Japanese battleship Hyūga
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 This was Hyuga by Standish Backus (watercolour, 1946) depicts her on the bottom at Niro Bay. |
|
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 1912 |
| Laid down: | May 16, 1915 |
| Launched: | January 27, 1917 |
| Commissioned: | April 30, 1918 |
| Fate: | The Hyuga's crew runs the ship aground in shallow waters at 27 July 1945 |
| Struck: | Raised and Scrapped at 2 July 1946 4 July 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 38,872 tons (39,496 t) |
| Length: | 219.62 m (720 ft 6.5 in) |
| Beam: | 33.8 m (110 ft 10.7 in) |
| Draft: | 9.14 m (mean) (29 ft 11.8 in) |
| Propulsion: | 60.13 MW (80,640 hp) |
| Speed: | 46 km/h (25 knots) |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | 1,463 |
| Armament: (as built) |
12 × 356 mm/45 cal. (14 in) guns 16 × 140 mm/50 cal. (5.5 in) guns 8 × 127 mm/50 cal. (5 in) DP guns 20 × 25 mm anti-aircraft guns |
| Aircraft: | 22 |
Hyūga (日向), named for Hyūga Province in Kyūshū, was an Ise-class battleship laid down by Mitsubishi on 6 May 1915, launched on 27 January 1917 and completed on 30 April 1918. She was initially designed as the fourth ship of Fusō class but was heavily redesigned to fix shortcomings.
Hyūga was extensively updated and reconstructed from 1926 to 1928 and 1934 to 1936. After the disastrous Battle of Midway, the Japanese Navy considered plans to convert all battleships besides Yamato and Musashi into aircraft carriers. Ultimately, the Navy decided that only the oldest and least useful battleships should be converted into hybrid battleship/carriers. Hyūga was reconstructed at the Sasebo Navy Yard between 1 May and 1 October 1943. Hyūga and her sister ship Ise had their two aft 14 inch (356 mm) turrets (864 tons each) and barbettes (800 tons each) removed. They were replaced by a small flight deck and hangar to launch a squadron of aircraft. To compensate for the weight loss and to preserve metacentric height, the flight deck was covered with 8 inches of concrete. A single elevator was fitted.
Anti-aircraft weapons were also added to better fight off aerial attack. Her complement of 14 Yokosuka D4Y dive-bombers and 8 Aichi E16A seaplanes were catapult-launched but landed either on conventional carriers or land bases. They could also be hoisted back on board by using cranes. Because production of aircraft was severely depleted by then, Hyūga never carried the full complement.
Hyūga participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño in October 1944, commanded by Rear Admiral Kusagawa Kiyoshi, and was later attacked by American aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Essex, Ticonderoga, Randolph, Hancock, Bennington, Monterey and Bataan at Nasake-jima, south of Kure, from 24 July 1945 through 28 July 1945 and her crew ran the ship aground in shallow waters. She was removed from the Navy List on 20 November 1945. Between 2 July 1946 and 4 July 1947 she was raised and broken up by the Kure Dry-dock of Harima Zosen Yard.
[edit] Commanding Officers
- Chief Equipping Officer — Capt. Eitaro Shimodaira: 10 January 1917 – 1 December 1917
- Chief Equipping Officer — Capt. Shigeushi Nakagawa: 1 December 1917 – 30 April 1918
- Capt. Shigeushi Nakagawa: 30 April 1918 – 10 November 1918
- Capt. Kinsaburo Miura: 10 November 1918 – 20 November 1919
- Capt. Genjiro Katsuki: 20 November 1919 – 20 November 1920
- Capt. Hidesaburo Ishikawa: 20 November 1920 – 20 November 1921
- Capt. Genji Ide: 20 November 1921 – 10 November 1922
- Capt. Rekizo Miyamura: 10 November 1922 – 1 December 1923
- Capt. Yukichi Shima: 1 December 1923 – 1 December 1924
- Capt. Shinjiro Imamura: 1 December 1924 – 20 October 1925
- Capt. Chikateru Takasaki: 20 October 1925 – 1 December 1927
- Capt. Giichi Suzuki: 1 December 1927 – 10 December 1928
- Capt. Hiroshi Ono: 10 December 1928 – 30 November 1929
- Capt. Jiro Ban: 30 November 1929 – 1 December 1930
- Capt. Soemu Toyoda: 1 December 1930 – 1 December 1931
- Capt. Masaharu Ebino: 1 December 1931 – 1 December 1932
- Capt. Shinichiro Machida: 1 December 1932 – 15 November 1933
- Capt. Yorio Sawamoto: 15 November 1933 - 15 November 1934
- Capt. Hideo Takahashi: 15 November 1934 – 11 September 1935
- Capt. Rokuzo Sugiyama: 11 September 1935 – 16 November 1936
- Capt. Sanjiro Takasu: 16 November 1936 – 1 December 1936
- Capt. Minoru Tayui: 1 December 1936 – 1 December 1937
- Capt. Matome Ugaki: 1 December 1937 – 15 November 1938
- Capt. Shoji Nishimura: 15 November 1938 – 15 December 1938
- Capt. Kumeichi Hiraoka: 15 December 1938 – 2 February 1939
- Capt. Kiyoshi Shiroya: 2 February 1939 – 15 November 1939
- Capt. Seiichi Harada: 15 November 1939 – 1 November 1940
- Capt. Shintaro Hashimoto: 1 November 1940 – 1 September 1941
- Capt. Noboru Ishizaki: 1 September 1941 – 20 February 1942
- Capt. Chiaki Matsuda: 20 February 1942 – 10 December 1942
- Capt. / RADM Sueo Obayashi: 10 December 1942 – 1 July 1943 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 May 1943.)
- Capt. Tsutau Araki: 1 July 1943 – 1 September 1943
- Capt. / RADM Ko Nakagawa: 1 September 1943 – 5 December 1943 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 1 November 1943.)
- Capt. / RADM Tomekichi Nomura: 5 December 1943 – 1 March 1945 (Promoted to Rear Admiral on 15 October 1944.)
- RADM / VADM* Kiyoshi Kusagawa: 1 March 1945 – 24 July 1945 (KIA) (Posthumously promoted to Vice Admiral on 24 July 1945.)
[edit] External links
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