¹⁄700

IJN Battleship Ise

"Crew-mate Erick Navas shares a fine batch of images of his IJN battleship Ise, in this MSW "On Display"!



Base Model-Hasegawa's 1/700 scale, "Ise"

Vessel History

Ise (伊勢 (戦艦), was the lead ship of the two-vessel Ise class battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which saw combat service during the Pacific War. Ise was named after Ise Province, one of the traditional provinces of Japan, now part of Mie Prefecture.

The Ise class battleships were laid down in 1915 and designed as modified Fuso class ships. The primary difference between the two were paired turrets for an increase in protection and fire control and a slightly longer ship. The Ise also had smaller secondary guns, 5.5inches instead of 6inches, which in the Japanese preference for offense over defense, were meagerly armored if at all.

Other changes included better splinter protection, more efficient Kampon steam boilers, and the modification of the middle deck to slope down to help protect the sensitive magazines and boiler rooms on the deck beneath it. Like the Fuso, the Ise and her sistership, Hyuga, were variously modified and reconstructed in the late 1920's and in the mid 1930's. These modifications included the addition of foremast platforms and the installation of smoke hoods over the funnels. The first modifications in 1926 resulted in a flying off platform being added to the aft positioned No. 5 turret to service three aircraft. By the completion of work in 1937, the gun elevation for both ships had been increased which allowed for better range.

The last major change to the Ise ships came after the Battle of Midway, when they were reconstructed into carrier-battleship hybrids. This was done by the placement of a short flight deck over the aftermost turrets equipped with strong catapults to launch planes into the air. However, no aircraft were ever recorded in use on either ships and their conversion has been thought to have been a ploy to fool Allied forces. Both the Ise battleships were sunk in shallow water at Kure with less than a month remaining in the war. The Hyuga was sunk on 24 July 1945 and the Ise was sunk four days later.