Fusō-class battleship

The Fusō-class battleships (扶桑型戦艦, Fusō-gata senkan) were a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) before World War I and completed during the war. Both patrolled briefly off the coast of China before being placed in reserve at the war's end. In 1922, Yamashiro became the first battleship in the IJN to successfully launch aircraft.

During the 1930s, both ships underwent a series of modernizations and reconstructions. Fusō was modernized in two phases (1930–33, 1937–41), while Yamashiro was reconstructed from 1930 to 1935. The modernization increased their armor, replaced and upgraded their machinery, and rebuilt their superstructures into a distinctive pagoda mast style. Despite the expensive reconstructions, both vessels were obsolescent by World War II, and neither saw significant action in the early years of the war. Fusō served as a troop transport in 1943, while Yamashiro was relegated to training duty in the Inland Sea. Both received better anti-aircraft weapons in 1944 before transferring to Singapore in August 1944.

Fusō and Yamashiro were the only two Japanese battleships at the Battle of Surigao Strait, the southernmost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and both were lost in the early hours of 25 October 1944. Fusō burned and sank within an hour of being torpedoed. Yamashiro encountered six U.S. Navy battleships and eight cruisers, sinking along with Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura. Only ten crew members from each ship survived.