The Battleships Fuso and Yamashiro

HJMS Fuso was designed in 1911, the first Japanese super-dreadnought within the "8 x 8" program. She was the first of four twin battleships with her sister ship, Yamashiro and the "improved Fuso-class" Ise and Hyuga. Commissioned in 1915, Fuso, with 30,600 tons trial displacement and twelve 356mm guns in her main armament, was the biggest and most powerful battleship in the world.

In twenty-nine years of service, Fuso underwent two major reconstructions and modernizations. Her distinctive si...