Giant battleship with twice modernization upgradeIn 1944, Fusou participated in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Under Yamashiro as flagship, Fusou, Mogami, Michishio, Shigure formed the Nishimura fleet to attack Leyte Gulf and take back control of the route through Surigao Straits. But Fusou is ambushed by the enemy and got hit by four torpedoes, setting fire in her ammunition storage which then explodes and ended her life. Shigure is the only one who returned from this battle.Battle of Leyte GulfJapan's first self-designed dreadnought class battleshipFuso's name is the name for Japan in ancient legend. Fuso is also the first 30'000 ton class dreadnought ship designed by Japan and is equipped with main armaments of 36cm guns mounted on six twin turrets. On completion, Fuso is the biggest, fastest and most armed battleship in the world. But with more than 50% area vulnerable against enemy fire, there's much to be desired in the defensive front.Fusou's hair ornament represents Fusou's distinctive feature which is her huge ship mast whose shape gets more and more unstable everytime it's being upgraded.
During the first modernization, this mast's height exceeds 50 metres in order to protect it from the explosion wind of her guns. One year after, during the second modernization, catapult to launch reconnaisance seaplane is installed.
During her second modernization, her speed is increased, but still nothing in comparison to modern ships of the time. For that reason, Fusou and Yamashiro are used in home waters for naval training ship.
They're planned to be converted to aviation battleship, but because of deficits in budget, this never came into reality. Instead, Ise and Hyuuga who are supposed to be the 3rd and 4th of Fusou class are redesigned into a new Ise class aviation battleship.
