Musashi was an Imperial Japanese Navy battleship that was laid down on 29 March 1938 at the Mitsubishi Shipyard of Nagasaki, Japan and commissioned on 5 August 1942. Named for Musashi Province, the Musashi - along with her sister ship Yamato - was the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleship ever built, and she was modified to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet. The Musashi played a non-combat role at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and it was at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 that she made her fearsome debut in battle with the US Navy. Musashi and Usugumo arrived off Leyte to attack a force of American ships and warplanes after they had destroyed several anti-aircraft guns and land installations on Leyte Island, and the American command ordered its planes to sink the Musashi before she could engage the weaker US fleet in battle. Musashi was sunk by 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs, and Vice Admiral Toshihira Inoguchi and 1,023 of the ship's 2,399 crewmen went down with her.
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