Fuso Class[]
The 2 ships of the Fuso Class, Fuso and Yamashiro. In the background is Haruna.
Designed to work in conjunction with the Kongo Class Battlecruisers the 2 Battleships of the Fuso Class, at the time they were built (Fuso: 08/11/1915, Yamashiro: 31/03/1917), were the largest and most powerfully armed Battleships in the world.
Armour: The Fuso, when built, had an armour displacement of 8,588 tonnes, roughly 29% of the ships weight, between 1930 and 1933 this was increased to 12,199 tonnes with extra horizontal protection and torpedo blisters from the top of the belt down to the bottom of the hull.
Engines: When built, the Fuso class employed a mixture of coal/oil boilers (24 of them) to propel the ship at 23 knots. When modernised in the early 30s these boilers were replaced with Kanpon Oil-fired burners increasing the total speed to almost 25 knots.
Armament: The 12X 14inch guns on the Fuso were superior to that of American and British contemporaries, however, the location of the armament was not ideal. Two of the turrets were mounted amidships on the centre line and therefore had limited arcs of fire. The secondary armament of 16X 6inch
guns was also very strong. Two of these were removed when modernised but the elevation of the remainders were increased to 30 degrees giving them better range. The elevation of the main battery guns was also increased to 40 degrees. The AAA on the Fuso class ships was originally only limited to 4X 3Inch guns. This was later heavily reinforced with the 3inch guns being removed and replaced with up to 97 25mm guns and 10X 13mm machine guns. The ships were also fitted with 6 submerged 21inch torpedo tubes.
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Wartime Service[]
Template:Gun infobox/DraftAt the start of the war the Fuso and Yamashiro were in home waters with most of the other IJN ( Imperal Japenease Navy ) battleships. They were used as a distant screen for the Midway invasion but saw no action. In 1943 Fuso was used to carry troops and supplies to Truk and in May 1944 took part in the abortive attempt to reinforce Biak Island. Yamashiro was much less active in the earlier war being designated as a midshipman training ship.
In October 1944 both ships arrived at Lingga Anchorage to participate in operation Sho-go (Victory). Formed into Force "C" they were to enter Leyte Gulf from the South. On 24th October Fuso was attacked by carrier aircraft and received damage to its catapult and aircraft from a bomb hit. To block Force "C"s entry into Leyte Gulf the Americans deployed Seventh Fleet, centred around 6 battleships. Entering Suriago straight on 25th October the two battleships came under attack from PT boats and destroyers. Fuso was hit by one or two torpedoes and the resulting fire spread to the ships magazines and at 0345 it blew up and split into two; there were no survivors. The same torpedo attack also damaged Yamashiro, when 1 torpedo hit resulted in two magazines to be flooded and the subsequent loss of 2 turrets. At 0331 the ship was hit again slowing her to 5 knots. Yamashiro worked back up to 15 knots and continued into the straight only to be concentrated on by cruiser and battleship gunfire. She was hit an untold number of times and although did return fire only damaged one destroyer. Yamashiro took a lull in the American barrage to head South out of the straight but 2 more torpedoes launched from destroyers hit her and finally resulted in the ship capsizing at 0419. Only 3 crew members were rescued.
References[]
(Stille Mark E. The Imperial Japanese Navy In the Pacific War, (Oxford, Osprey, 2013), 115-119.