At that great range, the long barrels of the Yamato’s mammoth main guns were trained forward and elevated to 23 degrees. Propelled by six great jets of flame and smoke, six armor-piercing projectiles spun out of the muzzles and began climbing toward the distant target. Each shell weighed 3,200 pounds. After twenty-five seconds of flight, midway to impact, the shells reached the apex of their trajectories, about 20,000 feet above sea level. Then they began descending at a terminal velocity of about 1,500 feet per second—significantly less than initial muzzle velocity, but still much faster than
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