Japanese Battleship IJN Nagato-- Part 2: Surrender and Atom Bomb Tests

The Nagato served in and survived, most of the important battles of World War II, with the exception of the Guadalcanal Campaign.  Because of her symbolic role in the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. Navy made special efforts to find and destroy her in the last months of the war.

The Nagato was one of the ships the USS Sealion fired torpedoes at in 1944 when it sank the battleship Kongo.

They successfully camouflaged her and it survived the huge air raids that sank much of the rest of the Japanese fleet.  The Nagato was on hand for the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.

As the U.S. fleet entered Tokyo Bay, some officers feared that fanatics on board the Nagato might take the suicidal opportunity to fire one last salvo.  relations, however, remained peaceful and the Nagato surrendered  after a brief scuffle over lowering the IJN flag.

The Nagato was far too old for the U.S. Navy to use (which also had a surplus of aging battleships of its own) and their was also the fear that the ship might become a focus for renewed Japanese nationalism.

So, like many of the captured German ships and older American battleships, it was decided that the Nagato would meet her end at the Bikini atom bomb tests.

--GreGen