Fuso (1935)

Fusō-class battleships (扶桑型戦艦) were built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the years of 1912 to 1917. They were built to compete in the ongoing naval arms race happening at the time. 

Fusō-class battleships served between the years of 1915 to 1944

Preceded by:  Kawachi class

Succeeded by: Ise class

Fusō-class battleships Fusō & Yamashiro so no Combat Action during World War I. Both also saw little action in World War II until the Battle of Surigao Strait, where Fusō Was struck by one or two torpedoes, fired possibly from Destroyer USS Melvin, caused her to fall out of formation and some Japanese and American eyewitnesses later claimed that Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour, but they specifically mentioned only the size of the fire on the water, and not any details of the ship. A few hours after Fusō was first hit,  Yamashiro was attacked by a large formation to the north.  First came 6- and 8-inch shells from a line of eight cruisers,then 14-inchand 16-inch shells from a line of six battleships. The main bombardment lasted 18 minutes, and Yamashiro was the only target for seven of those minutes. The first rounds hit the forecastle and pagoda mast, and soon the entire battleship was ablaze. Yamashiro's two forward turrets targeted her assailants, and the secondary armament targeted the American destroyers plaguing Mogami and the destroyer Asagumo. Then there was a big explosion, possibly from one of the middle turrets and around together same time she was hit near the starboard engine room by a torpedo. At the same time, the American forces issued a cease-fire order to the entire formation after hearing that the destroyer Albert W. Grant was taking friendly fire, and the Japanese ships also ceased fire. Yamashiro increased speed, but she had been hit by two to four torpedoes, and after two more torpedo hits near the starboard engine room, she was listing 45 degrees to port and the ship capsized within five minutes and quickly sank with only 10 survivors.