To supplement the primary artillery, twenty (20) 5.5-inch casemate guns were added to the hull. In order to not decrease overall firepower - by reducing the number of barrels from 12 to 8 - the caliber each rifle was increased from the traditional 14 inches to 16 inches in fact, the Nagato-class battleships were the first ships in the world to mount 16-inch naval rifles. While this was sufficient to rival other battleships of the period, British and US battleships all had heavier armor, with belt armors exceeding 13 inches for many classes.Īfter experimentation with the six turret design of the Fuso and Ise classes, Hiraga and his designers decided to revert back to a quadruple turret design, determining this configuration to be the most effective. The main belt and the barbette rings received 12 inches of armor, whilst the conning tower and the turret faces received 14 inches and 18 inches of armor, respectively. Ergo, the Japanese opted to implement the “all-or-nothing” armor principle that was championed by the US maximal armor to the vital areas whist non-critical surfaces receives minimal armor. In electing to focus on propulsion and speed, weight had to be saved from the armoring. In fact, the US Navy didn’t know the true speed of the class until well into the late 1930s. This was not a fact the Japanese Navy boasted about, however, instead electing to keep the true speed a closely guarded secret. Altogether, they generated 80,000 shaft horsepower and propelled the ships to speeds above 26 knots, significantly faster than their competition. These boilers then fed into four (4) geared turbines that each powered a single screw. It was decided to fit no less than twenty-one (21) Kampon boilers into them: fifteen (15) oil-fired and six (6) mix-fired. The Japanese determined that high-speed was an integral asset to making a battleship an effective weapon as such, the Nagato-class were designed to be the fastest battleships in the world. What ultimately emerged were the most advanced battleships afloat in the world. Hiraga and his team were meticulous, delaying final completion of her plans until mid-1917 in order to incorporate the lessons learned from the Battle of Jutland the previous year. As such, from the outset the Nagato-class were set to be first-rate dreadnoughts, competitive with the offerings of the other navies of the world (chiefly the Colorado-class battleships that were being built by the United States). By this time, Japan was a steadfast, growing naval power and wanted their designs to reflect such a status. Led by famed naval architect Yuzuru Hiraga, planning and design for the Nagato-class began in 1916. As such, the Nagato-class is seen as the culmination of all the experience learned by the Japanese Navy in dreadnought design and construction up through the end of World War I. The Nagato-class battleships were the last pair of battleships build by the Japanese Navy before the global hiatus on capital ship construction due to the ratification of the Washington and London Naval Treaties. ![]() Performance 26.7 knots at 80,000 shaft horsepowerīarbettes and Turrets: 305mm barbette, 356mm face, 305mm sideĪnti-Aircraft Three (3x1) 7.7mm machine guns ![]() Specifications 32,700 tons displacement, standard Mutsu’s other large disadvantage is that she has extremely lackluster anti-aircraft armament, so don't expect to shoot down many planes with her.Ĭonstruction Yokosuka Naval Yard Yokosuka, Japan However, these torpedo mounts are very fragile and have narrow firing arcs, meaning Mutsu must turn broadside in order to use them, greatly limiting their effectiveness. She carries two single launchers per side, firing a 7km range torpedo that does 10,833 dmg and has a 21 second reload. Mutsu’s other standout characteristic is her torpedo tubes. However, these shells will still struggle against battleship belt armor at range, so captains will have to aim for the superstructure or use HE against them. However, Mutsu is a tier lower as she has her pre-refit hull, meaning she has weaker armor and slower-loading guns with World War I-era shells.įeaturing eight 410mm guns in a 4x2 configuration, Mutsu has the largest guns available at Tier VI - allowing her to overmatch the thinner plating of most ships at tier - partially making up for the deficiency in raw penetrating power her early shells have. Mutsu is a Tier VI Japanese Battleship, sister ship to Tier VII's Nagato.
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