Japanese battleship Nagato

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

Japan

Overview: Nagato was a super-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, lead ship of the two-vessel Nagato class along with her sister Mutsu. She is significant to modelers as the first class of warship anywhere to carry guns larger than 15 inches, mounting eight 16.1-inch (41 cm) guns, and as the flagship from which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the attack on Pearl Harbor. Specifications: As built she displaced 32,720 tons standard, was 215.8 m long with a 29.02 m beam, and made 26.5 knots. Following her 1934-1936 modernization her forward superstructure was rebuilt into the distinctive multi-tiered "pagoda mast," her stern was lengthened, torpedo bulges were added, and displacement rose to roughly 46,690 tons at deep load — a look most Nagato kits and models depict. Service History: Completed in 1920, Nagato delivered relief supplies after the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake and briefly took part in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. As Yamamoto's flagship she oversaw the Pearl Harbor attack from home waters, later took part in the Battle of Midway without seeing combat, and spent much of the war training or laid up to conserve fuel, engaging in only limited action such as at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Notable Facts: Nagato was the only Japanese battleship to survive World War II, ending the war as a largely immobile anti-aircraft battery at Yokosuka after air raid damage. She was subsequently used by the United States as a target ship in the 1946 Operation Crossroads atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, surviving the "Able" airburst but capsizing and sinking several days after the underwater "Baker" shot; her upside-down wreck remains a popular dive site at Bikini Atoll today. Image Note: The chosen image is a U.S. Navy official photograph (NHHC catalog NH 2716) showing Nagato shortly after completion in the early 1920s, in her original pre-modernization configuration without the later pagoda mast.