Eaglemoss 1:1100 Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Mutsu, #EMGC13

Description

"In case opportunity for destruction of a major portion of the enemy fleet is offered, or can be created, such destruction becomes the primary task."
- Admiral Chester Nimitz to Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, concerning his order prior to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944
Mutsu named after Mutsu Province, was a dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at the end of World War I. She was the second ship of the Nagato class. In 1923, a year after commissioning, she carried supplies for the survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake. The ship was modernized in 193436 with improvements to her armor and machinery, and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style.
Other than participating in the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in 1942, where she did not see any significant combat, Mutsu spent most of the first year of the Pacific War in training. She returned to Japan in early 1943. That June, one of her aft magazines detonated while she was at anchor, sinking the ship with the loss of 1,121 of the 1,474 crew and visitors. The majority of the casualties died not from drowning, but from the explosion.
The IJN conducted a perfunctory investigation into the cause of her loss and concluded that it was not of natural causes. Due to the deaths of most of the people on the ship, however, while many possible causes were raised, to this day the real cause of the explosion is not yet known.
The navy dispersed the survivors in an attempt to conceal the sinking in the interest of morale in Japan, continuing even to pay the salaries of the dead men. Much of the wreck was salvaged after the war and many artifacts and relics are on display in Japan.
Shown here is a 1:1100 scale replica of the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Mutsu. #EMGC13
Approximate Dimensions:
Length: 8-inches
Features:
- Plastic and diecast metal construction
- Full complement of guns
- Comes with a display stand
- Comes with collector magazine (written in Japanese)
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