The Battleships Fuso and Yamashiro

HJMS Fuso, and her sistership the Yamashiro was commissioned during World War I and were thefirst Japanese super-dreadnoughts within the "8 x 8" program. With 30,600 tons trial displacement and twelve 356mm guns in her main armament, the Fuso was the biggest and most powerful battleship in the world.

In nearly 30 years of service both ships underwent numerous modifications and modernisations, being converted to launch aircraft and having the distinctive pagoda towers added, making them visible in many operations of the Imperial Japanese Grand Fleet during the Pacific War. Both ships would eventually met their demise during the battle of Leyte Gulf when they went down in the Surigao Strait, targeted by torpedoes and gunfire from US battleships and cruisers.

This stunning new addition to the Anatomy of the Ship series uses detailed full-colour artwork and meticulous research to compare these two fascinating vessels in the Imperial Japanese Navy, showing the differences in the way that the two ships were designed and equipped.