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Ise class battleship

Ise (伊勢) was the lead ship of her class of two dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the 1910s. Although completed in 1917, she played no role in World War I. Ise supported Japanese forces in the early 1920s during the Siberian Intervention in the Russian Civil War. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. The ship was partially modernised in two stages in 1928–1929 and 1931–1932, during which her forward superstructure was rebuilt in the pagoda mast style. Ise was reconstructed in 1934–1937, with improvements to her armour and her propulsion machinery. Afterwards she played a minor role in the Second Sino Japanese War. Despite the expensive reconstruction, the ship was considered obsolete by the eve of the Pacific War, and did not see significant action in the early years of the war. Following the loss of most of the IJN's large aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in mid 1942, she was rebuilt with a flight deck replacing the rear pair of gun turrets to give her the ability to operate an air group of floatplanes; lack of aircraft and qualified pilots meant that Ise never actually operated aircraft in combat. She participated in the Battle off Cape Engaño in late 1944, where she was one of the ships that decoyed the American carrier fleet supporting the invasion of Leyte away from the landing beaches. Afterwards the ship was transferred to Southeast Asia. In early 1945 Ise participated in Operation Kita, where she transported petrol and other strategic materials to Japan. The ship was then reduced to reserve until American airstrikes in July sank her. After the war Ise was scrapped in 1946–1947.

The Ise class was designed as an improved version of the preceding The ships had a length of overall, a beam of and a draught of at deep load. They displaced at standard load and at deep load, roughly more than the earlier ships. Their crew consisted of 1,360 officers and ratings. their beam to and their draught to Their displacement increased by over to at deep load. The crew now numbered 1,376 officers and enlisted men. Each of the boilers consumed a mixture of coal and oil, and the ships carried enough of both to give them a range of at a speed of
During their 1930s modernisation, the boilers on each ship were replaced by eight new Kampon oil fired boilers. The ships' secondary armament consisted of twenty Type 3 guns in single mounts. Eighteen of these were mounted in casemates in the forecastle and superstructure and the remaining pair were mounted on the deck above them and protected by gun shields. Anti aircraft defence was provided by four 3rd Year Type 8 centimetre (3 in) anti aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts. The ships were also fitted with six submerged torpedo tubes, three on each broadside. In 1931–1933 the AA guns were replaced with eight Type 89 dual purpose guns, placed beside the forward superstructure in four twin gun mounts. Two twin gun mounts for licence built Vickers two pounder light AA guns were also added, while the pair of 14 cm guns on the upper deck were removed. During the mid 1930s reconstruction, the torpedo tubes were removed and the Vickers two pounders were replaced by 20 licence built Hotchkiss Type 96 light AA guns in 10 twin gun mounts. During the reconstruction the forward pair of 14 centimetre guns in the forecastle were removed and the maximum elevation of the remaining guns was increased to +30 degrees. The turrets were protected with an armour thickness of on the face and 76 mm on the roof. The casemate armour was thick and that of the barbettes was 299 mm thick rather than the originally planned 305 mm.

While the details of the ship's fire control instruments are not fully available, Ise was fitted with a gunnery director after completion. In the late 1920s the fire control systems were upgraded and additional platforms were added to the foremast to accommodate them. A pair of directors for the 12.7 cm AA guns were added in the early 1930s, one on each side of the forward superstructure. The fire control systems were again upgraded in the mid 1930s and directors were added for the 2.5 cm AA guns. The ship had a rangefinder installed at the top of the pagoda mast at that time. Type 21 air search radars were installed aboard the ship in mid 1942. Ise was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Fleet in 1917–1918. Captain Kuwashima Shozo relieved Akizawa on 1 December 1918 and he was relieved in his turn by Captain Furukawa Hiroshi on 20 November 1919. On 29 August 1920, the ship began the first of numerous patrols off the Siberian coast and in northern waters in support of Japan's Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army. Captain Yokoo Hisashi replaced Furukawa on 20 November and he was replaced by Captain Nagasawa Naotaro in his turn on 1 December 1921. the division, reinforced by the battleships Japanese battleship Nagato and Japanese battleship Mutsu and the light carrier Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō, sortied from Hashirajima to the Bonin Islands and returned six days later. Ise had a minor refit at the Kure Naval Arsenal in 19–25 February 1942. Together with the rest of the division, she pursued, but did not catch, the American carrier force that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April. On 11 May Ise had an accident which flooded her No. 2 engine room. While under repair, the ship was fitted with one of the first experimental Type 21 early warning radar sets in the IJN, but it was removed shortly afterwards. Commanded by Vice Admiral Shirō Takasu, the division was composed of Japan's four oldest battleships, including Ise, accompanied by two light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and two oilers. Official records do not show the division as part of the larger Midway operation, known as Operation AL; they were to accompany the fleet under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, but were only to provide support to the Aleutian task force if needed.

The loss of four Japanese aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in June severely limited the ability of the IJN to conduct operations and alternatives were sought. Plans for full conversions of battleships into aircraft carriers were rejected on the grounds of expense and, more critically, time, so the IJN settled on removing the rear pair of turrets from the Ise class ships and replacing them with a flight deck equipped with two rotating catapults. Ise began her conversion on 23 February 1943 and Takeda was relieved by Captain Hase Shinzaburo on 25 April. During the conversion, all the 14 cm guns were removed and the ship's anti aircraft suite was heavily reinforced. The eight 12.7 cm Type 89 guns were supplemented with four additional twin mounts and the existing 2.5 cm Type 96 AA twin gun mounts were replaced by 19 triple gun mounts for a total of 57 weapons. These changes increased the ship's overall length to and the removal of the heavy gun turrets and their barbettes reduced her displacement to at deep load, despite the addition of more fuel oil storage. The extra fuel increased Ises range to The weight reductions decreased her draught to The crew now numbered 1,463 officers and enlisted men. A pair of Type 13 early warning radars and an E27 radar detector were installed from 22 to 26 July. From 28 September to 10 October, six racks of 30 tube 12.7 cm anti aircraft rocket launchers were added.

After the Americans began attacking Japanese installations in the Bonin Islands on 10 October 1944, the aircraft of the Fourth Carrier Division were ordered to prepare for combat by the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Soemu Toyoda. Two days later, the 634th Naval Air Group was reassigned to the Second Air Fleet and began flying to bases in southern Kyushu, among these were nine D4Ys and a dozen E16As assigned to Ise and Hyūga. On 14 October they attacked the aircraft carriers of Task Force 38 near Formosa with little effect and heavy losses. The following day Nakase was promoted to rear admiral. On the morning of 25 October, Ise was positioned astern of the carriers Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and Japanese aircraft carrier Zuihō to protect them with her anti aircraft guns. Her radar picked up American aircraft at a range of at 07:39. The first attack began at 08:20, with the old battleship engaging enemy aircraft with San Shiki anti aircraft shells from her main guns with unknown effect. She was not heavily attacked, but two bombs fell nearby. The second wave of aircraft attacked at 10:05 and the ship's gunners claimed to have shot down five of the ten dive bombers. Ise was near missed eight times, although one small bomb struck No. 2 turret. The third wave was detected by her radar at 12:28, but it did not attack the battleship, sinking the damaged Zuikaku and Zuihō instead. Ise rescued 98 survivors from Zuihō before the next attack began around 17:26. She was the primary focus of this wave and was attacked by about 85 dive bombers and at least 11 torpedo bombers. the battleship dodged all the torpedoes, and was struck by only one bomb, near the port catapult. Roughly 34 near misses damaged her hull plating near the waterline and started a small leak that contaminated a small oil tank and caused minor damage to the port boiler rooms. Splinters from the near misses and the single hit killed 5 crewmen and wounded 71. The American submarine Halibut spotted the Fourth Carrier Division at 17:42 and manoeuvred to attack, missing with six torpedoes at 18:43. At 19:00 Ozawa ordered Matsuda to take his ships south to defend the light cruiser Japanese cruiser Isuzu and her escorting destroyers that were attempting to rescue survivors of the crippled light carrier Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda despite gunfire from a group of four American cruisers. Unable to locate either group of ships, Ozawa ordered Matsuda to reverse course at 23:30 and head for Amami Ōshima to refuel. Despite being spotted by American submarines en route, the division arrived safely on 27 October. After leaving the island the following day, they were unsuccessfully attacked by the submarine Sea Dog before their arrival at Kure on the 29th. Between 29 October and 8 November, the catapults were removed to improve the firing arcs of No. 3 and No. 4 turrets. Ise and Hyūga departed on 11 November, loaded with troops and munitions for Manila, capital of the Philippines, but news was received of heavy American air attacks on Manila and they were diverted to the Spratly Islands. They arrived on 14 November and their cargo was unloaded so it could be transferred to the Philippines. The 4th Carrier Division was transferred to the 2nd Fleet the following day. Reinforced by the battleship Japanese battleship Haruna and three cruisers, the sisters proceeded on to Lingga Island, near Singapore, on 20 November. They arrived two days later and remained there until 12 December when they departed for Cam Ranh Bay, French Indochina, where they were on standby for an attack on an American supply convoy bound for the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The attack was cancelled on the 30th and the ships sailed for Singapore where they arrived on 1 January 1945 before continuing on to Lingga. That same day the Fourth Carrier Division was transferred to the Southwest Area Fleet.

On 6 February, the division sailed for Singapore to participate in Operation Kita. While approaching Singapore, Ise was slightly damaged by a mine. Given temporary repairs at the former British naval base there, Ise, Hyūga, and the light cruiser Japanese cruiser Ōyodo were loaded with critically needed strategic war supplies (oil, rubber, tin, zinc, and mercury) and 1,150 surplus oil workers to be ferried back to Japan. The division sailed from Singapore on 10 February and was spotted by the British submarine the following day. It was forced to submerge by a maritime patrol aircraft and was unable to attack. On 13 February the submarine Bergall unsuccessfully attacked the ships as did the submarine Blower. One of Ises AA guns caused one of Blowers torpedoes to detonate prematurely. Later that afternoon, Ōyodo launched one of her floatplanes which spotted the submarine Bashaw on the surface about ahead of the convoy. Hyūga opened fire with her main guns and forced Bashaw to submerge when one of her shells landed within of the submarine. The convoy reached the Matsu Islands, off the Chinese coast, on the 15th and was unsuccessfully attacked by the submarine Rasher before they reached Zhoushan Island, near Shanghai that night. The convoy reached Kure on 20 February, having evaded or escaped pursuit by 23 Allied submarines along the way. Nakase was relieved by Captain Mutaguchi Kakuro five days later. The 4th Carrier Division was disbanded on 1 March and Ise was reduced to first class reserve. From this time until the surrender of Japan, Ise remained docked at Kure, without fuel or aircraft, and repainted in an olive green camouflage with vari coloured splotches. The camouflage was not effective against American carrier based aircraft from Task Force 58 (TF 58) on 19 March, when more than 240 aircraft attacked Kure and Ise was hit by two bombs. Re designated as a fourth class reserve ship on 20 April, Ise was towed to the island of Ondo Seto (between Kure and Kurahashijima) to serve as a floating anti aircraft battery. She was attacked again on 24 July by 60 carrier based aircraft, whose bombs hit the starboard bow, flight deck, main deck, No. 3 turret and bridge, killing Mutaguchi, other bridge personnel, and around 50 crewmen; many other crewmen were wounded. The ship settled by the bow; it took three days to pump her dry. The IJN planned to drydock her for repairs but she was struck by five bombs dropped by F4U Corsair fighters from Hancock, and eleven more bombs dropped by other aircraft from TF 58 on 28 July. Later that day an attack by 18 USAAF Consolidated B 24 Liberator heavy bombers was unsuccessful. Ise took on a 15° list to starboard and sank in shallow water. Salvage efforts were abandoned that same day, although some AA guns were stripped from her wreck. The ship was struck from the Navy Directory on 20 November. The underwater portion of Ises wreck was ignored until the following year and she was scrapped in place by the Kure Dockyard of the Harima Zōsen Corporation from 9 October 1946 to 4 July 1947.