Japanese battleship Nagato

"Nagato" (Japanese: 長門, named after Nagato province) was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was the first battleship in the world to mount 16 inch class (410 mm) guns, and her armour protection and speed made her one of the most powerful capital ships at the time of her commissioning.

She was the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during the attack on Pearl Harbor. In the war she saw action only once, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, due to the Japanese Navy's strategy of keeping major units in reserve for a decisive battle.

Construction

"Nagato" was laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal on 28 August 1917, launched on 9 November 1919, and completed on 15 November 1920.

She underwent a major refit in 1936, removing her coal-burning boilers and upgrading her armour and anti-aircraft guns.

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, "Nagato", under the command of Captain Yano Hideo, and her sister ship "Mutsu" formed Battle Division 1. "Nagato" was the flagship of the Combined Fleet, flying the flag of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku. On 2 December 1941 "Nagato" sent the signal "Niitakayama nobore 1208" "Climb Mount Niitaka on 12/08 (Japanese Time)" that committed the Carrier Strike Force to the attack on Pearl Harbor and Japan to the Pacific War.

On 12 February 1942 Admiral Yamamoto transferred his flag to the new battleship "Yamato".

"Nagato" sailed with the "Yamato," "Mutsu," "Hosho," "Sendai," nine destroyers and four auxiliary ships as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's Main Body during the Battle of Midway in June 1942 but saw no action. She returned the survivors of "Kaga" to Japan.

In 1943, under the command of Captain Hayakawa Mikio, "Nagato" was based at Truk in the Caroline Islands. After the evacuation of Truk in February 1944, she was based at Lingga near Singapore.

Leyte Gulf

In June 1944 she took part in Operation A-Go, an attack on Allied forces in the Mariana Islands. In the battle of the Philippine Sea on 19 June 1944 she came under air attack but was not damaged.

In October 1944 she took part in Operation Shō-1, an attack on the Allied landings on Leyte. On 24 October 1944 in the battle of the Sibuyan Sea "Nagato" was attacked by several waves of American dive-bombers. At 14:16 she was hit by two bombs dropped by planes from "Franklin" and "Cabot". The first bomb disabled a number of guns and damaged the air intake to the No. 1 boiler room, stopping one shaft for 25 minutes until the air intake was cleared. The second bomb hit the canteen and forward radio room, killing 52 and wounding 106. On 25 October the Central Force passed the San Bernardino Strait and headed for Leyte Gulf. In the battle off Samar, "Nagato" engaged the escort carrier and destroyers of the US Task Group 77.4.3. At 06:01 she opened fire on "St. Lo", the first time she fired her guns at an enemy ship, but missed. At 06:54 the destroyer "Heermann" fired a spread of torpedoes at "Haruna"; the torpedoes missed "Haruna" and headed for "Yamato" and "Nagato" on parallel courses. The two battleships were forced to turn away from the action to the north for 10 miles (16 km) until the torpedoes ran out of fuel. After returning to the action, "Nagato" continued to engage the American carriers, firing 45 16 inch (406 mm) shells and 92 5.5 inch (140 mm) shells.

At 09:10 Admiral Takeo Kurita ordered the fleet to break off the engagement and head north. At 10:20 he ordered the fleet south again, but as the fleet came under increasingly severe air attack he ordered a retreat again at 12:36. At 12:43 "Nagato" was hit on her bow by two bombs but the damage was not severe.

As it retreated on 26 October the Japanese fleet came under continuous air attack. "Nagato" was attacked by dive-bombers from "Hornet" and hit by four bombs, suffering 38 killed and 105 wounded. In the course of the day she fired 99 16 inch (406 mm) shells and 653 5.5 inch (140 mm) shells.

On 25 November 1944 "Nagato" arrived at Yokosuka, Japan for repairs. Lack of fuel and materials meant that she could not be brought back into service, and in February 1945 she was reassigned as a coastal defence ship. In June 1945 her secondary and anti-aircraft armament were moved ashore. On 18 July 1945 she was attacked at Yokusuka by fighter bombers and torpedo bombers from "Essex", "Randolph", "Bennington", "Shangri-La" and "Belleau Wood" and hit by three bombs, one hitting the bridge and killing her commanding officer, Rear Admiral Otsuka Miki.

After the War

Bikini Atoll

On 30 August 1945, following the Japanese surrender, "Nagato," the last surviving Japanese battleship, was boarded and secured by American sailors from the ship USS "Horace A. Bass (LPR-124)".

In March 1946 she was taken to Bikini Atoll for Operation Crossroads, a series of atomic bomb tests. On this, her last voyage, she was commanded by Captain W. J. Whipple with a United States Navy crew of about 180 men. She was in such poor repair that on the way she had to be towed to Eniwetok Atoll for emergency repairs.

In the first test (ABLE, an airburst) on 1 July 1946 she was 1,640 yards from ground zero and was not severely damaged. In the second test (BAKER, an underwater explosion) on 25 July 1946 she was severely damaged, and eventually capsized and sank five days later.

Flag of Nagato

The Naval Ensign of Nagato was taken by a commander of US Navy. It was put on an antique appraisal show, Nandemo Kanteidan [cite web|title="Nandemo Kanteidan" on TV Tokyo and more|url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20040215cs.html|accessdate=2008-03-02|date=2004-02-15
publisher= The Japan Times] , by his daughter, and broadcasted on TV Tokyo in September 2005. The Ensign was evaluated at 10 million yen. After the show, the host of the show Kouji Ishizaka bought the Ensign at 10 million yen and donated to Battleship Yamato museum in Kure, Hiroshima in September 2006. [cite web|title=戦艦『長門』軍艦旗、呉へ還る (Naval Ensign of Battleship Nagato returns to Kure)|url=http://www.kure-news.com/news/000114.html|date=2006-09-23|language=Japanese
accessdate=2008-03-02|publisher= [http://www.kure-news.com/index.html KURE-NEWS] ]

Commanding Officers

Chief Equipping Officer - Capt. Nobutaro Iida - 20 November 1919 - 25 November 1920

Capt. Nobutaro Iida - 25 November 1920 - 1 December 1921

Capt. Kanari Kabayama - 1 December 1921 - 10 November 1922

Capt. Yoshio Takahashi - 10 November 1922 - 1 December 1923

Capt. Seizo Sakonji - 1 December 1923 - 1 December 1924

Capt. Susumu Nakajima - 1 December 1924 - 22 August 1925

Capt. Masaharu Osoekawa - 22 August 1925 - 1 December 1926

Capt. Kiyoshi Hasegawa - 1 December 1926 - 1 December 1927

Capt. Shigeru Matushita - 1 December 1927 - 10 December 1928

Capt. Tsugumatsu Inoue - 10 December 1928 - 30 November 1929

Capt. Kichijiro Hamada - 30 November 1929 - 1 December 1930

Capt. Kamezaburo Nakajima - 1 December 1930 - 10 October 1931

Capt. Keitaro Hara - 10 October 1931 - 1 December 1931

Capt. Teijiro Sugisaka - 1 December 1931 - 4 March 1932

Capt. Minoru Sonoda - 4 March 1932 - 1 December 1932

Capt. Sekizo Uno - 1 December 1932 - 15 November 1933

Capt. Kenichi Sada - 15 November 1933 - 15 November 1934

Capt. Katsumi Yukishita - 15 November 1934 - 15 July 1935

Capt. Jiro Saito - 15 July 1935 - 1 December 1936

Capt. Tomoshige Samejima - 1 December 1936 - 1 December 1937

Capt. Torahiko Nakajima - 1 December 1937 - 15 November 1938

Capt. Kakuji Kakuta - 15 November 1938 - 15 December 1938

Capt. Shigeru Fukudome - 15 December 1938 - 5 November 1939

Capt. Sakae Tokunaga - 5 November 1939 - 15 October 1940

Capt. Shinzo Onishi - 15 October 1940 - 11 August 1941

Capt. Hideo Yano - 11 August 1941 - 10 November 1942

Capt. Sojiro Hisamune - 10 November 1942 - 2 August 1943

Capt. / RADM Mikio Hayakawa - 2 August 1943 - 25 December 1943 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 November 1943.)

Capt. / RADM Yuji Kobe - 25 December 1943 - 20 December 1944 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 15 October 1944.)

Capt. Kiyomi Shibuya - 20 December 1944 - 27 April 1945

RADM / VADM* Miki Otsuka - 27 April 1945 - 18 July 1945 (KIA)

RADM Masamichi Ikeguchi - 18 July 1945 - 20 August 1945

Capt. Shuichi Sugino - 20 August 1945 - 2 September 1945

Replica in Tora! Tora! Tora!

In "Tora! Tora! Tora!," a film depicting the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events that led to it, a large, accurate fullscale replica of "Nagato" was built, which is first seen in the opening credits of the film.

References

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/japan/battleships/nagato_page_1.htm Maritimequest.com: "Nagato" photo gallery]
* [http://www.combinedfleet.com/nagatrom.htm Tabular record of movement] from [http://www.combinedfleet.com/ combinedfleet.com]