Q&A ยท 3:39:26-3:39:47

Yamato and Amagi types in Japan's First World War fleet

Yamato- and Amagi-class ships in Japan's First World War fleet would alarm rival powers and could transform a battle such as Jutland.

Question

What if Japan's World War I battleships became Yamato class and its battlecruisers became Amagi class?

Short answer

Japan would become a dominant capital-ship power, and even a few units could decide a major European fleet battle.

Notes

Replacing Japan's First World War battleships with Yamato-class ships and its battlecruisers with Amagi-class ships would create an enormous imbalance in this counterfactual. Russia and Germany are singled out as powers that would be alarmed. The brief answer imagines even a couple of these ships at Jutland giving Japan a decisive role in the result.