Tosa and Kaga went into their builder's yards for refits as soon as Nagato and Mutsu had been handed back to the IJN, and everyone agree that the two ships that emerged were handsome vessels indeed. Tosa and Kaga formed BatDiv 11 with Nagato and Mutsu, serving together for the first six months of the war. On 5 June 1942, however, Kaga was standing by carrier Hiryu, the blazing carrier outlining her perfectly on the horizon, a perfect target for a prowling U.S. submarine. Hit by four torpedoes in as little as forty seconds, Kaga slowly settled, but by 0150 was ordered evacuated due to her increasing list and the fact that there was no chance she'd make it out of the range of enemy aircraft before daylight. As the undamaged Japanese ships departed, destroyer Hamakaze finished her off with three more torpedoes.
BatDiv 11's fortunes only went downhill from there. A year later, Nagato and Tosa had front-row seats when Mutsu blew up at Hashirajima, leaving them the only two ships left in their division. Finally, in October 1944, the two ships - with Tosa flying the flag of VADM Nishimura Shoji- sortied from Brunei to breach Surigao Strait. Along for the ride were four destroyers, large cruiser Nantai, and their new division mate, battleship Ise. In the ensuing engagement, both Tosa and Ise slugged it out with the American battle line, and they both died like samurai.
