at the helm".
However, this was the last sign of the Musashi. At 19:15, the tilt increased to 12 degrees, and Inoguchi decided that the ship was bound to sink and ordered the abandonment of the ship. 15 minutes later, the abandonment of the ship began in earnest, the tilt increased to 30 degrees, and the tilt was accelerating. The tilt was accelerating.
Suddenly, the 70,000-ton behemoth flipped violently to the left, while explosions were heard inside the ship. The ship sank in waters at 13 degrees 7 minutes north latitude and 122 degrees 32 minutes east longitude, killing 1,021 officers and men on board. The "Musashi" general **** was 19 torpedoes and 17 aerial bombs directly hit.