Nihon Kaigun 1946

[Radome]

Beautiful. but i think that crane near that turret going to limit its turning radius.

[BB1987]

the crane is a foldable one, it was there on the Real Nagato (and Mutsu) also.

[emperor_andreas]

A redesign of the last class of 'large cruiser', the Katsuma-class. Like their two predecessors, these were looked upon as quite beautiful ships.

[eltf177]

Almost too good-looking to allow them to get damaged in combat!

[BB1987]

Well, during a chat some days ago me and Emperor talked about the fact that Amagi and Kii looked quite similar, so i tried to gave the latter a really unique appearance, not only by her silouetthe, but for her armament also... remember Battleship E2 from the 8-8 fleet thread and their massive quad turrets?



All four Kii-class BBs underwent major refits between 1937 and 1940, and came out looking like completely different vessels. They formed BatDiv 3, with Kawachi serving as both division flagship and the flagship of 1st Fleet. They served together throughout the war, with both Kii and Owari causing an unpleasant surprise for VADM Willis A. Lee's battleships off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Using Kirishima, Maya, and Chokai as a decoy force, when Washington revealed herself by blasting Kirishima into submission, Kii and Owari opened fire as well, their thirty-two 16-inch guns turning Lee's flagship into a burning hulk within ten minutes, and sealing the fate of U.S. forces on Guadalcanal.



The four ships' service life continued uneventfully - like most IJN BBs - until June 1944, when they helped escort the IJN's carrier fleet in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. All four later returned to Japan for minor refits, and as such were available to augment the escort of VADM Ozawa's carrier force. This finally proved to be the breakup of the sisters, for American airstrikes sank both Owari and Satsuma once Ozawa's carriers had been dispatched. Kii and Kawachi retreated to Japan, and spent over a year hiding from U.S. search planes in Maizuru.
In March 1946, Kii was sighted by a U.S. submarine as she steamed out of Maizuru, attempting to make a run to Sasebo via the Strait of Tsushima; unable to attack, the sub radioed the sighting to Okinawa, which sent twenty B-29s carrying 12,000-pound T-10 bombs (American version of the British Tallboy bomb), which surprised the big battlewagon by coming in around only 5,000 feet up. Kii put up a fierce antiaircraft defense, but the big four-engine bombers simply brushed off the frantic flak gunners' attempts at shooting them down and dropped their ordnance. Kii twisted violently in the sea to spoil the aim of the attacking aircraft, but to no avail; the big bombers attacked in a hammer-and anvil formation, guaranteeing at least some measure of success. What once required swarms of carrier planes and countless bombs and torpedoes was accomplished with twenty aircraft and twenty bombs. At long last the Americans had found a weapon that could hurt the massively-armed battlewagons; two direct hits turned Kii's superstructure into a shambles, and the force of a 12,000-pound near-miss close alongside rendered her watertight protection null and void; the big battleship rolled onto her port side and sank stern-first with massive casualties within thirty minutes after the attack began.
Kawachi greeted the surrender, moored in Tokyo Bay with the by-now-exhausted Nagato. Decommissioned after nearly twenty years as a training ship on 10 December 1964, she was returned to her birthplace in Nagasaki to become the centerpiece of the Mitsubishi Company Museum, one of several World War II Japanese warships so preserved.

(description courtesy of Emperor_Andreas)

[emperor_andreas]

Beautiful ships...thanks for doing them!

[Biancini1995]

I really love those history about the ships but can you do a general history about the AU?sorry because I do not understand the AU yet =/

[emperor_andreas]

I'm still working all the details out, but suffice to say the IJN has quite a few more ships, Emperor Hirohito prohibits mistreatment of POWs (no Bataan Death March), and the war lasts until August 1946.

[Biancini1995]

ok i will wait for more details

[Raxar]

In the early 1930's, the IJN Admiralty determined the need for a training/escort carrier. Due to their high speed and increasing obsoleceance, the Tenryu Class light cruisers were chosen to be converted for this task. Completed in 1934, these 2 ships were capable of carrying 14 partially disassembled Nakajima A1N fighters. This class was used primarily as trainers, though they were reguarded as auxillery escort carriers due to their speed. In 1940, both were re-designated as trainers only, and had most of their armament removed. During the late months of the war, however, they were brought up and used again as escorts. Tenryu was sunk in the Battle of the Philippene Sea in 1944. Tatsuta was moderately damaged but carried on, eventually surviving the war, and was scrapped in 1947.


I'll post the 1944 version later, once I have it finished. It's pretty late and I need some sleep.