The Japanese battleship Fusō (Japanese: 扶桑, an old name for Japan), was a part of the
Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of the Fusō-class. She was laid down by the Kure
Kaigun Koshō on 11 March 1912, launched on 28 March 1914 and completed on 18 November
1915. Her 356 mm (14 in) main gun turrets were placed in an unorthodox 2-1-1-2 style (with
her sister ship Yamashiro having her third turret reversed when compared to Fusō) and with
a funnel separating the middle turret placement. This arrangement was not entirely
successful as the armoured section was needlessly lengthened and the middle guns had
trouble targeting. However, Fusō's relatively fine hull form allowed her to reach a speed
of 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph).
Contents
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* 1 Major modification
* 2 World War II service
o 2.1 Sinking
* 3 References
* 4 External links

[edit] Major modification

Fusō did not take part in any major action during World War I, as the majority of the
Japanese Navy was engaged in escort duties and various other work which did not require
the use of the battle line. Between the wars, Fusō and Yamashiro received major
modifications, in common with all of the Japanese battleships in service. Fusō was
lengthened by an additional 7.62 m (25 ft), the twin funnels trunked together, the
original 24 mixed-firing boilers replaced by six new oil-fired Kampon boilers and the
ships' control tops dramatically added to produce the characteristic "pagoda" foremast
which typified Japanese ships of the period. Armour protection was both increased in
quantity and improved in quality on both ships, especially over the machinery spaces and
below the waterline, a response to British capital ships' experiences against torpedoes
(for example, HMS Marlborough was almost sunk by a single German torpedo just after the
Battle of Jutland). The improvements included heavier armour belting over the midships
machinery spaces, made possible by the opening out of these areas when the original
boilers were replaced, and the addition of an anti-torpedo bulge. The Fusō-class ships
were capable of 25.4 kn (47.0 km/h; 29.2 mph) by the time these modifications were
completed, a testament to the vastly improved efficiency of boilers in the 1930s.

Despite these modifications, the IJN saw the Fusō-class ships as too slow and too lightly
armored to be of any great use. Both Fusō and Yamashiro were kept in the Inland Sea as a
strategic reserve force (which, as it turned out, was unnecessary) at the time of the
Pearl Harbor attack and for some time afterwards, mainly being employed on training duties.
[edit] World War II service
Fusō (middle), with Yamashiro (foreground) and Haruna (more distant), Tokyo Bay, 1930s.

Fusō was called to action before too long. She pursued but did not catch the American
carrier force that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942, sortied as a screen
for the Aleutian Force during the battle of Midway in May 1942, rescued 353 survivors of
Mutsu when that ship exploded at Hashirajima on 8 June 1943, and took part in the
reinforcement of Truk in August 1943 and Biak in June 1944.
[edit] Sinking
Line drawing of Fuso as she appeared in 1944

In October 1944, commanded by Rear Admiral Ban Masami, Fusō was part of Admiral Shōji
Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In the Battle of Surigao Strait on
25 October 1944 at 03:09, she was hit by one or two torpedoes fired by the destroyer USS
Melvin and set afire. She withdrew from the action, but at 03:45 the magazines of C or Q
turret (or possibly both) exploded and she broke in two. The bow section was sunk by
gunfire from the heavy cruiser USS Louisville, the stern section sank off Kanihaan Island.
Survivors in the water refused rescue resulting in few, if any, of her 1,400 crew being saved.

There is some possibility that she was the largest vessel of any nationality to be sunk
with all hands in World War II. There is some evidence that a few survivors were rescued
by the Japanese destroyer Asagumo (1938), which was itself sunk a short time later. It is
also possible that some survivors made it ashore only to be killed by Filipinos, as is
known to have happened to survivors from other Japanese warships sunk in the Battle of
Surigao Strait.

She was removed from the Navy List on 31 August 1945. Yamashiro, having seen her crippled
sister withdraw, elected to press on and steamed straight towards the American
battle-line, which (having thereby "crossed her T") then pounded Yamashiro to ruin in less
than 30 minutes. Yamashiro was eventually sunk by torpedoes from a US destroyer as she
attempted to withdraw from the battle site, with few survivors. Later investigations
concluded that Melvin was the destroyer responsible.

In his 2009 book "Battle of Surigao Strait", Anthony Tully argues Fuso's sinking was far
less dramatic than commonly believed: rather than breaking in half, she merely rolled over
and sank.

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