From what Ive read a single bomb would probably have little chance of damaging the Yamato at all,
Then I submit you need to read a little more. One bomb killed Yamato... or rather, WOULD have killed her except that she turned turtle from torpedo hits first. IIRC one or teh other of Yamato or Musashi was sent back to the yard after a close abroad bomb near miss dropped by a B17 in 1943. Not so surprising as it would, if it hit close enough, had an effect rather more like that of a modest torpedo or mine.
These ships, as other battleships, were designed to withstand ARMOR PIERCING shells from other battleships and 1000 pound general purpose bombs will do alot of damage to unarmored areas, like AA guns but the vitals of the ship will be intact unless it is a lucky hit.
They were designed to withstand AP shells of a certain caliber to a certain degree. No BB was impenetrable to AP shells or larger AP bombs. Someone mentioned something about the bridge being armored. What surprises me is thath the bridge areas of BBs, while armored, weren't very well armored. Yamato's bridge crew could not have lived through the impact of a 14" round. The conning tower is another story... but I wonder what shape the guy in the citidel would be in if a big AP or HE round rang the iron bell in which he was secured. When you look at the AARs of capitol ship engagements it is ironic how quickly the skipper and his bridge entourage were often wiped out. Bismarck's final sortie being a case in point.
Look at the Bismarck, she was smashed up pretty good, all her guns and communications knocked out and she was hit by dozens of 14 and 16" AP shells. And she stayed afloat till scuttled and torp'd. So the game has it right. Use torpedoes to sink battleships.
The Bismarck was sunk by penetrating shell hits that exploded deep in her interior. She had a 15 degree list and was shipping water over her stern deck when the order was given to abandon ship. She sank within ten minutes of the order being given to set the scuttling charges. Given the fact that she was being then commanded by a very junior officer, with little effective internal communications, and given that survivors attest to gaping holes leading from the main deck deep into the interior of the ship full of maelstroms of flame, I find it very much a stretch to pretend that Bismarck was scuttled. Too little time elapsed between the order being given, and far too much else probably preventing many from hearing the order.
Bismarck was on her way to the bottom from progressive flooding before any torps hit her and before she was ordered abandoned. Had she not sunk quickly enough she'd have exploded from the fires. She was sunk, done for, done in, greased, wiped out, waxxed, wasted, crushed, crumpled, destroyed, defeated handily, scrunched, finished, kaput, good night Sally, an ex-Battleship, and she bought the farm and the recondominium -- and 100% of that is attributable Royal Navy gunfire. The rest (torpedoes, rumours of "scuttling") was just the orchestra playing an encore as the curtains came down.
