I wondered when the battle ship Yamato and the last IJN fleet departed for Okinawa, how were the flags on the Yamato's mast. A fiend of mine taught me that they were "JGAA AC". as shown the attached figure. They mean the code, "I, Yamato, Departure".
They were on the portside and the nearest to the center of mast like the attached picture. The last port from where the Yamato departed on 6th April 1945 was not Kre(呉) but Tokuyama(徳山) in Yamaguchi prefecture.

Hi shipmates!
I took a little trip to my home town in the west area of Japan. I got on the NOZOMI superexpress and passed near TOKUYAMA port from where the battle ship YAMATO departed for her last vayage to OKINAWA on 6th April 1945 in the operation TENICHIGOU (天一号作戦) whose purpose was to attack USA fleet and rescue Okinawa even if the YAMATO and other ships might be sunken by USA fleet.
Pictures that I took from NOZOMI shows Tokyuyama port now and there are chemical industrial plant around the port. From this view point I might be able to see the YAMATO on the sea and take her pictures then and surely had to be in the prison by miritary polices.....
Best Regards,
Y.HONMA

Hi Yaturo
Thanks again for the information,this confirms my suspicion about the Yamato deck colour for its final voyage on the 'ten 1 gou' operation.My reserch has found that as you have confirmed the previous operation 'Sho 1 gou' was a night engagment so the disguising of the deck with gray paint mixed with the soot from the funnels would have been of benefit here.After the night operation any removal of the wooden deck paint by the crew or by weathering would have rendered the deck colour a dark grey as there would have been the dyeing effect from the soot and the paint,so the only way to recover the wood deck to its original finish would have been the compleat replacment of the deck but at this time of the war resources were hard to obtain due to the usa's submarine warfare
regards
Andy

Hi Yaturo
The link to the article was most intresting and yes i agree that wet wood can look black when a photo is taken in black and white,you also have to remember that photographic film was not of the highest quality in the 1940's.
So my conclusion to the deck colour problem on the Yamato's final voyage is as follows;
(1)If you take a clean piece of wood and then cover it in a grey paint with soot mixed in,then try to remove the paint there will be a dyeing/staining effect on the wood, which i think is a dark greyish stain.
{2}The'Hinoki'cypress wood used on the deck had a natural grey tint but after the addition of the above mentioned paint mix a considerable amount of staining,especialy from the soot would have entered the grain of the wooden deck thus darkening it even further and when as you have pointed out the deck is wet then a black colour is a feasable result.
(3)I will try to reproduce a dark grey wash on the deck to reproduce this staining effect,I think several test pieces will need to be tried to get the correct amount of staining.
(4)I also need to find a way of making a good stencil of the funnel Crysanthemum crest [i currently have a 1/50 scale example].
Again many thanks for all your input Yaturo and your 2 models pictured are fine examples of the waterline series
regards
Andy

Thanks Yaturo
for your input as always
regards
Andy