page_title: Japanese battleship Hyūga
section_title: Construction and career
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese battleship Hyūga / Construction and career
caption_attribution_description: English: Hyuga shortly after completion
context_page_description: Hyūga was the second and last Ise-class battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy during the 1910s. Although completed in 1918, she played no role in World War I. Hyūga supported Japanese forces in the early 1920s during the Siberian intervention in the Russian Civil War. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. The ship was partially modernised in two stages in 1927–1928 and 1931–1932, during which her forward superstructure was rebuilt in the pagoda mast style. Hyūga was reconstructed in 1934–1936, improvements being made to her armour and propulsion machinery. Afterwards, she played a minor role in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
  Despite the expensive reconstruction, the ship was considered obsolete by the eve of the Pacific War, and did not see significant action in the early years of the war. After the loss of most of the IJN's large aircraft carriers during the Battle of Midway in mid-1942, she was rebuilt with a flight deck replacing the rear pair of gun turrets to give her the ability to operate an air group of floatplanes; lack of aircraft and qualified pilots meant that Hyūga never operated her aircraft in combat.
context_section_description: Hyūga, named after Hyūga Province, one of the traditional provinces of Japan, was laid down at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries shipyard in Nagasaki on 6 May 1915 and launched on 27 January 1917. Captain Shigeushi Nakagawa assumed command on 30 April and the ship was completed on that same day, too late for service in World War I. Hyūga was then assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet. Captain Kinzaburo Mimura relieved Nakegawa on 10 November. An explosion in No. 3 gun turret killed 11 crewmen and wounded another 25 during a gunnery exercise on 24 October 1919. Mimura was relieved in his turn by Captain Genjiro Katsuki on 20 November. Hyūga accidentally collided with and sank the schooner Hiromiya Maru, killing two of the sailing ship's crew, on 21 July 1920. On 29 August, the ship began the first of numerous patrols off the Siberian coast and in northern waters in support of Japan's Siberian Intervention against the Bolshevik Red Army. Captain Hidesaburo Ishikawa replaced Katsuki on 20 November and he was replaced by Captain Genji Ide on 20 November 1921.
  The ship aided survivors of the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in September 1923. From the early 1920s through the late 1930s, Hyūga often cruised off the coast of China. Little detailed information is available about her activities during the 1920s. The ship was overhauled in 1927–1928, during which her forward superstructure was enlarged and her aviation facilities improved. Beginning on 27 March 1932, she patrolled off the coast of China after the First Shanghai Incident, together with her sister ship Ise and the battlecruisers Kongo and Kirishima. On 14 June 1932, she was taking part in an exercise off Kyushu near the Mishima Islands in which a group of submarines practiced a mock combined attack on the 1st Battleship Division when the submarine I-4 unexpectedly surfaced in front of her. Hyūga, zigzagging at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), took evasive action at the last minute and managed to avoid a direct collision with the stationary I-4, although Hyūga suffered minor damage to her hull plating when her bow grazed I-4′s hull.
  Beginning on 24 October 1934, Hyūga was drydocked at Kure Naval Arsenal and underwent an extensive reconstruction and modernisation that lasted until 7 September 1936. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the ship ferried two battalions of the 3rd Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force to Port Arthur, China, on 19 August 1937. She began the first of her patrols off the southern Chinese coast on 15 September that lasted until early 1941. On 30 June 1940 Hyūga served as the flagship for the Emperor of Manchuoko, Henry Pu-yi, during his state visit to Japan. Together with Ise, the ship was transferred to the 2nd Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet on 15 November. Captain Noboru Ishizaki assumed command on 1 September 1941.
caption: Hyūga shortly after completion
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