呉市は明治22年に呉鎮守府、明治36年に呉海軍工廠が設置された軍港の町でした。戦前は、戦艦大和を建造した東洋一の軍港、海軍工廠の町として繁栄しました。戦艦大和は、昭和16年12月、呉海軍工廠で当時の最先端技術を駆使して建造された世界最大の戦艦でした。しかし、昭和20年4月7日、沖縄特攻作戦に向かう途中、米艦載機の攻撃を受け沈没し、多くの乗組員が犠牲となりました。
呉市海事歴史科学館（愛称：大和ミュージアム）には、「呉の歴史」と各種の「科学技術」が多く紹介されています。館内には大和ミュージアムのシンボルとして10分の1戦艦大和が展示されています。また、零式艦上戦闘機62型、人間魚雷「回天」の実物も展示されています。各種展示物から「呉の歴史」と「平和の大切さ・尊さ」を学ぶことができる博物館です。また、館の南側には呉港を一望できる実物大の戦艦大和の甲板を模した大和波止場が呉港に突き出しています。眺望がすばらしい!!
The Kure Naval Base was established in 1889 and the Kure Naval Shipyard was established in 1903. In prewar days, Kure city has prospered as a town in a naval port where battleship "The Yamato"was built, and a town in the naval shipyard. In postwar days, Kure city is prospering as a town of heavy industry and culture area. "The Yamato" was the largest battleship in the world. It was built using the forefront of science and technology of those days in the Kure Naval Shipyard in December, 1941. However, "The Yamato" was attacked by many enemy carrier-based aircrafts on the way to Okinawa in April 7th, 1945, and finally it sank. Unfortunately, a lot of crew were killed.
Various "Science and Technology" and "History of Kure" are introduced in the Kure maritime affairs history science pavilion (The nickname: Yamato museum).One tenth scale model, battleship Yamato has been exhibited in the pavilion as a symbol of the Yamato museum. And a real torpedo "Kaiten" controlled by young soldiers and a real fighter "Zero Sen " has been exhibited there. We can learn "History of Kure" and "Importance of peace" from various exhibits. Moreover, the Yamato pier jutting out a long way to Kure Bay is located in the south of the pavilion. There is a huge place that imitates the full-scale deck of battleship Yamato. We can see the Kure Port there. The view from the Yamato pier is very wonderful!! Especially night view is very fantastic!!