Key Points and Summary - The Navy railgun advanced fast—and then vanished. The reasons were practical: barrels cracked from brutal heat and electromagnetic stress in under 30 shots, fire rates lagged, ...

In the 1930s, Japan’s naval engineers set out to build the most powerful warship ever conceived. The result was the Yamato-class battleship, armed with nine colossal 46-centimeter Type 94 guns, each ...