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| IJN Nagato (1919) | |
|---|---|
| Ship name | Nagato |
| Ship class | Nagato-class battleship |
| Ship builder | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal |
| Ship ordered | 1917 |
| Ship laid down | 15 April 1917 |
| Ship launched | 6 November 1919 |
| Ship completed | 31 May 1920 |
| Ship out of service | 1945 |
| Ship fate | Sunk as target (Operation Crossroads), 1946 |
| Ship displacement | 32,720 long tons (standard) |
| Ship length | 202.7 m |
| Ship beam | 28.0 m |
| Ship draught | 9.39 m |
| Ship propulsion | Steam turbines |
| Ship speed | 26.5 kn |
| Ship armament | 8 × 41 cm (16.1 in) guns; 10 × 14 cm guns |
| Ship armor | Belt 305 mm |
| Ship aircraft | Seaplanes |
IJN Nagato (1919) Nagato was the lead ship of the Nagato-class battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the World War I era. As the first capital ship to carry 16-inch (41 cm) guns, Nagato symbolized Japan's naval ambitions under the Washington Naval Conference and played prominent roles through the Interwar period, Second Sino-Japanese War, and Pacific War. The ship underwent multiple modernizations influenced by shifting doctrines among the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and contemporaneous trends in the Royal Navy and United States Navy.
Nagato's design emerged from prewar studies at the Kure Naval Arsenal and the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal responding to foreign developments such as the HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Nevada-class battleship. Naval architects incorporated lessons from the Battle of Jutland and debates among proponents like Rear Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and staff at the Ministry of the Navy (Japan). The main battery of 41 cm guns matched caliber advances by the United States Navy's North Carolina-class battleship planning and rival Royal Navy designs, while armor and machinery reflected compromises between protection and speed noted in analyses by Admiral Sir John Fisher advocates. Displacement and hull form were influenced by the Anglo-Japanese Alliance era procurement expectations and constraints later codified at the Washington Naval Treaty.
Laid down at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on 15 April 1917, Nagato was launched on 6 November 1919 and completed on 31 May 1920. Shipbuilding drew on Japanese industrial capacity expanded by firms such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and technical exchange with engineers familiar with Vickers and Harland and Wolff practices. The fitting-out incorporated armament manufactured at arsenals influenced by the Navy Technical Department (Japan) specifications, while trials evaluated powerplants similar to those in contemporaneous units of the United States Pacific Fleet and Royal Navy Home Fleet.
Following commissioning, Nagato served as flagship for the Combined Fleet and hosted senior officers from the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff. She participated in training cruises with squadrons that visited ports such as Sasebo and Kure, and took part in fleet maneuvers designed to test doctrines developed after the Washington Naval Conference. Nagato featured in high-profile events attended by dignitaries associated with the House of Peers (Japan), and influenced procurement debates in the Ministry of the Navy (Japan) as Japan reoriented to a strategy emphasizing decisive fleet action against potential adversaries like the United States Navy and the Royal Navy.
Nagato underwent major reconstructions in the 1920s and 1930s reflecting lessons from Battle of Jutland analyses and advances in naval aviation from Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service experience. Modifications included machinery replacements, reinforced armor schemes influenced by studies of ship survivability after Battle of Jutland, and installation of improved anti-aircraft batteries modeled after systems used by the Royal Navy and United States Navy. Changes to fire-control systems drew on work by officers trained at the Naval War College (Japan) and integrated directors akin to those used on Royal Navy capital ships. These modernizations allowed Nagato to remain a frontline battleship into the Second Sino-Japanese War and early Pacific War phases.
At the outbreak of full-scale hostilities in the Pacific, Nagato served as flagship under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto during operations around Pearl Harbor planning and subsequent fleet actions, though she saw limited direct combat compared with carriers such as Akagi and Kaga. Nagato participated in sorties during the Solomon Islands campaign and supported fleet movements in the Philippine Campaign (1941–1942) and Dutch East Indies campaign. As carrier-centric doctrine dominated after engagements like the Battle of Midway and Battle of the Coral Sea, Nagato's role shifted toward training, escort, and shore bombardment for operations linked to the China Incident and Guadalcanal Campaign. Repeated air raids by units from the United States Pacific Fleet and Task Force 58 progressively reduced her operational utility.
After Japan's surrender in 1945, Nagato was seized by Allied occupation authorities and used for repatriation and as a symbol during inspections by delegations from the United States Navy and Royal Navy. Selected as a target ship for Operation Crossroads, the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki context and postwar nuclear testing policy informed the decision to expose capital ships to nuclear detonations. Nagato survived the Able and Baker tests but developed critical contamination and structural damage; she was later towed and scuttled off the coast near Kwajalein Atoll on 11 July 1946, a fate shared by other captured units such as the German cruiser Prinz Eugen.
Nagato's prominence as a flagship influenced naval thought in the Imperial Japanese Navy and featured in memoirs by officers like Isoroku Yamamoto and analysts at the Naval Staff College (Japan). The ship appears in Japanese and international histories covering the Washington Naval Treaty, the evolution of dreadnought design, and the transition from battleship to carrier dominance discussed in works citing the London Naval Treaty and postwar naval assessments by the United States Naval Institute. Nagato has been depicted in war literature, naval art, museum exhibits concerning Yokosuka and Kure, and remains a subject in studies of nuclear testing policies exemplified by Operation Crossroads.
Category:Nagato-class battleships Category:Ships built by Yokosuka Naval Arsenal Category:1919 ships