Fusō Japanese super-Dreadnought battleship
Quick reference |
Construction |
Ordered: |
1911 |
Laid down: |
11 March 1912 |
Launched: |
28 March 1914 |
Commissioned: |
18 November 1915 |
Constructor: |
Kure shipyard |
Fusō class |
Ships: |
Fusō, Yamashiro. |
Fate |
Sunk at the battle of Surigao Strait, 25 October 1944. |
Technical Data |
Displacement: |
39,154 tons |
Lenght: |
213 m (698 ft) |
Beam: |
30.61 m (100 ft 5 in) |
Draught: |
9.68 m (31 ft 9 in) |
Complement: |
As built 1,195, later increased to 1,396 |
Machinery: |
Brown-Curtis turbines (24 boilers), generating 40,000 shp
Delivered on 4 shafts |
Performance: |
Speed 23 knots (43 km/h) as built, later 25 knots (46 km/h)
Range 8,000 nm at 14 knots |
Armament: |
12 × 14-in (356-mm) guns (6×2)
16 × 6-in (200-mm) guns
8 × 5-in (100-mm) dual purpose guns
up to 37 × 25-mm AAA |
Japan's first super-Dreadnought battleship, Fusō had an impressive broadside of twelve 14-in guns. Since the Japanese had no experience of building triple turrets for such artillery (and little experience of building Dreadnoughts from scratch for that matter), this was achieved by mounting the main armament in six twin turrets all along the centre-line. To accommodate all the turrets a long hull was required and two of the turrets were mounted amidships, with the second funnel between them. This arrangement created the problem of a large area of the deck needing to be kept clear of boats and other 'clutter' prone to blast damage, leading to the Fuso class having a very unique appearance when they were later rebuilt in the 1930s.
Fusō had a relatively uneventful First World War given that all of Germany's battleships were back at home facing off with the British Grand Fleet.
Sunk at the battle of Surigao Strait, 25 October 1944.
|