Ship Modelers Database
Japanese battleship Fusō
Sunk
Fusō was the lead ship of the two Fusō-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy, and when completed in 1915 she was considered the first modern battleship of the Japanese Navy, outclassing her American counterparts in firepower and speed and being called the "most powerfully armed battleship in the world".
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| 1/700 IJN Fuso Battleship 1941 Waterline | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/350 IJN Battleship Fuso Premium | Fujimi | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/700 IJN Fuso Battleship 1944 Special Version (with Photo-Etched Parts) | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| 1/350 IJN Battleship Fuso | Fujimi | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/700 IJN Fuso 1938 | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/350 Japanese battleship Fuso (with Imperial Navy Crew Figures) | Fujimi | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| 1/700 Japanese Navy Battleship Fuso (1933/1930) Full Hull Model | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
No image | 1/700 IJN Fuso Battleship 1938 | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| 1/700 IJN Fuso Battleship | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: Fusō-class battleshipWebsite
Covers the class as a whole including armament details, construction data table, and comparative service history with sister ship Yamashiro.
- Wikipedia: Japanese battleship FusōWebsite
Detailed history, specifications, and service record of Fusō, useful for build accuracy across her different refit periods.
History
Specifications
As built she had an overall length of 202.7 m, a beam of 28.7 m, a draft of 8.7 m, and displaced 29,326 long tons standard load. Her main armament was twelve 45-caliber 14-inch guns in six twin turrets arranged in an unusual 2-1-1-2 configuration with non-superfiring middle turrets separated by a funnel, plus sixteen 6-inch secondary guns and six 21-inch torpedo tubes. After her 1930s-40s reconstructions she grew to 212.75 m long, 33.1 m beam, and displaced up to 34,700-39,154 long tons, with a rebuilt pagoda-mast superstructure, torpedo bulges, and upgraded propulsion generating 75,000 shp.
Service history
Commissioned in 1915, Fusō patrolled off China during World War I without seeing combat, and in 1923 she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. She underwent two major modernizations (1930-1935 and 1937-1941) that rebuilt her superstructure in the distinctive pagoda-mast style and improved her armor and machinery, but she remained slow and was considered obsolescent by the start of the Pacific War, serving mainly in auxiliary and training roles. As flagship of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force, she was sunk by torpedoes and naval gunfire in the early hours of 25 October 1944 during the Battle of Surigao Strait, the southernmost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Notable facts
Survivor accounts indicate the ship sank after about 40 minutes of flooding and caught fire when her fuel bunkers ruptured, contrary to some reports that she broke in half and burned for an hour while both halves stayed afloat. Fusō and her sister Yamashiro were the only two Japanese battleships present at Surigao Strait, and only about ten crew members from each ship survived the battle, making her loss one of the most complete crew losses of the Pacific War. The ship's unusual six-turret, 2-1-1-2 main battery layout with a funnel between the two midships turrets is a distinctive recognition feature for modelers.