Some reports claimed Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour; according to survivors' accounts, however, the ship sank after 40 minutes of flooding and caught fire when her fuel bunkers spilled open.

The turbines were designed to produce a total of 40,000 shaft horsepower (30,000 kW), using steam provided by 24 Miyahara-type water-tube boilers, each of which consumed a mixture of coal and oil.

[5] The twelve 45-caliber 14-inch guns of Fusō were mounted in six twin-gun turrets, numbered one through six from front to rear, each with an elevation range of −5 to +30 degrees.

[8] Originally, Fusō was fitted with a secondary armament of sixteen 50-caliber six-inch 41st Year Type guns mounted in casemates on the upper sides of the hull.

[13] At this time, the ship was also provided with four quadruple mounts for the license-built Type 93 13.2 mm machine guns, two on the pagoda mast and one on each side of the funnel.

[14] The improvements made during the first reconstruction increased Fusō's draft by 1 meter (3 ft 3 in), soaking the two foremost six-inch guns, so they were removed during the first phase of the ship's second modernization in 1937 and 1938.

[3] This was the standard Japanese light AA gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it a largely ineffective weapon.

[17] In July 1944, the ship was fitted with additional AA guns: 23 single, six twin and eight triple-mounts, for a total of 95 in her final configuration.

The maximum effective rate of fire was only between 110 and 120 rounds per minute because of the frequent need to change the fifteen-round magazines.

The vessel contained 737 watertight compartments (574 underneath the armor deck, 163 above) to preserve buoyancy in the event of battle damage.

During the ship's first modernization, four directors for the 12.7 mm AA guns were added, one each on each side of the fore and aft superstructures, and an eight-meter rangefinder was installed at the top of the pagoda mast.

[23] While in drydock in July 1943, Type 21 air search radar was installed on the roof of the 10-meter rangefinder at the top of the pagoda mast.

She was commissioned on 8 November 1915 and assigned to the 1st Division, [Note 1] of the 1st Fleet on 13 December[26] under the command of Captain Kōzō Satō.

[31] The first phase of the ship's first modernization began on 12 April 1930 at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal; machinery was replaced, armor was reinforced, and torpedo bulges were fitted.

Fusō arrived on 26 September 1932 at Kure Naval Arsenal, where her armament was upgraded and her torpedo tubes were removed.

[34] Fusō began the first phase of her second modernization on 26 February 1937, and Captain Hiroaki Abe assumed command on 1 December.

[35] Captain Mitsuo Kinoshita assumed command on 15 September, when the division consisted of the two Fusō-class and the two Ise-class battleships.

[33] When the war started for Japan on 8 December,[Note 2] the division, reinforced by the battleships Nagato and Mutsu and the light carrier Hōshō, sortied from Hashirajima to the Bonin Islands as distant support for the 1st Air Fleet attacking Pearl Harbor, and returned six days later.

Together with the rest of the 2nd Battleship Division, she pursued but did not catch the American carrier force that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942.

[36] Fusō and the rest of the 2nd Battleship Division set sail on 28 May 1942 with the Aleutian Support Group at the same time that most of the Imperial Fleet began an attack on Midway Island (Operation MI).

[37][38] Commanded by Vice-Admiral Shirō Takasu, the division was composed of Japan's four oldest battleships, including Fusō, accompanied by two light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and two oilers.

In an effort to replace the aircraft carriers lost at the Battle of Midway, the navy made plans to convert the two Fusō-class ships to hybrid battleship-carriers, but the two Ise-class battleships were chosen instead.

Fusō sailed from the Inland Sea on 18 August for Truk Naval Base, carrying supplies, and arrived five days later.

She was transferred to Tawi-Tawi on 11 May[36] and provided cover for the convoy that failed to reinforce Biak Island at the end of the month.

[17][42] Fusō transferred to Tarakan Island off Borneo to refuel in early July before returning to Japan and escaping an attack by the submarine Pomfret.

They departed Kure on 23 September for Lingga, escaping an attack by the submarine Plaice the next day, and arrived on 4 October, where Nishimura transferred his flag to Yamashiro.

The ships then transferred to Brunei to refuel in preparation for Operation Shō-Gō, the attempt to destroy the American fleet conducting the invasion of Leyte.

[45] Some Japanese and American eyewitnesses later claimed Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour, but they specifically mentioned only the size of the fire on the water, and not any details of the ship.

[46] Historian John Toland agreed in 1970 that Fusō had broken in two,[47] but according to historian Anthony Tully in 2009:[48] [Survivors' accounts] and the USS Hutchins report are describing a sinking and event at odds with the conventional record—one that seems far removed from the spectacle of the invariably alleged huge magazine explosion and blossom of light at 0338 that supposedly blew the battleship in half!

The ship lies upside down in 185 m (607 ft) of water and is in one piece on the seabed, with the hull broken amidships from the impact with the bottom.