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was the lead ship of the two dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1914 and commissioned in 1915, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. ''Fusō'' was modernized in 1930–35 and again in 1937–41, with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. With only 14-inch guns, she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war. ''Fusō'' was part of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was sunk in the early hours of 25 October 1944 by torpedoes and naval gunfire during the Battle of Surigao Strait. Some reports claimed that ''Fusō'' broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour, but according to survivors' accounts, the ship sank after 40 minutes of flooding. Of the few dozen crewmen who escaped, only 10 survived to return to Japan. ==Description== The ship had a length of between perpendiculars and overall. She had a beam of and a draft of .〔Gardiner & Gray, p. 229〕 ''Fusō'' displaced at standard load and at full load.〔Jentschura, Jung and Mickel, p. 25〕 Her crew consisted of 1,198 officers and enlisted men in 1915 and 1,396 in 1935. During World War II, the crew probably totalled around 1,800–1,900 men.〔Skulski, p. 30〕 During the ship's first modernization during 1930–33, her forward superstructure was enlarged with multiple platforms added to her tripod foremast. Her rear superstructure was rebuilt to accommodate mounts for anti-aircraft (AA) guns and additional fire-control directors. ''Fusō'' was also given torpedo bulges to improve her underwater protection and to compensate for the weight of the additional armor and equipment. During the second phase of her first reconstruction in 1934–35, ''Fusō''s torpedo bulge was enlarged and her stern was lengthened by . These changes increased her overall length to , her beam to and her draft to . Her displacement increased by nearly to at deep load.〔Skulski, pp. 11, 29〕 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「Japanese battleship Fusō」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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