runsforcelery wrote:]=== SNIP ===
The Japanese indignantly — and truthfully — denied that they were doing anything of the sort. The bit of the truth they omitted from their official statements was that they were building 70,000-ton battleships with 18" guns.
In hindsight, a great many allied military remained alive to see the war's end from that decision as opposed to building additional aircraft carriers. The Yamato and her sister ship, Musashi, were designed, like their German, British and American counterparts, to be the big-fist in an all-out battle between fleets that never happened. If the Japanese had changed over and converted them to A/C Carriers and maybe built, for the costs another 1 or 2 Carriers, Midway would not have been so crippling for the IJN.
FYI: Changing intentions did work for the US in that the counterparts of the Yamato for the US were the post-Iowa class of Battleships, the Montana Class. Planned but never built, the funding eventually went towards the Aircraft Carriers and faster Cruisers.