Fusō (ship, 1915)
Fusō shortly after its completion in 1915
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The Fusō ( Japanese 扶桑 ) was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy .
She and her sister ship Yamashiro were considered Japan's first “super dreadnoughts ” because they were equipped with 35.6 cm guns like their predecessors in the Kongō class , but their number had increased from eight to twelve.
Fusō is the Japanese pronunciation of a mythological Chinese name, Fusang , for Japan.
history
While the funds for the Fusō were approved in 1911, permission for the construction of the Yamashiro could not be granted until 1913.
The Fusō was laid down on March 11, 1912. The launch was on March 28, 1914, and the Imperial Japanese Navy was able to put the battleship into service on November 18, 1915. The two ships of the Fusō class each carried six heavy 35.6 cm twin towers, two towers in front and two aft and two towers in the central nave. The original machines were four Brown Curtiss turbines that produced 40,000 hp from 24 Mijabara boilers on the four screws. That was enough for a speed of 23 knots.
modernization
Since a moratorium on the construction of new capital ships until 1936 had been agreed at the international naval conferences in Washington (1922) and London (1930), all capital ships of the Japanese navy were converted and modernized. The ships of the Fusō class were lengthened by 7.60 m over the stern. By adding torpedo bulges , the width of the battleship increased by four meters. The horizontal armor was reinforced from 32 to 51 mm to 51 to 98 mm. The elevation angles of the heavy artillery were increased from 30 ° to 43 ° and that of the middle artillery from 15 ° to 30 °. The side underwater torpedo tubes were removed because of the bulge attachment.
The 24 old coal-fired Mijabara boilers were replaced with six new Kanpon boilers and the four Brown Curtiss turbines with four Kanpon turbines. Thanks to the new, space-saving drive system, the drive power could be increased to 76,889 hp. The Fusō then reached a speed of 25 knots .
This total renovation changed the appearance of the Fusō class considerably. The front chimney fell away and they received a new pagoda-shaped tower mast. This tower mast took up more space on the Yamashiro than on the Fusō . As a result, tower "C" of the Yamashiro pointed astern in the lashing position, but still in the direction of travel on the Fusō . The catapult for the reconnaissance aircraft was located on the starboard bulge of the Yamashiro , while the Fusō was initially on tower C and was only moved to the aft ship in 1941. The belt armor, which was supposed to strengthen the protection against flat track fire and torpedo attacks on the sides of the ship , had been lengthened on the Yamashiro compared to her sister ship Fusō and now also protected the steering gear room .
Pacific War
Both ships took part in the Second World War. During the Midway operations , Fusō and Yamashiro were used as remote security for the Aleutian landings. In the first years of the war, the tasks of the Fusō , which were considered too slow for use with fast aircraft carriers, were limited to the training of recruits and the implementation and security of troop transports. Only when the front drew nearer in 1943/44 and the bulk of the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet at Midway and the Marianas had been destroyed, the Yamashiro and Fusō were upgraded according to the Japanese possibilities. The Fusō received an aerial radar , a surface search radar and a simple fire control radar . To this end, an early form of an infrared light- based friend / foe detection system was installed. The anti-aircraft armament was drastically increased, especially in the area of the lightest weapons.
Sinking
Fusō and Yamashiro were the core of Admiral Nishimura's association, which met a security association of US battleships, cruisers, destroyers and speedboats in the Strait of Surigao in the early morning of October 25, 1944 . However, the fleet was discovered during the approach and attacked by American carrier aircraft in the Sulu Sea. The Fusō received a bomb hit on the stern, which started a fire, which in turn destroyed the ship's reconnaissance aircraft.
During the night it was initially possible to repel several attacks by American speedboats and destroyers . The Yamashiro sank the US speedboat PT-493 , but was hit by two torpedoes from US destroyers. The Fusō received two torpedo hits from the destroyer Melvin on starboard, one at the level of tower "A" and one at the level of the forward boiler room, and had to leave the battle formation while burning. Her bow cut under, and about half an hour later the Fusō capsized to starboard and finally went down over the bow.
Although the order to leave the ship had still been given, burning oil rapidly spread around the sinking wreck, killing survivors swimming in the water. The sailors who were still able to leave the ship either refused to be rescued by the Americans or later fell victim to natives on the surrounding islands, so that the crew of the Fusō , with few exceptions, at the battle and in died the following days.
The wreck was discovered on November 25, 2017 by the research vessel Petrel in the Strait of Surigao at a depth of 185 meters.
Evidence and references
Web links
- Performance analysis of the US battleships involved after the battle in Surigaostrasse
- Processing of the course of the battle in Surigaostraße from a Japanese perspective by Anthony Tully
literature
- Janusz Skulski: The Battleship Fuso. Conway Maritime Press, 1998, ISBN 1-55750-046-0 , (English).
- Pacific War Series No. 30 - Fuso class. Gakken, ISBN 4-05-602444-8 , (Japanese).
Individual evidence
- ^ Anthony P. Tully: Battle of Surigao Strait. Indiana University Press, 2009, ISBN 0-253-35242-8 .
- ^ IJN Fuso. RV Petrel, accessed October 29, 2019 .