Wreck of HIJMS Nagato (長門)

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, shipwreck, battleship

Laid down at the Kure Naval Arsenal on August 28, 1917, HIJMS Nagato was the lead ship in her class of Battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy and at the time she completed her builders trials she was the most modern, most heavily armed and fastest Battleship in the world. Commissioned into Battleship Division 1, IJN First Fleet on November 25th, 1919 as the Flagship for the First Fleet, HIJMS Nagato began her naval career by spending the next twenty years engaged in numerous gunnery and fleet exercises, official diplomatic duties and regular deployments to Japanese territory in the Pacific. Modernized several times during this period, the Nagato remained the Flagship of the IJN First Fleet through late 1941 when Japanese relations with the United States reached an impasse that Japan felt could only be resolved through force.

After intensive training for the forthcoming conflict with the United States, the Nagato arrived at Hashirajima on November 19th, 1941 where the embarked Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet Vice Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto orchestrated the movements of the Carrier Strike force bound to attack the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. At 1730hrs on December 2nd, 1941, Yamamoto sent the now-famous coded attack message “Niitakayama nobore 1208" (Climb Mt. Niitaka 1208) from Nagato, signaling to the carrier forces then off Midway Atoll that on December 8th, 1941 (local time) the war would begin. Nagato herself sortied with her Battleship Division as a backup force to the Bonin Islands where they awaited news of the attacks outcome, and returned to Japan when it became clear the US Battleship force had been utterly destroyed in the surprise attack. After Pearl Harbor, Nagato remained Flagship of the IJN First Fleet until February 1942 when Yamamoto transferred his flag to the SuperBattleship Yamato. Remaining in Japanese home waters conducting exercises through May 1942, Nagato and her crew formed into the “Main Body” of the Japanese Naval Force which set out to capture Midway Atoll, however Japans defeat and loss of four Aircraft Carriers at the Battle of Midway cancelled Nagato’s mission and she returned to Hashirajima in mid-June.

Japan’s policy of keeping her capital warships in rear areas for use in a decisive battle meant that for much of the remainder of 1942 and through August 1943 Nagato remained in home waters, operating in patrols and exercises out of Hashirajima before the sudden loss of her sistership HIJMS Mutsu due to a magazine explosion while at anchor brought her into frontline duty. After loading troops and supplies at Yokosuka, Nagato departed Japan for the Naval base at Truk Atoll, arriving in late August 1943. For the next six months, Nagato and her fleetmates engaged in several pursuits of American Carrier forces operating in the Gilbert Islands, but were unsuccessful in their efforts and were eventually withdrawn from Truk when the South Pacific base was abandoned by the Japanese. Shifting her operations to the Lingga Roades outside of Singapore in February 1944, the Nagato resumed her limited role in offensive operations as she conducted regular exercises in rear-areas through June when American operations in the Marianas Islands brought the Battleship and her crew back to the frontline.

After joining in a large surface force built around Japan’s six remaining Fleet Aircraft Carriers, Nagato and her crew steamed into the Philippine Sea where the forces split, with Nagato, eight Destroyers and one Light Cruiser providing protection for the Carriers HIJMS Junyo, HIJMS Hiyo and HIJMS Ryuho. In the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea, Nagato and her crew got their first taste of combat when their formation came under massed air attack, and for the first time her main guns were fired in anger at inbound torpedo bombers, claiming two aircraft. Though one of the Carriers she was screening was lost, Nagato emerged from the battle relatively unscathed and returned to Japan for an upgrade which included the addition of advanced radar and targeting systems for her main and secondary guns. Returning to Lingga in July 1944, she resumed her rear-area duties and exercises for the next three months before the American Invasion of the Philippines at Leyte caused the Japanese Naval Command to order all of the remaining surface assets into the Philippines for the long-awaited ‘Decisive Battle’

Joining with the powerful “Center Force” of the three-pronged Japanese Assault force, Nagato steamed from Brunei in company with four other Battleships, ten Cruisers and fifteen Destroyers on October 22nd with orders to pass through the Philippine Archipelago and attack the Leyte Beachhead from the North. As the force proceeded, it came under attack by American Submarines off Palawan on October 23rd, with the loss of three Cruisers and again the day in the Sibuyan Sea where the force came under air attack by no fewer than 250 American Carrier-based aircraft. During the day-long attack, Nagato was near-missed by bombs nine times and took 2 direct hits, one of which severely damaged an air intake to the No. 1 boiler room which cut power to one propeller shaft for 25 minutes and the other impacting her forward mess and radio room, killing 52 men and wounding 106. Undaunted by their losses, which included the SuperBattleship Musashi, the Center Force continued onwards and emerged off the lightly guarded coast of Samar the following morning and quickly engaged the small force of Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts and Escort Carriers standing between them and their target at Leyte. In the resulting Battle of Samar, Nagato fired her main battery for the first time at enemy ships, but in the confused and violent action that followed the far superior Japanese Force was eventually repulsed by savage torpedo attacks from the smaller US ships and aircraft. Attacked continuously by air as they withdrew, the ships of the Center Force departed the Philippines on October 26th, with Nagato taking a further six direct hits and numerous near-misses resulting in a further 38 of her crew killed and 105 more wounded.

Returning to Japan in mid-November, Nagato received minimal repairs due the scarcity of materials in Japan, and spent the next several months serving as both a floating anti-aircraft battery and coastal defense vessel. By April 1945 lack of fuel supplies in Japan was so severe that the Nagato could no longer be provided with enough fuel to operate, and she was placed into reserve at Yokosuka to serve as a heavily camouflaged coal-fired anti-aircraft battery. By June, her anti-aircraft weaponry was removed along with most of her radar systems and transferred shoreside, leaving the Nagato all but defenseless and with only a skeleton crew aboard ship. Attacked while at anchor on July 18th, 1945, Nagato was struck in the wheelhouse by a single 1000lb bomb which obliterated her conn and killed her XO, the Rear Admiral aboard ship and eleven officers while a second bomb hit her #3 gun turret and sprayed a hail of lethal splinters, killing 25 more of her crew. After this attack, Nagato’s remaining anti-aircraft armament was moved ashore and her military role in the Second World War came to an end.

Following the Japanese surrender in August 15th, 1945, Nagato was boarded and surrendered to the United States Navy on August 30th, 1945, ending her career with the Imperial Japanese Navy. Found to be in poor but not inoperable material condition over the next few months, US Navy engineers got the battered Battleship running in March 1946, but found she was taking on considerable amounts of water through several bomb damage points. Nevertheless, the Nagato was selected as a suitable ship to examine the effects of nuclear weapons on Naval vessels, primarily due to her different internal designs. Taken in command of a US Navy crew, the Nagato departed Japan for the last time in company with the Cruiser HIJMS Sakawa, bound for Eniwetok Atoll. Barely able to make 10 knots on her two operational propellers and leaking badly during the transit, Nagato blew out one of her boilers while trying to tow the similarly disabled Sakawa and eventually ran out of fuel, requiring a Navy Ocean Tug to tow her onward to her final destination.

After repairs at Eniwetok, Nagato arrived at Bikini Atoll in mid-May 1946 where she was tied to a buoy roughly 3 miles off the coast of Bikini Island and fitted with scientific instruments for her upcoming part in Operation Crossroads. Sitting some 1,640 yards from the detonation point of the air-dropped ABLE test bomb on July 1st, 1946, Nagato survived the blast with only minor superficial damage and was deemed acceptable to undergo the second test explosion, the underwater detonation codenamed BAKER. Situated less than 700 yards from the detonation on July 25th, the Nagato once again survived the blast, its 95ft tidal bore and the following 900ft tall base surge which followed it however her hull took significant damage. Found to be exhibiting dangerously high levels of radiation following the BAKER test, the Nagato could not be boarded by US Navy personnel until she ‘cooled off’ and became safe to work on. During the next five days, Nagato was seen to develop a significant list to Starboard and was beginning to swamp by the Stern, however nothing could be done to check the water ingress due to the radioactivity so her flooding continued unabated. Sometime during the night of July 29th, the Veteran Battleship finally gave out. Rolling to Starboard, the Nagato sank Stern-first at this location and now lies inverted in 180ft of water. She is considered to be one of the finest SCUBA-accessible warship wrecks in the world.

www.combinedfleet.com/nagatrom.htm