Does anyone know why Nagato and Mutsu weren't used operationally as much as other Japanese BBs? Part of the reason may have been speed; after their late
1930s refit, they were capable of only 25 knots. However, this isn't much slower than the Yamatos and about the same speed as Ise, Hyuga, Fuso, and the
Fuso's sister ship whose name I can't recall offhand. The Kongos were with the carrier task forces and then at Guadalcanal, etc. I realize that Mutsu
had her career shortened by the explosion while in port but why was Nagato so inactive? Ise and the others were used more and weren't as good (at least
until Ise and Hyuga were converted to semi-carriers).
0 Kudo
Nagato and Mutsu
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 keithenge |
Nagato and Mutsu |
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Posts: 77 ( 9-Apr-2008 21:01:54) |
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Theodore |
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Posts: 8448 ( 9-Apr-2008 21:54:10) Wheat Boss |
Nagato and Mutsu were used about as much as the other non-Kongo-class battleships in 1942-43 - that is to say, very little. The TROMs located here make interesting reading. In brief:
-Yamato went to Midway, made a convoy run, was at Philippine Sea, went to Leyte, and was sunk trying to attack Okinawa. -Musashi made a convoy run, was at Philippine Sea, and was lost in the Sibuyan Sea. -Hyuga and Ise chased the Doolittle Raiders, went to Midway, and then were converted to carriers, after which they participated in the Philippine campaign, made some convoy runs, and were finally sunk in port. -Fuso and Yamashiro chased the Doolittle Raiders, went to Midway, and were lost at Surigao Strait. -Nagato was at Midway, Philippine Sea, and Leyte, and survived the war. -Mutsu was at Midway and Eastern Solomons before blowing up. These ships spent most of their wartime careers waiting for the Decisive Battle in places like Hashirajima, Truk, and Brunei. Mutsu was the only one to see anything approaching active service during the Guadalcanal campaign, but her one sortie was not repeated. |
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CA30ist |
one more thought | ||
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Posts: 22 ( 9-Apr-2008 22:25:49) |
Hello,
And don't overlook Nihon Kaigun's more or less constant concerns about fuel oil...Their heavy ships didn't stay close to Singapore or Brunei for the scenery. |
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E F Draaijers |
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Posts: 172 ( 9-Apr-2008 23:04:27) |
Historically the IJN Nagato was the most active IJN battleship in WW2 besides the four Kongo's, even more frequently deployed than the Yamato and Musashi.
Part of this can be explained by looking at her potential as being relatively fast, still capable of 26.5 knots in a short burst and generally faster than the
older 14 inch gunned Fuso and Ise classes. (Mutsu was accidently lost in 1942, so did not live long enough to have a simmilar history.)
Secondly she was still Japans second strongest battleship, making her a logical choise to deploy, when Yamato or her sister were not available (mostly because of their costly fuelexpense). Only the four ships of the Ise and Fuso class were rarely deployed and were maintained in the homewaters most of the time to defend the homeland from possible Allies attacks. It shoud be noted that IJN Nagato was deployed during the Midway attack and in 1943 left for the navalbase in Truk archipello to defend the erea against possible US attacks. In response to the attacks by USN TF 15 in september 1943 IJN Nagato with both amato and Ozawa's First Carrier Strikegroup are deployed to intercept the USN TF, but fail to locate it. In october the ship is again deployed in a simmilar countermove against the USN when it strikes Wake and the Marshalls. In februari 1944 the ship moves to Singapore, with the Yamato and Musashi to wait and train, untill the USN attack on the Phillipines is launched. In between the ship is actively deployed as a screeningvessel for Carrierdivission 2 (IJN Junyo, Hiyo and Ryuho) during the Battle in the Phillipine Sea, or Great Turkey Shoot. After the battle, the ship returns to Japan for a refit at Kure, to obtain new radarsets and AA guns. Further she was heavily engaged in the Leyte capmpaign and after this left for Brunei first and Japan later to be decommisioned due to lack of fuel. |
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StewartG |
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Posts: 487 ( 9-Apr-2008 23:21:38) |
Kongo endurance: 10000 nm @ 18 kts Fuso, Ise, Nagato, Yamato endurance: 7-8000 nm @ ~15 kts Is there any more to say? |
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seasick |
Just wondering | ||
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Posts: 4566 (10-Apr-2008 00:15:45) |
Would it have been practical to build the Yamato class with coal fired boilers for cruising and oil fired for high speeds (COSAS or COSOS) to conserve oil?
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SMS12 |
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Posts: 677 (10-Apr-2008 00:48:48) |
seasick wrote: Why bother, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was going to provide all the oil Japan would ever need. Oil shortages? We ain't got no stinkin' oil shortages. 
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USS ALASKA |
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Registered Member
Posts: 1 (10-Apr-2008 03:11:47) |
E F Draaijers wrote:Wasn't Mutsu lost in June of '43? |
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seasick |
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Posts: 4567 (10-Apr-2008 04:47:09) |
In June 1943 one minute Mutsu was there the next she wasn't.
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CA30ist |
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Registered Member
Posts: 23 (10-Apr-2008 05:54:55) |
Hello,
When the 3rd, or branch, unit (AKA Southern Force, under VADM Nishimura, Shoji) of the 1st Striking Force departed Brunei Bay on Oct. 22, 1944, 7.5 hrs behind Kurita's Center Force, they comprised the old BBs FUSO and YAMASHIRO, the revamped heavy cruiser MOGAMI, three DDs of DesDiv 4 (MITSUSHIO, ASAGUMO, & YAMAGUMO) and one DD of DesDiv 27 (SHIGURE)--- According to the Japanese themselves, "They had to choose the most southerly route from Brunei to Leyte, because of the slow speed battle ships and insufficient fuel supply for the destroyers, although the chances of being spotted by the enemy scout planes were expected greater and earlier than the northerly route..." This ought to tell you something...that they were concerned about fuel when departing Brunei Bay, of all places...
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seasick |
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Posts: 4568 (10-Apr-2008 06:31:19) |
I seem to remember reading that in the "southern area" the IJN resorted to using unrefined crude to fire boilers. This isn't a stretch when the
boilers are designed to burn bunker 5 or bunker 6 oil, and the crude oil has a low sulfur content, though it is risky.
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