Ship Modelers Database
The chosen image is a U.S. Navy official photograph (NHHC catalog NH 2716) showing Nagato shortly after completion in the early 1920s, in her original pre-modernization configuration without the later pagoda mast.
Nagato Japanese battleship
Sunk
Nagato was a super-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, lead ship of the two-vessel Nagato class along with her sister Mutsu. She is significant to modelers as the first class of warship anywhere to carry guns larger than 15 inches, mounting eight 16.1-inch (41 cm) guns, and as the flagship from which Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto directed the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| IJN Nagato The Battle of Leyte Gulf Special Edition | Hasegawa | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Nagato Battle of Leyte Gulf Full Hull Model | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| IJN Battleship Nagato 1941 | Hasegawa | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | IJN Nagato Battleship | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| Japanese Navy Battle Ship Nagato 1927 | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
| Japanese Navy Battleship Nagato | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| IJN Battleship Nagato 1945 (with Metal Barrels) | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| Japanese Navy Battleship Nagato | Hasegawa | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
No image | IJN Nagato 1944 Leyte "Retake" | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
No image | Waterline Premium Package (Nagato / Yamato / Hyuga) | Tamiya | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| Nagato 1:200 | GPM | 1:200 | Card | Available | |
No image | IJN Battleship Nagato 1944 (Sho Ichigo Operation) | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| IJN Nagato Full Hull Model DX | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| IJN Battleship Nagato Full Hull Model Special Edition (with Photo-etched Parts) | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
No image | Kanmusu Battle Ship Nagato | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
No image | IJN Battleship Nagato Full Hull Model | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
No image | IJN Battleship Nagato 1941 | Fujimi | 1:500 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| Japanese Navy Battleship Nagato Full Hull Model | Fujimi | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: Japanese battleship NagatoArticle
Comprehensive overview of design, specifications, and service history useful for modeling reference.
- Wikipedia: Nagato-class battleshipArticle
Class-level article covering design lineage and comparison with sister ship Mutsu.
Museums & archives
- NHHC: Japanese Battleship Nagato (Operation Crossroads exhibit)Museum
Naval History and Heritage Command page describing Nagato's role and fate during the Bikini Atoll atomic tests, with period artwork.
- NHHC: NH 2716 HIJMS Nagato (Japanese Battleship, 1919)Museum
Official U.S. Navy photo archive entry showing Nagato shortly after completion in the early 1920s, source of the reference image.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: Nagato (ship, 1920) - NH 2716Photo
Public domain U.S. Navy official photograph of Nagato, useful as an accurate reference image for modelers.
History
Service history
Completed in 1920, Nagato delivered relief supplies after the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake and briefly took part in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. As Yamamoto's flagship she oversaw the Pearl Harbor attack from home waters, later took part in the Battle of Midway without seeing combat, and spent much of the war training or laid up to conserve fuel, engaging in only limited action such as at the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Notable facts
Nagato was the only Japanese battleship to survive World War II, ending the war as a largely immobile anti-aircraft battery at Yokosuka after air raid damage. She was subsequently used by the United States as a target ship in the 1946 Operation Crossroads atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, surviving the "Able" airburst but capsizing and sinking several days after the underwater "Baker" shot; her upside-down wreck remains a popular dive site at Bikini Atoll today.