Although battleships were supplanted by aircraft carriers by the end of World War II, they remain a testament to a bygone era of warfare—and a symbol of their nations’ might. For nearly half a century ...

On Apr. 7, 1945, aircraft from the U.S. Navy’s fast carrier task force sank the largest battleship ever built, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Yamato. Escorted by the light cruiser Yahagi and eight ...