IJN Hyūga - An Unlucky Ship With a Questionable Rebuild
For as popular as it is in fiction, the 'battlecarrier' concept was only really attempted, properly, one time. The Ise-class battleships, refit into...less than ideal hybrid warships.
This video will focus on the second ship, Hyūga. This ship had a run of bad luck even before the rebuild. In fact, it was her final bout of bad luck- a wrecked turret -that likely led to her rebuild.
A rebuild that turned an admittedly obsolescent battleship, into a kinda bad hybrid. A battleship with a giant, flaming, weakpoint on the stern. An aircraft carrier that couldn't recover her own planes.
Not the best idea, though I can understand the logic behind the decision.
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(on a personal note, I hope my viewers come back. The last few videos, Musashi aside, have...not been up to par.)
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I've been fascinated by the IJN for the past 40 years, building the 700-scale waterline ships, reading books, and studying the fleet. It's incredible how Japan went from small wooden ships at the beginning of the Meiji Period to the super battleship Yamato in a span of 70 years!
@geoffhunter7704
5 ай бұрын
That's because the Japanese GOV sent a delegation to Europe in 1888 to various Navies on a nearly year long factfinding mission,returned to Japan collated their findings then visited the US but found that US Warships were behind the Europeans and selected GB as their Partner partly in remembrance for John Stevenson of Shogun fame 1565-1620 the Shogun's Angin San, Chief Pilot who like James Glover the founder of Japans Navy is revered still.
@Wee_Langside
5 ай бұрын
I build and collect 1/1200 or 1/1250 waterline scale models and have an interest in the Imperial Japanese Navy in the post WW1 to WW2 period. A lot of innovation and ignoring treaties
@LtCmdrGordon
4 ай бұрын
I just picked up a Hyuga waterline kit made by Hasegawa. It will be my first waterline!
@user-ek4yh2lt1o
Ай бұрын
To be accurate, do all your models have the bottoms blown out?
The current JMSDF Hyuga is a nicely done, flat deck, helicopter/destroyer.
@timbonjovi
5 ай бұрын
If they carry f35's you could basically call them an aircraft carrier, even though Japan's Constitution band's
@shooter2055
5 ай бұрын
Japan has ordered F-35Bs. One "helicopter destroyer" has already been modified to operate them. Three more "helo-destroyers" are in line for modification. The Kido Butai is being quietly resurrected.@@timbonjovi
@Straswa
3 ай бұрын
@@shooter2055 I wonder if the names Hosho and Ryujo are able to used again.
Operation Kita, the transport run of the two battle carriers in February 1945, was arguably one of the last successful operations of the IJN. The two ships were loaded full of critical war materiel like rubber and aviation fuel and managed to avoid no less than 26 allied submarines on the way from Singapore to Japan without any loss. Allied submarine command was justifiably livid that despite ultra intercepts no ships were sunk. Since the carriers of Task Force 38/58 were not engaged at the time they were only engaged unsuccessfully by land based aircraft but still this run was quite the archivement for that stage of the war.
@wolftamer5463
15 күн бұрын
I’d heard they were used to run materials to Japan late war, but didn’t know how much stuff they dodged. Cool fact.
One reason in support of its half carrier conversion: In the Japanese Navy, scout planes were supplied by float planes launched by Cruisers, rather than planes from their Carriers. As a result, there was always a shortage of scout planes and because they were flying off multiple cruisers, they were often poorly coordinated. This explains the generally poor Japanese scouting performance, particularly at Midway. That plus the time consuming recovery, refueling and relaunching these float plane scouts put their Cruisers in considerable and needless danger. The American equivalent was the SDB Dauntless and its successors that flew off its Carriers. The SDB stood for Scout/Dive Bombers. This also explains the massive radio sets on the SDBs for reporting during their scouting patrols. So, converting the otherwise old and arguably useless Ise and Hyuga to scout plane carriers made sense.
@BHuang92
5 ай бұрын
At Midway, it made some sense. But it was little too late after Midway.
@johnbeauvais3159
5 ай бұрын
Slight issue, it was “SBD” meaning “Scout Bomber - Douglas” which is why the Helldiver was “SB2C” for “Scout Bomber, 2nd Aircraft - Curtis” North American had the code letter “J” hence the SNJ and PBJ aircraft. So if a P-51 was made into a naval aircraft it would have been designated something like “F1J” for “Fighter, 1st Aircraft, North American”
@BobSmith-dk8nw
5 ай бұрын
No - it was useless. They had plenty of cruisers with float planes. Messing up one of their battleships was a mistake. What they needed was to be able to build a lot more light or escort carriers and train pilots and build aircraft for them - but - Japan wasn't able to do that at anything like the scale of the Americans. .
@BobSmith-dk8nw
5 ай бұрын
The problem at Midway - was that their Carriers had way to few escorts. They had 4 Carriers escorted by 2 battleships and 2 cruisers. They should have had 3 or 4 times that many. The very idea that they had as many escorts as they had carriers - is monumentally stupid. All of the ships from the Alaska Expedition - should have been available for Midway. None should have gone to Alaska. It was NEVER a diversion. A diversion to draw off the Americans - would have taken place BEFORE Midway - not at the same time. Thinking it was a diversion - I believe - came from the fact that they couldn't believe that Japanese had squandered so many ships on such a useless mission - while - Midway - the most important mission of the war for Japan - was going on. The truth was - that Japan was (as they said) suffering from Victory Disease - and was dividing their forces trying to do to many things at the same time. Coral Sea was another operation that should not have taken place. This would have had all of Kido Butai at Midway. .
As much as I love those old hybrids, I must admit Ise and Hyuga might've been put to better use as full-fledged battleships. The only upside to Ise and Hyuga in their BBAV configuration is having a single, coordinated scout group, plus a dozen or so spare aircraft for any fleet carriers. But the IJN was never going to be able to replace the planes and pilots that they were losing in each encounter with American aircraft. Shinano and Unryu were both sunk with more suicide weapons aboard than planes. Poor Katsuragi never even embarked a single plane, nor sailed from Japan's home waters.
Interesting Fact: Ise and Hyuga conversion used 30% of the materials originally from Warship Number 111, the unfinished fourth ship of the Yamato-class.
@youtubesnamingpolicysucks
5 ай бұрын
There was a third finished Yamato class? Time for me to read up on that!
@samkornrumph8545
5 ай бұрын
@@youtubesnamingpolicysucks Unfortunately, the third Yamato was completed as an aircraft carrier. I think this guy did a video on her. The name of the ship is Shinano.
@dragonmaster3030
5 ай бұрын
IJN Shinano, a Yamato class carrier conversion though treated as a support vessel rather than a fleet carrier. Sunk by USS archerfish during her transport to a new dock to finish her build. To my knowledge has yet to be found even though it was sunk not too far off the japanese coast(I believe)
@jedimasterdraco6950
5 ай бұрын
@@dragonmaster3030 To be fair, wherever her wreck is, it's about as deep as the Titanic and I don't believe there's ever been enough of a concentrated effort to find her.
Hyūga saved her luck for her supply run back to Japan from Singapore in 1945.
The IJN really should have stripped out one amidships turret and used the saved weight/space for enough machinery to push her to 27/28 knots during the 1930s rebuild. That way it would have been fast enough to escort Kaga.
I really enjoy and appreciate you telling us about these old beautiful war horses.
You are failing to consider the Japanese experiences of WW2 in which their aircraft equipped cruisers played a role in their fleet operations, namely in taking over scouting from the carriers, allowing the carriers to concentrate on air defence and air attacks. These hydrid battleships were an extension of that practice, taken to a greater more aggressive level. Not sure it was something I would have done myself but clearly someone in the Japanese navy felt it was a good idea.
@budwyzer77
5 ай бұрын
Yes, but the cruisers-as-scoutplane-carriers doctrine had already proven to not work particularly well. Zeros would have made perfectly serviceable scoutplanes given their excellent range.
@Peorhum
5 ай бұрын
@@budwyzer77 I think THEY thought it worked well.
I find it interesting that despite being slightly larger than the Fuso class the Hyugas actually had LESS crew habitable floor space. Maybe it was the fact that between the 2nd smokestack and aft tripod mast there was one less deck.
Great video Skynea yes please do a video on battle-carriers. I love the idea of hybrid warships.
It such a interesting, though ultimately ineffective, idea to combine a battleship and carrier. Theory sounds nice on paper, but practice is what decides how it will be used and be remembered. And this, Hyuga, was a clear example of that. I don't fault the designers too much, nor those who requested it, for wanting to make an older battleship more useful, plus it arguably could have saved time and effort compared to a full conversion into a carrier, but choosing to go part way in this case did this ship no favors. This is how I see it and not necessarily how the Japanese saw it bare in mind, but it probably would have been better to make her into a purpose built freighter. Remove one or two turrets, add a crane or two, and clear space inside for tanks, planes, spare parts, fuel or other war materials and send her on her way. Maybe even upgrade her so she can move faster in the water to avoid Submarine attacks. Though this is only a mere suggestion out of possible several that could have been made.
her turret arrangement is weird, but in a very charming way.
All things aside, in their modern pre late war form, these and the Fusos were the most amazing looking battleships in the world.
As a sailor, having served aboard an LPH and a CV, it seems to me that a BB-CV is an oxymoron. But what do I know? I was a "blackshoe". The vessels I enjoyed driving the most were tiny PBR's. But that might have been because I was the OIC of a squadron out of Roosevelt Roads, PR. I enjoyed being a big fish in a small pond.
As a main carrier, it would indeed be pointless, but if you need to send a small number of ships to carry out some kind of a secondary mission and you kind of need them to have reconnaissance and possibly a handful of fighter, but you can't be bothered to send a proper carrier, because you know via intelligence that there's no proper enemy carriers in the area, then this would be a good option. It can support an amphibious landing and provide some entry-level air cover for a small fleet of a low strategic importance against a weak enemy.
@jacobdill4499
2 ай бұрын
The USN considered completing the Kentucky in a similar vein to your last idea. It was a shore bombardment ship with a helicopter landing deck and a lot of accommodations for infantry in the back instead of the rear turret. The idea kinda makes sense with helicopters but not with fixed wing craft.
I really enjoy your video's. They are very informative and interesting. I also like that they aren't long like the bigger channels. They have a tendency to go on and on . They are boring. Great job and keep them coming. 👏
You summed it up great in the beginning "fun in fiction". A battlecarrier is such a cool concept...If only they could have worked.
@Joshua_N-A
3 ай бұрын
The closest thing to that in modern times were the Soviet Kiev-class. The Russians might've showed more loopholes the Japanese can use to circumvate Article 9 though. The US did consider an identical modification for the Iowas as a part of modernization program in the 1980s. It was to carry a Harrier wing group.
Jumping into not very probable alt-history, I wonder whether an intact Ise and Hyuga sailing with Nishimura might have made the Battle of Surigao Strait a bit less one-sided.
@samkornrumph8545
5 ай бұрын
Well having 2 more battleships might have made the battle a bit more interesting. I don’t think that the outcome would have been much different though. The main advantages that the USN had at Surigao Strait was advanced radar, lots of destroyers, and lots of PT boats. It is an interesting alt history concept. Miscommunication was also a huge factor on the Japanese side in this case. Had the Japanese been more organized in this battle they might have had a chance to really fight back.
The biggest problem with the use of it's 4 oldest Battleships the 2 _Ises_ and 2 _Fusos_ was that they were to slow for a lot of the thing the Japanese wanted to do. What I believe - is that they should have formed a 4 ship division from these ships and used them where the could. The Carrier Conversions were stupid. To a degree - what they do seem to have done with these 4 ships - was keep them as a reserve force around the Home Islands. That does make some sense. For Leyte Gulf - all four of the old battleships should have been in the Southern Force - in one formation, under one command. It wouldn't have changed much - but the Japanese could have given a better account of themselves. With all the ships the Americans had there - from PT boats to Battleships - whatever the Japanese had sent - other than the Yamato's - was going to get slaughtered. The Carriers were enough of a diversion off Cape Engano - the two Ise's contributed nothing. All they had to do - was what they did - in drawing off Halsey's main force of Carriers. Having those two old battleships there did nothing. .
always interesting, well done.
Things that failed in real life but turned out functional in pixel ship world.
Hyuga and Ise should have been made to accompany Yamato on her final suicide mission. They could have put Kamikaze planes on her to take off for their own one way trip to Okinawa.
@petersouthernboy6327
3 ай бұрын
And those planes would have been wasted as well.
@SS_Atlantic_Greyhound1119
2 ай бұрын
@@petersouthernboy6327hmm, not as if the Japanese weren't ones to care for tossing their planes and pilots away, anyway. Except they did so knowingly.
I read some where that this class of BB were not popular with crew because of cramped living spaces.
If Ise went into a full carrier conversion, she would have been a fairly big carrier, but without major strike groups given the limited number of planes avalable and pilots to fly them.
that crow nest on top of the pagoda must have had an impressive view. is there where fire control was located?
@budwyzer77
5 ай бұрын
Just imagine the motion sickness in rough seas.
And yet in WOWS, its a T6 terror.
Reminds me of the terrible rebuilds of the RN Tiger class.
It's actually quite interesting to see how and why these carrier hybrids were built. It is a rather useless endeavor or perhaps they may have been of some use if there were actually aircraft that could be launched, AND recovered.
You know a refit has not gone well when the badly losing side of a naval war still places the vessel in reserve.
Thank You for the video. One question. Is there a photo of the Hyuga with five turrets?
The hybrid carriers where so unique.
A Battle Carrier is in theory - a good idea! But theory pales when put into practice! And there was a shortcoming in available aircraft after the turn of 1944 into 1945! As the Kamikaze strategy was adopted. This ship was a sad miscalculation.
I love her in world of warships her guns are monterous. She best in tier 5
Bring on the pagoda mast!!!
Mistakes always happen when you’re in a desperate situation with nothing thought thru properly.
Question: where did these battleships store things like precious war materials?
A useless battleship rebuilt as a potentially useful hybrid. Taking that thing in its original config into a surface battle would have been another Fuso experience. Operating a scouting squadron, she at least had a chance to contribute.
25mm morale boosters. LOL
So her shaft horse power is doubled but her speed is increased by one knot
@budwyzer77
5 ай бұрын
Yes, but they also added torpedo bulges and quite a bit of deck armor.
They would've been better with four 14" triple turrets.
As "carriers", the Ise and Hyuga were slo-o-o-owww and could not land their fighting aircraft. As "battleships" Ise and Hyuga had as many main guns as a pre-Dreadnought and a huge area of vulnerability that was fortified with large quantities of flammable gasoline. They were sort of an aircraft ferry capable of defending itself from surface attack. Except they couldn't carry a lot of aircraft, had a very large crew, and were fuel hogs. Admittedly, the Fuso and Ise classes were of limited usefulness, much as were USN pre-Treaty "Standard" battleships.
Questionable? You're too kind.
The twin turrets were used in larger count than triple turrets. The idea was it's harder to knock out 6 turrets vs 4. These ships were actually superior to the 14 inch gunned US standards. They could maintain higher speed than their American counterparts.
Judy and Paul? I think you mean Suisei and Zuiun
So it’s a trans-carrier.
1
In a yard sale recently i bought a DVD of 1979 Battle of Midway with Charlton Heston where a US Senator is holidaying on his power cruiser to the NW of Hawaii and a spotter plane from Nagumo's Pearl Harbour bound attack fleet sinks the boat for i vaguely remember some years ago there was a online debate wether a Senator did disappear on that Day of Infamy some said yes others said no does anybody know for sure.As Nagumo was hiding behind a N Westerly Weather Front to shield his fleet from Recce Planes a 50ft cruiser may get into difficulties????
@marckyle5895
5 ай бұрын
You saw The Final Countdown with F-14s and Texan trainers pretending to be Zeroes.
@geoffhunter7704
5 ай бұрын
@@marckyle5895 Thank you as i have yet to see the Midway DVD but i now vaguely recollect a Timewarp film featuring Midway but did a Senator actually disappear on Dec 6-7th 1941 off Hawaii?
@marckyle5895
5 ай бұрын
@@geoffhunter7704 no, nor did a company named 'Tideman Industries' ever exist. NOT A DOCUMENTARY. it was Sci-Fi
My question is why keep sacrificeing the best of your nations men knowing your going to loss anyway. Would it not have been smarter and helped Japan out today more of they had seen what was ovous how many more amazing men and woman been around and what else would we have. Also we seen ships turned into floating forests. They could have easily dune this here but they choose to leave her exposed. As over the top as the Japanese where it's vary hard to imagine then not protecting what ships they had left. That said there must have been a side trying to end things in there government that decidee not to hide this ship and others.