Inspired by discussion of the Kongos fighting at Jutland in
this thread.
Yari class Fast Battleship
Displacement: 48,350 t
Length: 262.3m
Beam: 31.8m
Draught: 9.8m
Armament: (1938 refit)
4x 2-41cm/45 3rd Year Type naval guns
10x 2-12.7cm/40 Type 89 naval guns
26x 3-Type 96 25mm AA Gun
14x 1-Type 96 25mm AA Gun
Ships in class:
Yari (1921-1949)
Yakushi (1922-1944)
The Yari class Fast Battleships of the Imperial Japanese navy started life as the second and third ships of the Royal Navy's Hood class of battlecruisers.
Early during the Great War, worried by the slim margins of capital ships compared to their German opponents, the Royal Navy had requested their Japanese allies send a force of ships to help maintain the blockade of the North Sea. Despite reservations, the Japanese eventually agreed, and dispatched their vaunted Kongo class Battlecrusiers, alongside an escort of cruisers and destroyers to join the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. The conditions they demanded in return was the construction of a state of the art Capital ship post war, alongside technology transfer similar to that which had accompanied the Kongos four years earlier. In addition any losses incurred where to be replaced either from British construction the IJN found acceptable or by funding the replacements to be built in Japanese yards.
Following the triumphant victory at Jutland, where the Japanese Battlecruiser Squadron proved instrumental in trapping the High Seas Fleet into a close quarters battle with the overwhelming superiority of the British Grand Fleet, the British governemnt was compelled to honour the terms of the agreement by which it had secured the aid of it's ally's ships.
During the battle Kirishima had suffered a withering hail of fire during the suicidal charge of the 1st scouting groups Battlecrusiers, as they attempted to prevent the Allied Battle Cruiser Fleet from closing the net. In addition to damage received earlier in the engagement, the Kirishima had suffered a total of thirty two hits and despite valiant efforts at damage control began to founder shortly after the battle. Though most of the crew were rescued the ship itelf rolled over and dissapeared beneath the waves, taking 180 men with her.
At the end of the war, the British government thus found itself in the position of owing their Japanese allies, two capital ships. Fortuitously they had a class of modern battlecruisers that had following Jutland been deemed as unsuitable. Though Hood itself had been already claimed by the Royal Navy, the remaining three hulls thogh in very early states were on the verge of being cancelled and broken up.
Seeing a way to kill two birds with one stone, the Admiralty offered to complete Anson and Howe with whatever modifications the IJN though necessary to accept them into service. The Japanese agreed, and the ships were completed in April 1921, and January 1922 respectively.
Renamed Yari (ex-Anson) and Yakushi (ex-Howe), the ships were finished upon very similar lines to Hood, incorporating as many lessons from the Battle of Jutland as possible. The main armament was changed to the 41cm/45 3rd Year Type guns also used on the IJN's new Nagato class battleships, and the secondary battery consisted of twelve 14cm/50 Year Type guns on deck mounted pedestals.
The fourth ship in the class, Rodney, was also completed to a modified Hood design, and accepted by the Royal Navy following pressure from senior Admiralty figures.
In the 1930's both Yari and Yakushi underwent several refits. The power plants on both ships were upgraded and restored to full working order, along with optimizations to the armour scheme. The funnels were trunked together, and a pagoda mast added, improving fire control and providing more deck space for greatly increased anti-aircraft firepower, replacing their secondary batteries with dual purpose 127mm dual mounts, and adding numerous 25mm cannon emplacements. After this reconstruction the IJN began referring to the Yari class as Fast Battleships in a similar vein to the surviving Kongo ships.
Both Yari and Yakushi took part in the attack on Pearl Harbour, serving as escorts for the Kido Butai. They spent much of the early war in this capacity, their high speed in strong anti-aircraft armament making them ideal companions for the fast carrier groups. The ships performed well successfully engaging enemy airgroups at both Midway and Truk, and devastating an attempt by USN cruisers to ambush IJN carriers during the Battle of Banda Sea.
It was fulfilling this role that lead them to a detained meeting during the Battle of the Andaman Sea in 1944, where defending the Second Carrier Division from a night attack by the British Pacific Fleet, they met their half sister the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Hood in combat.
HMS Hood accompanied by HMS Jellicoe, and HMS Duke of York (having been deprived of her own sister-consort by Tirpitz), fought a a brief but violent engagement that left Yari burning in several places, and Yakushi a floating hulk.
Yakushi was subsequently scuttled, and the IJN Second Carrier Division forced to retreat east of the straits of Malacca having also lost one of its carriers, and several escorts.
Yari was repaired, and quickly reassigned to the effort to defend the Philippine islands from the approaching allied assault. She fought in the Battle of Sandakan, narrowly escaping the air attacks that sank Kongo and Mutsu, and guarded convoys during the retreat from Luzon.
Shortly after this Yari's luck finally ran out, having been spotted by the submarine USS Shark traversing the Bashi channel, her position was relayed to the carriers of the nearby British Pacific Fleet. Barracudas from HMS Ark Royal and HMS Indomitable mounted several torpedo runs on the fleeing Battleship, scoring four hits. Crippled Yari barely managed to lose her pursuers in the dying light and limped into port at Taikao.
The naval station at Taikao did not have the facilities to repair Yari, even if the IJN could have mustered the resources to do so.
Yari was moored in the harbour, and used as an anti-aircraft battery. She suffered multiple hits from repeated USAAF bombing raids, but survived till the end of the war. Whereupon she fell into the hands of the Republic of China when they took repossession of Taiwan, and Taikao became Kaohsiung. The Chinese for several years considered trying to repair Yari, and recommission her into their own navy. But eventually decided the cost far outweighed the benefit, and towed her to the nearby breaking yards where this storied ship finally met her end.
