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The were a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War I. Originally intended to be repeats of the preceding ''Fusō'' class, they were redesigned before construction began. Both ships carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923. They were modernized in 1934–37 with improvements to their armour and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Afterwards they played a minor role in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Despite the expensive reconstructions, both vessels were considered obsolete by the eve of the Pacific War, and neither saw significant action in the early years of the war. Following the loss of most of the IJN's large aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in mid-1942, they were rebuilt with a flight deck replacing the rear pair of gun turrets to give them the ability to operate an air group of floatplanes. A lack of aircraft and qualified pilots, however, meant that they never actually operated their aircraft in combat. While awaiting their air group the sister ships were sometimes used to ferry troops and material to Japanese bases. They participated in the Battle of Cape Engaño in late 1944, where they decoyed the American carrier fleet supporting the invasion of Leyte away from the landing beaches. Afterwards both ships were transferred to Southeast Asia; in early 1945 they participated in Operation Kita, where they transported petrol and other strategic materials to Japan. The sisters were then reduced to reserve until they were sunk during American airstrikes in July. After the war they were scrapped in 1946–47. ==Background== The design of the ''Fusō''-class battleships was shaped both by the ongoing international naval arms race and a desire among Japanese naval planners to maintain a fleet of capital ships powerful enough to defeat the United States Navy in an encounter in Japanese territorial waters.〔Stille, p. 4〕 The IJN's fleet of battleships had proven highly successful in 1905, the last year of the Russo-Japanese War, which culminated in the destruction of the Russian Second and Third Pacific Squadrons at the Battle of Tsushima.〔Evans & Peattie, p. 124〕 In the aftermath, the Japanese Empire immediately turned its focus to the two remaining rivals for imperial dominance in the Pacific Ocean: Britain and the United States.〔 Satō Tetsutarō, a Japanese Navy admiral and military theorist, speculated that conflict would inevitably arise between Japan and at least one of its two main rivals. To that end, he called for the Japanese Navy to maintain a fleet with at least 70% as many capital ships as the US Navy.〔Evans & Peattie, p. 143〕 This ratio, Satō theorized, would enable the Imperial Japanese Navy to defeat the US Navy in one major battle in Japanese waters in any eventual conflict.〔 Accordingly, the 1907 Imperial Defence Policy called for the construction of a battle fleet of eight modern battleships, each, and eight modern armoured cruisers, each.〔Evans & Peattie, p. 150〕 This was the genesis of the Eight-Eight Fleet Program, the development of a cohesive battle line of sixteen capital ships.〔Stille, p. 7〕 The launch of in 1906 by the Royal Navy raised the stakes,〔Evans & Peattie, p. 152〕 and complicated Japan's plans. Displacing and armed with ten guns, ''Dreadnought'' rendered all existing battleships obsolete by comparison.〔Sandler, p. 90〕 The launch of the battlecruiser the following year was a further setback for Japan's quest for parity.〔Evans & Peattie, p. 154〕 When the two new s and two armoured cruisers, launched by 1911, were outclassed by their British counterparts, the Eight-Eight Fleet Program was restarted.〔Evans & Peattie, p. 159〕 The first battleships built for the renewed Eight-Eight Fleet Program were the two dreadnoughts of the , ordered in 1907 and laid down in 1908. In 1910, the Navy put forward a request to the Diet (parliament) to secure funding for the entirety of the program at once. Because of economic constraints, only four battlecruisers and a single battleship of the ''Fusō'' class were ultimately approved by the Diet. Three more ''Fusō''-class ships (, , and ) were approved〔Evans & Peattie, pp. 159, 166〕 and all three were ordered in April 1913. While ''Yamashiro'' was laid down later that year, the IJN lacked the funding to proceed with the construction of ''Ise'' and ''Hyūga'' until the Diet authorized additional funding for the ships in July 1914.〔Lengerer 2011, pp. 13, 19〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ise-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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