Ships

Fuso Class Battleships

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:56:33 +0200

by Justin Vaughn

These were Japan's first true dreadnought battleships. The Fuso was commissioned on November 18, 1915. The Yamashiro was commissioned on March 31, 1917. They were based on ideas from the Kongo Class Battlecrusiers. They had 20%-25% thicker armor, two more twin 14" turrents, were 4.8 knots slower, and heavier secondary armament. They both underwent heavy reconstruction in the early 1930s, and Yamashiro was again reconstructed in 1935.

Unlike most other Japanese battleships, these two had experienced a reasonable amount of combat, and also unlike most Japanese battleships, they were sunk by surface craft instead of aircraft, even though Yamashiro took some damage from
aircraft before being sunk. The Fuso was sunk on October 25, 1944 after taking a torpedo from a destroyer and being shelled by
several Pearl Harbor veteran battleships at the Battle of Surigao Strait. The Yamashiro was also sunk that day at the Battle of Surigao Strait by a combination of aircraft torpedos & bombs, and torpedos from several destroyers and PT boats.

Displacement: 34,300 tons Dimensions: 698'x101'x31' Speed: 24.7 knots Armor: 12" tapering to 4" side armor 3.8"-6.5" deck armor 12" face turrent armor, 6" side turrent armor 12" barbette armor 12.75" conning tower Armament: 12x14"/45 caliber in six twin turrents 14x6"/50 caliber 8x5"/40 caliber dual purpose 42x25mm Anti-Aircraft 8x.50 machine guns 6 submerged torpedo tubes Aircraft: 3 Compliment: 1350 men

Nagato Class Battleships

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:55:01 +0200

By Justin Vaughn

The Nagato was the worlds first ship to mount 16" inch guns. It was undoubtably the world finest ship when it was commishened on November 25, 1920. It also had a sister ship named Mutso which was commishened on October 24, 1921.

They both underwent reconstruction in the 1930s and by WWII they were probly the best reconstructed battleships in the world, even surpassing many new ships.

As most Japanese battleships, they saw little action during the war, save for a few token shellings. Mutso sank in Hiroshima Bay on June 8, 1943 as a result of an explosion caused by cordite charges overheating.

Nagato was given to the US as war reparations in 1945. It was sunk on July 29, 1946 as a result of an atomic bomb during Operation Baker A-Bomb Test.

Yamato class Battleships

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 03:49:35 +0200

By Justin Vaughn

The Yamato (and sister ship Musashi) was undoubtably the biggest baddest ships ever to roam the seas. The IJN was a big boy, and Yamato was its biggest toy.

The Yamato was pretty much kept in port at Kure navel base all war. That is really a shame since I believe Yamato was the greatest big gun ship ever.

The Yamato was sunk in a desperate kamikaze-type attack in which it was to ground itself on the beach at Okinawa and use its massive 18.1 inch guns as field artillery. On its trip, it was was sunk by massive waves of some 200 planes and absorbed around 40 500lb bombs and 18 torpedos.

Year completed: Yamato-1941 Musashi-1942
Displacement: 67,000 tons (I said it was big)
Dimensions: 863ft. x 121ft. x 33ft.
Speed: 28 knots
Armament:
9 18.1" 45 caliber 6 6.1" 60 caliber 24 5" 40 caliber Dual Purpose (Anti-Aircraft & Anti-Shipping) around 100 25mm Anti-Aircraft 4 13mm Anti-Aircraft Armor: 16.1" belt (inclined) 11.8" bulkheads 9.1" deck 25.5" turrent face 19.8" conning tower Crew: 2,800