IJN Nagato Battleship Calligraphy Poster

IJN Nagato (長門/ながと) was a super-dreadnought battleship built for the IJN during the 1910s, named after the Nagato Province, the lead ship of her class. The ship was modernized in 1934 - 1936 with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Other than participating in the Battle of Midway in 1942, where she did not see combat, the ship spent most of the first two years of the Pacific War training in home waters. After she was lightly damaged during the Battle of Leyte Gulf and returned to Japan, the IJN was running out of fuel by this time and decided not to fully repair her. Nagato was then converted into a floating anti-aircraft platform and assigned to coastal defense duties. She was attacked in July 1945 as part of the American campaign to destroy the IJN's last remaining capital ships, but was only slightly damaged. In mid-1946, the ship was a target for nuclear weapon tests during Operation Crossroads. She survived the first test with little damage, but was sunk by the second.