Yashina-class battleship

Picture of Yashina captured by a Taoist fisherman in 1942
Class overview
Builders:	Dajime Shipbuilding Co. Ein Shipbuilding Co. Firentsu Naval Arsenal
Operators:	Imperial Taoist Navy
Preceded by:	Sōsato-class
Built:	1937–1943
In commission:	1941–1946
Planned:	4
Completed:	3
Cancelled:	1
Lost:	2
Preserved:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Battleship
Displacement:	71,100 tons normal 73,000 tons normal
Length:	263 m (863 ft)
Beam:	38.9 m (128 ft)
Draught:	10.4 m (34 ft)
Propulsion:	4 × Ein Heavy Industries single-geared steam turbines 10 × Ein Heavy Industries boilers 4 × shafts
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range:	Up to 7,200 nautical miles (13,300 km; 8,300 mi)
Complement:	2,767 enlisted and officers
Armament:	9 × 460 mm (18.1 in) guns (3×3) 12 × 155 mm (6.1 in) guns (4×3) 12 × 127 mm (5 in) guns (6×2) 24 × 25 mm (0.98 in) AA guns (8×3) 4 × 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA guns (2×2)
Armor:	650 mm (26 in) on face of main turrets 410 mm (16 in) side armor, inclined 20 degrees 200 mm (8 in) armored deck (75%) 230 mm (9 in) armored deck (25%
Aircraft carried:	Up to 7 catapult aircraft

The Yahina-class battleships were a class of battleships constructed for the Imperial Taoist Navy (ITN). Constructed and operated during World War II. Displacing 73,000 tons at full load, the vessels were the heaviest battleships ever constructed. The class carried some of the largest naval artillery ever fitted to a warship, nine 460-millimeter (18.1 in) naval guns, each capable of firing 1,460 kg (3,220 lb) shells over 42 km (26 mi). Three battleships of the class (Yashina, Kurokita, and Shingata) were completed, the ITN planned on building 4 of the vessels, but due to the economic situation near the end of the war, the final ship (Yakugata) was canceled.

While Yashina and Shingata were both destroyed during the war, Kurokita remains as a museum ship in Dajime.

Design

Development of the Yashina class of battleships was heavily influenced by the militaristic, fascist regime in the UST during the late twenties and early thirties.

After World War I, it had become very clear that battleships were the future of naval warfare. While they did see some successful combat during the war, they often times prevented naval battles, simply due to their threat. This doctrine of building a fleet around battleships held up until the outbreak of World War II, particularly when the Taoists launched the Raid of Ispanza; when Taoist aircraft carrier born planes attacked Rhodeve vessels at port in Ispanza. While the UST Navy had been gearing naval production towards carriers before the outbreak of war, the Raid of Ispanza and following battles, cemented the dominance of the aircraft carrier, this was, at least part of the reason the Yakugata was canceled.

In 1928, the UST had undergone a change in leadership, going from a republic, to a military dictatorship. With this change, the Tao had major ambitions to become a military superpower and to become one on its own industry. The Empire of the Tao had already inherited quite a large fleet, mostly of battleships build in the late 1910s and the early 1920s, but due to economic circumstances during the late 20s and early 30s, it was decided to simply upgrade and improve the existing ships, rather than building entirely new classes of expensive battleships. Through the 1920s, still wanting to keep the idea of a new class around, the Empire of the Tao and Belantica began participating in several joint design studies for a class of super battleships.

In the mid-1930s, the Taoist industry had transitioned to a mostly military state, and enough resources were being allocated to the Navy to justify building a new class. The design studies with Belantica were brought back into the conversation and one of the designs was decided on.

Propulsion

The Yashina class were initially designed to be constructed with Firentsu Naval Arsenal steam turbines and water boilers, which were estimated to be able to put out 160,000-175,000 shaft horsepower (119,312 kW - 130,497 kW). However, the Imperial Taoist Navy had a strict schedule it wanted to keep on the vessels and the Firentsu Naval Arsenal was running quite a bit behind on several destroyers and cruisers which were occupying most of their shipyards and machinery. Due to this, the construction of the first ship of the class (Yashina) was awarded to the Dajime Shipbuilding Co., which also could not produce the propulsion machinery for the ships, as further inspection of its machinery determined it was undersized for the task. Ultimately it was decided that the Ein Shipbuilding Co. would construct the propulsion machinery for the vessels, as the company was properly equipped for the task, and could immediately begin construction on the propulsion systems for all four of the vessels. In order to get the Ein Shipbuilding Company to agree to the terms of building the propulsion hardware, the very lucrative contract for the Kurokita was revoked from the Firentsu Naval Arsenal and awarded to the Ein Shipbuilding Company.

The Ein-built propulsion systems underwhelmed the ITN, which was still expected at least 160,000 shp and a top speed of around 30 knots. However several changes had to be made to allow the Ein Shipbuilding Co. to build the equipment on such short notice with the equipment which was available to them. While a handful of these changes involved using higher-quality materials and improved the performance, the vast majority of the changes lowered the overall quality of the propulsion machinery, leading to some minor design flaws, which cost the ships around 10,000 shp on average and capping the top speed to around 27 knots.

Ships in the class

Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate	Notes
Yashina	Dajime Shipbuilding Co.	27 October 1937	19 July 1940	22 December 1941	Sunk at TBD
Kurokita	Ein Shipbuilding Co.	1 March 1938	13 December 1940	18 May 1942	Preserved as museum ship in Dajime
Shingata	Firentsu Naval Arsenal	11 June 1938	15 May 1941	20 October 1942	Sunk at TBD
Yakugata	Ein Shipbuilding Co.	30 September 1938	N/A		Sunk at TBD