Photos and the story

Nagato

Class	Nagato class
Type	Battleship (BB)
Fate	Afloat. In Kurita's line off Samar. Not sunk. Survived the war and was sunk at Bikini in 1946.
Armament (class)	Four twin 16-inch turrets and two funnels.
Command	Yamamoto, Isoroku Flag, not her captain, from 30 August 1939 Onishi, Shinzo Captain from 15 October 1940 Hisamune, Yonejiro Captain from 10 November 1942 Hayakawa, Mikio Captain from 2 August 1943 Kobe, Yuji Captain from 25 December 1943 Shibuya, Kiyomi Captain from 20 December 1944 Otsuka, Miki In command from 27 April 1945

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Nagato was built at Kure and commissioned on 25 November 1920. She was the first battleship in the world armed with 16-inch guns. The name is a province. For years she was a fleet flagship, including the ship from which the signal for the Pearl Harbor strike went out.

By 1944 she had been rebuilt, and she was no longer the fastest thing in the fleet. She was still a battleship. On 25 October she was in Kurita's line off Samar, with Yamato, Kongo, and Haruna. She fired in that fight. She was not sunk, and no American ship lost that morning is credited to her alone.

She was still afloat at the surrender. The Americans took her over. In July 1946 she was one of the target ships at Bikini. The Baker test sank her.

The pictures on this page are the originals.