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Fuso (Japanese: 扶桑, an old name for Japan), was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the lead ship of her class. She was laid down by the Kure Kaigun Kosho on 11 March 1912, launched on 28 March 1914 and completed on 18 November 1915. Her 14-inch main gun turrets were placed in an unorthodox 2-1-1-2 style with a funnel separating the middle turret placement. This placement was not entirely successful as the armored section was needlessly lengthened and the middle guns had trouble targeting.
In World War II, Fuso was part of Battle Division 2 based at Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay. She pusued but did not catch the American carrier force that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April 1942, sortied as a screen for the Aleutian Force during the battle of Midway in May 1942, rescued 353 survivors of Mutsu when that ship exploded at Hashirajima on 8 June 1943, and took part in the reinforcements of Truk in August 1943 and Biak in June 1944.
In October 1944, commanded by Rear Admiral Ban Masami, Fuso was part of Admiral Shoji Nishimura's Southern Force at the battle of Leyte Gulf. In the battle of Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944 at 03:09 she was hit by one or two torpedoes fired by the American destroyer Melvin and set on fire. She withdrew from the action but at 03:45 her magazines exploded and she broke into two sections. The bow section was sunk by gunfire from the cruiser Louisville while the stern section sank off Kanihaan Island. Survivors in the water refused rescue so there were few, if any, of her 1,400 crew saved. She was removed from the Navy List on 31 August 1945.
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