Japan - Nagato Class Battleship.

BB1987

Post subject: Japan - Nagato Class Battleship.

Posted: December 10th, 2012, 10:10 pm

Posts: 2816
Joined: May 23rd, 2012, 1:01 pm
Location: Rome - Italy

Nagato 1920:
at the time of her completion in late 1920 with a lenght of over 215 meters, a top speed of 26,5 knots and main amrmament composed of eight 16.1 inch (409mm) guns in four twin turrets IJN Nagato was the biggest, fastest and most heavily armed battleship afloat.

Mutsu 1921:
a different stem was the primary way to identify Mutsu from her sister Nagato; when the Washington Naval Conference was called in november 1921 the US deputy asked Mutsu to be scrapped, despite the fact she was completed more than one month before the conference was called, Mutsu was eventually saved as her construction was funded with school children and popular donations, Settsu was decommissioned instead.

Nagato 1922:
A cap was fitted on the fore-funnel in order to improve visibility from the heptapodal spotting platforms, wich was hampered by the smoke; this fitting proved to not be succesful, leading to a more extensive modification wich both Nagato and Mutsu underwent between the end of 1924 and the first months of 1925.

Nagato 1925:
Anti-torpedo nets where removed, anti-aircraft guns increased to six 3-inch (76mm)singles, spotting platforms where also modified with searchlight positions reworked; finally the whole forefunnel was bent aft and reduced in heght to macth the aft one, a modification needed to resolve the smoke-clearing problems.
Also, an experimental take-off platform was fitted on top of turret 2 to test seaplane handling, by 1926 the platform was removed, and a modified version of it was fitted on both the Furutaka class cruisers.

Mutsu 1931:
between 1927 and 1931 Mutsu was fitted with a clipper bow while Nagato retained the old straight stem, furter modifications where made to the spotting platforms on the massive heptapodal mast on both ships, also a Nakajima E2N was embarked, there was no catapult and the floatplane need to be lowered in the water for take off, so a boom was fitted on the mainmast in order to operate the plane.

Mutsu 1934:
between 1932 and 1933 various minor modifications where implemented, a catapult was fitted offset to port between the mainmast and turret 3, superstructure within the tripod mainmast was also enlarged, modifications where also done to the forward superstructure and the heptapodal mast; the older six 3-inch (76mm) guns where all removed and replaced with more modern 5-inch (127mm) in four twin mounts, also two 40-mm vickers machine gun mounts where added on the wheather deck roughly at midship, a platform and lattice structure for searchlights and rangefinders was also built between the fore and aft funnels, finally two massive 10-meters rangefinders wher fitted on top of turret 2 and 3 in place of the older and smaller 8-meter ones.
Tough, with japan withtdrawal from the league of nations and the Washinton naval treaty a more extensive modification awaited for the two Nagato class ships...

Mutsu 1937:
Between september 5th 1934 and september 30th 1936 Mutsu was refitted at the Yokosuka Navy Yard, when the refit ended she was nearly a colpetely different ship, with maybe only the propeller shafts where left untouched...
The hull was lenghtened by 9 meters, a triple bottom fittend and massive torpedo bulges increased the beam from 29 to 33 meters, al the 20 original steam boilers are removed and replaced with ten oil-fired boilers, the fore funnel was removed while the aft one moved slighty forward; the mainmast was cut down heavily, both fore and aft superstructures where massively enlarged, especially the first where the heptapodal mast was incorporated into a massive pagoda mast towering 41 meters above the waterline, displacement rose by 6.533 tons to a standard of 39.050, maximum speed dropped from 26,5 to 25 knots.
The searchlight platform already positioned abreast the aft (and now only) funnel was enlarged to make space for an extra set of searchlights, new rangefinders where fitted, casemated guns modified in order to increase elevation to 35°, the four twin 5-inch (127mm) guns where left untouched, altough their platforms where slighty modified, the main guns where instead colpetely replaced, both Nagato and Mutsu recieved the turrets built during the 20's for the canceled Tosa Class battleships, wich had a maximum elevation of 43°; airwing was composed of three Nakajima E4N.

Mutsu 1941:
Airwing was updated to three Nakajima E8N, degaussing cable installed and light anti-aircraft armament argumented with the fitting of ten twin 25mm machine gun mounts.

Nagato 1941:
Extensively refitted Like Mutsu Nagato can be distinguished from her sister because of her completely different aft superstructure, also many other small differences around the bridge and pagoda mast further made the sips look quite unique from one to the other.
Under command of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto IJN Nagato was the flaghsip of the combined fleet until february 1942, it was from this battleship that, on december 2nd 1941, admiral Yamamoto ordered the Kido Butai (carrier strike force), by signaling "Niitaka yama nobore" (Climb Mount Niitaka), to attack Pearl Harbour.

Mutsu 1943:
Nothing much had changed on Mutsu by 1943, with the most notable difference beign the airwing updated once again, and now composed of Mutsubishi F1M2 "Pete"; on Tuesday 8 June 1943 she was moored near Hashirajima island in the inland sea when her aft magazine detonated (faulty ammunition might be the culprit) sinking her with the loss of 1.121 of her 1.321 crew and 153 cadets and instructors from the Tsuchiura Naval Air Group on a familiarization tour.

Nagato 1944:
In late june 1944, after the disastrous battle of the Philippine Sea Nagato was fitted with two paris of Type 13 air search and type 22 surface search radars (a type 21 air search radar was fitted in 1943 shortly before Mutsu's sinking), the afmost 5.5-inch (140mm) guns on the weather deck where removed and anti-aircraf armament increased to 16 triple, 10 single and 28 single 25mm machine guns, for a total of 96 barrels, seaplane complement was now three Mutsubishi F1M2 "Pete".

Nagato 1945:
Drydocked at yokosuka in late november 1944 after the Philippine campaign Nagato underwent a month-long refit to repair battle damage and argument anti-aircraft armament: all the forward casemated guns where landed and 2 twin 5-inch (127mm) guns where added on platform at midship, also light AA armament was increased to a maxumum of 25 triple, 10 twin and 28 single 25mm machine guns, for a total of 123 barrels; because of extreme lack of fuel Nagato was relegated to anti-aircraft duties and sat at Yokosuka's Koumi Base, also the mainmast and funnel where cut down to improve the firing arcs of the anti-aircraft guns, also a coal-burning donkey boiler is installed for furnishing steam to the galley and heating as the crew continued to live aboard.

In june 1945 all the remaining casemate guns and most of the anti-aircraft guns were moved ashore and installed on Urayama mountain and Yokosuka's pier zone, main guns pointed at the mouth of the Sagami Bay to fire on any landing ships at point-blank range; rangefinders and all her searchlights were moved ashore and installed on nearby Okusuyama mountain, Nagato was also heavily camouflaged and her main gun turrets were covered with elaborate scaffolding, potted pines and cryptomerias were set on her upper decks.
On July 18th 1945 Nagato was attacked and bombed by US planes and significantly damaged, suffering also 38 deaths, including 12 officers and Rear Admiral Otsuka; all the remaining anit-iarcraft armaments were moved ashore after the attacks, still Nagato was the only IJN major warship to survive the allied bombings.
Handed to the US navy Nagato steamed with light cruiser Sakawa to Bikini Atoll (bot ships suffered boiler failures and had to be towed midway through their journey) where she was expended as a target for operation Crossroads nuclear tests; Nagato survived the "Able" test but sank during the night of July 29th 1946, five days after the "Baker" test.

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Last edited by BB1987 on December 23rd, 2012, 7:01 pm, edited 16 times in total.

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Japan - Nagato Class Battleship.

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