IJN Yamashiro
Contents
Description
Yamashiro (山城) was the second ship of the Fusō-class battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, laid down in November 1913 and commissioned in March 1917. Throughout the interwar period, she underwent several modernisations, enhancing her armament, armour, and superstructure, including the enlargement of her distinctive pagoda-style mast. Despite these upgrades, Yamashiro was considered inferior to newer battleships, limiting her active deployment. During World War II, she served mainly as a training ship and participated in troop transport missions until October 1944, when she became the flagship of Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force. During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, specifically the Battle of Surigao Strait, Yamashiro was sunk after an engagement where she was focused by multiple US battleships, marking the last battleship-versus-battleship combat in naval history.
The Fuso-class, IJN Yamashiro, 1920 is a premium gift rank Japanese battleship introduced in Update "Kings of Battle", with an additional pre-order which opened on 18 October 2023, granting a unique title - "Oni no Yamashiro" - and a unique Kyoto Prefecture flag. These bonuses have not been obtainable since 31 October 2023, when the update was released and pre-orders closed. Yamashiro has six turrets with twin 356 mm cannons, which can fire an extremely powerful broadside of twelve 356 mm shells, something that no other vessel can match at her BR. Similarly, her secondary casemate guns are able to deal with destroyers and light cruisers, although they suffer from very limited accuracy. Finally, her anti-air defences and torpedoes are mostly symbolic, offering limited effectiveness. Compared to her tech-tree equivalent, she trades a lower BR for worse survivability, less accurate secondaries, and a much worse anti-air/anti-boat capability.
General info
Survivability and armour
Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 50 | 25 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 43 | 22 | |
Modifications and economy
2 × 450 / 600 / 50 % 2 × 202 / 202 / 202 % | Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
12 x 36 cm/45 Type 41 (356 mm) (six twin turrets) Yamashiro's primary guns are the 36cm/45 type 41 and she gets 6 turrets with 2 guns each making it very difficult to put out of combat action. Turrets 3-6 all swing backward when rotating, but the rotation does not feel that long when in battle as the secondaries give you a lot to do. Another note is that the guns very rarely get softlocked by ammo destruction. As a whole, these are quite good.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Ordinary SAP | SAPCBC | 301 | 280 | 248 | 222 | 199 | 168 |
| 3rd Year Type APC | APCBC | 607 | 564 | 500 | 447 | 402 | 338 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Ordinary SAP | SAPCBC | 780 | 635.58 | 0.01 | 26 | 68.64 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| 3rd Year Type APC | APCBC | 780 | 635.58 | 0.05 | 26 | 13.31 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Secondary armament
16 x 15 cm/50 Type 41 (152 mm) (8 for each side) The secondary guns are extremely good, they are 152mm in size and a broadside easily outguns many cruisers whose main caliber is typically the same size. The restrictions of horizontal movement are very good and you can easily have all but two broadside guns on target with ideal angling for survivability and primary armament usage. In contrast to the primary armament, these are easily softlocked by damage and in many battles have I found myself with only a few left on a broadside, to rectify this, I recommend presenting the undamaged side toward the enemy, as the secondaries are worth it to do so
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| Type 0 HE | HE | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 |
| Type 4 SAP | SAP | 81 | 68 | 52 | 40 | 34 | 34 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| Type 0 HE | HE | 850 | 45.26 | 0 | 0.1 | 3.17 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Type 4 SAP | SAP | 850 | 45.26 | 0.01 | 7 | 2.92 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
Anti-aircraft armament
A pro to this though, is that very little of your crew are exposed to
Additional armament
18 x 21 inch Type 43 (1910) (533 mm) (3 tubes on each side, with 3 torpedo's per tube) These can get some usage out of them when in a brawl. Their speed of 50km is not that bad and their range of 8km is quite usable. Typically when I have needed them it was when accidentally creeping up on a scharn by accident. Their warhead is too small to do much of any damage and is likely to just critical a destroyer. Given they are fixed, its a nuisance to aim them with a ship as fat as the Yamashiro. After having taken them to battle many times, I have only got one kill with them and find their damage of not much consequence to anyone but yourself when hit by a torpedo.
It is best to not take these.
Usage in battles
Given it is a downgrade from the Fuso, its still quite the brawler. While you can stay back as a sniper, it is very fun and rewarding to charge in at flank speed. Though you occasionally will get one shot by contemporaries, you can easily deal out the same kind of damage.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- One of the best premium pack top tier ships.
- Stays combat capable even after getting damaged
- Makes bonus SL and RP
- Still a relevant ship at 7.0 for grinding and combat
- Above average handling for its size
Cons:
- Miserable anti-air and torpedoes
- Easily softlocked secondaries
History
Yamashiro was the second vessel of the Fusō-class battleships, laid down on 20 November 1913 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and launched on 3 November 1915. Her construction was delayed due to budgetary constraints. During this period, her sister ship Fusō was completed and entered service. Criticisms of Fusō's design, particularly issues related to the protection scheme and the placement of rangefinders, prompted modifications to Yamashiro's design during her construction.
As a result of these alterations, Yamashiro differed significantly from Fusō despite starting as identical twins. The most noticeable difference was in the design of the superstructure: Yamashiro's bridge had a straighter, more forward-leaning appearance compared to Fusō's pagoda-style superstructure. Additionally, the orientation of the third turret was modified, with Yamashiro's turret facing aft while Fusō's faced forward, allowing for a better design of the internal machinery and ammunition-handling spaces. During the interwar period she served in various capacities, including as a training vessel, and underwent a number of refits, with the largest modernisation lasting from December 1930 to February 1935, including upgrades to her main, secondary, and anti-air guns, complete replacement of the machinery, adding torpedo bulges, and extending the length of the entire vessel by nearly 8 metres.
She took part in the beginning of the Second World War in the Pacific, as part of Battleship Division 2 during the attack on Pearl Harbor (Operation Z), but did not see combat. Following that, Yamashiro served largely as a training vessel during the later stages of the conflict. In 1942 she took part in the Battle of Midway (Operation Mi), but was kept away from combat. She continued her service as a training vessel and received a few minor refits during that period, most notably to the radars and fire control systems as well as increased anti-air complement. Finally, in October 1944 she became the flagship of Vice Admiral Shoji Nishimura's force during the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Operation Shō-1-Go). On 25 October 1944, Yamashiro participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait, where she was sunk by United States naval forces, marking one of the last battleship-versus-battleship engagements in history. The ship was lost with most of her crew, including Nishimura himself. In December 2017, the wreck of Yamashiro was discovered in the Surigao Strait by a research team led by Paul Allen.
Media
- Skins
See also
- HMS Iron Duke (Battleship sold in pre-order alongside the Yamashiro)
External links
- [Devblog] Battleships HMS Iron Duke and IJN Yamashiro!
- [Wikipedia] Japanese battleship Yamashiro
- [大日本帝国軍 主要兵器] 山城【扶桑型戦艦 二番艦】 Yamashiro【Fuso-class battleship Second】
- [Combined Fleet] IJN Battleship YAMASHIRO: Tabular Record of Movement
- [Naval Encyclopedia] Fuso class battleships (1915)
- [World War II Database] Battleship Yamashiro
- [The Dreadnought Project] Yamashiro (1915)
- [Navypedia] FUSO battleships (1915 - 1917)
| Yokosuka Naval Arsenal (横須賀海軍工廠) | |
|---|---|
| Destroyers (DD) | |
| Momi-class | IJN Momi |
| Light Cruisers (CL) | |
| Mogami-class | IJN Suzuya |
| Heavy Cruisers (CA) | |
| Myōkō-class | IJN Myoko |
| Battlecruisers (BC) | |
| Kurama-class | IJN Kurama |
| Amagi-class | IJN Amagi |
| Battleships (BB) | |
| Fusō-class | IJN Yamashiro |
| Nagato-class | IJN Mutsu |
| Tanks | Ka-Mi · Ka-Chi · Chi-Ha LG |
| See also | Yokosuka Naval Air Technical Arsenal |
| Japan battleships | |
|---|---|
| Kawachi-class | IJN Settsu |
| Fusō-class | IJN Fuso · IJN Yamashiro |
| Ise-class | IJN Ise · IJN Hyuga |
| Kongō-class | IJN Kongo · IJN Haruna |
| Nagato-class | IJN Mutsu |
| Japan premium ships | |
|---|---|
| Motor torpedo boats | Type T-14 (mod. 1) · Type T-51a |
| Motor gun boats | Type 4 (Mod 4) · PG 02 |
| Sub-chasers | Type K-8 No.13 |
| Frigates | Akebono |
| Destroyers | IJN Satsuki · IJN Nenohi · IJN Hayanami · IJN Kiyoshimo · IJN Yuudachi · JDS Yūgure (DD-184) |
| Light cruisers | IJN Yubari · IJN Mikuma |
| Heavy cruisers | IJN Myoko |
| Battleships | IJN Yamashiro |
