Yamato

The E.D. F. Space Battleship Yamato was the first Earth ship able to travel faster than light. It was built from the wreckage of the World War II Japanese battleship, Yamato. It serves as the primary mode of transport and setting in the titular series. The design was done by Leiji Matsumoto after rejecting the original concept for the series. As Matsumoto designed the ship, he owns the rights of use hence why it appears in some of his works, including the ones unrelated to Space Battleship Yamato.

A court settlement awarded Matsumoto with the rights to the name and design of the Yamato. But the estate of Yoshinobu Nishizaki (the producer of the series) retains the right to the stories, plots, and characters appearing in the Yamato series. In a majority of Leijiverse Yamato appearances, the crew is never seen and remains a mystery.

Overview
The Yamato was designed from the wreckage of the destroyed battleship of the same name near Okinawa. In all series it appeared in, the Yamato served as the first spacecraft designed for interstellar travel as among the first of its kind. It was originally conceived as a "Noah's Ark" to transport the best of what life Earth could offer in order to find a new world away from danger. However after receiving a message from planet Iscander, plans for a Wave Motion Engine were discovered allowing the Yamato to travel faster than light and also find a way to make Earth a better place.

Features
The Yamato had gone through several changes over the years in the Leijiverse due to ownership rights. All series however feature its iconic Wave Motion Engine and Cannon.

Wave Motion Engine
The Wave Motion Engine is an interstellar travel engine based on an Iskander design that allows the Yamato to warp long distances across space. A near unlimited amount of energy is supplied by the engine, powering the entire ship as well as its functions. A pair of auxiliary engines are also based below the port for quick bursts of speed in case something goes wrong with the engine.

Wave Motion Cannon
The Yamato's signature and most powerful weapon is the Wave Motion Cannon, a weapon powered by the Wave Motion Engine the ship runs on to utilize the same energy offensively. It is located in the very front of the ship. Because of the amount of time it takes to charge and the fact that the Engine powers the cannon, the Yamato has to stay still and not use its other weapons. This leaves the ship at a disadvantage towards attacks from outsiders. When used however the massive amount of energy is fired in a straight pattern with enough power to destroy an entire fleet of spaceships. Once fired however, it takes a while to charge the ship back up with enough energy just to move.