Drastically Modified Combined Fleet

Chapter 3 - Battleship Fusō

"After all the trouble we went through, we managed to finish her," the chief in charge of the new battleship project, gazing at the battleship Fusō that was finally completed at the Kure Naval Arsenal, muttered in his heart.

Until this point, there had been significant twists and turns leading to this new battleship.

. . .

The battleship Fusō was originally aimed to be completed in 1915. However, heated debates among stakeholders over the number of main guns during the design phase led to unavoidable delays in the project. The problematic design proposals could be classified in detail into dozens, but broadly, they could be divided into the following three:

- Plan A: 6 × twin 36 cm guns, 40.000 hp, 22 knots

- Plan B: 5 × twin 36 cm guns, 60.000 hp, 24 knots

- Plan C: 4 × twin 36 cm guns, 75.000 hp, 26 knots

Plan A was immediately rejected. It was evident that a slow ship would severely hinder fleet maneuvers, as seen in the lessons from the Battle of Tsushima. In addition, fitting six main gun turrets along the ship's centerline would make the engine and living spaces cramped. The required area for armored defense was unusually large, leading to a significant increase in construction costs. Plan A did not seem to result in a reasonable battleship by any logical consideration.

On the other hand, Plan C had satisfactory speed, and with only four turrets, there was enough space for engines and living quarters. However, at a time when the United States was planning to build battleships with twelve guns of the same caliber and the British battleships were transitioning from 34 cm to 38 cm guns, the firepower of eight 36 cm guns seemed somewhat inferior.

Therefore, Plan B was considered the most promising. With ten 36 cm guns, it was comparable to the twelve-gun American battleships and had a numerical advantage against the British battleships armed with eight 38 cm guns. The speed of 24 knots was quite fast for battleships of that era. As a result, in the final stages of the plan, Plan B became the most favored option, and everyone thought that the battleship would be constructed accordingly.

However, at that point, a shipbuilder proposed an unexpected idea. The suggestion was to initially build a battleship with four twin 36 cm gun turrets for eight guns and, in the future, replace them with the 41 cm guns currently in the final stages of development if necessary. According to the shipbuilder, if the appropriate strength and space were secured from the start, replacing the 36 cm turrets with 41 cm turrets would not be too difficult. Additionally, in preparing for the future, the ship could be equipped with 46 cm single guns if even greater firepower was required. While the talk of the 46 cm single guns seemed far-fetched, the idea of being able to switch from 36 cm to 41 cm guns intrigued the stakeholders. A medium-speed battleship with ten 36 cm guns and a fast battleship initially equipped with eight 36 cm guns but upgraded to eight 41 cm guns through modifications – the latter could potentially outclass the former in firepower, especially considering the 41 cm guns had 50% more projectile weight. Thus, the decision was almost self-evident.

Finally, at the end of 1916, more than a year later than initially planned, the battleship Fusō was completed. The ship received acclaim for sacrificing firepower for speed and defense from other major powers. However, the world would soon realize that this evaluation was a grave mistake. The Fusō-class battleships would see the completion of the second ship, Yamashiro, half a year later, and a year and a half later, the sister ships Ise and Hyūga would be completed with some minor improvements.