Ah, Nagato. Here is where the Japanese hit their stride in battleship construction. With eight big 16" guns, and good speed, she was a contender for most powerful battleship in the world, throughout the 20's and 30's. Let's have a closer look at her, shall we?

Nagato is the only Japanese 6 unit battleship, and with four centerline turrets laid out very nicely, she can carry them well. My first Nagato had her guns setup in the traditional arrangement, with double sterns, a haymaker, a bow sidemount, and a second (rotating) bow sidemount. After the MWC voted to remove the rotate requirement, it was replaced with a more effective fixed sidemount for three sidemount goodness.

If you prefer, the ultimate death Y arrangement is also available, with two haymakers, a third sidemount up front, and a bow gun, because three pumps would just be silly, wouldn't it?.

Given her ideal turret arrangement, either configuration can be very powerful. It just depends on whether one wants to be a knife fighter, or a total thug.

As one of the shortest 24 second battleships, Nagato gains the benefit of the speed with less of the downsides of other classes. With four shafts, she accelerates nicely.

Nagato has twin rudders to go with those four shafts, and with that short length, turns very well. The only downside here is (again) the relatively pointy canoe stern.

In addition to being one of the shortest 24 second battleships, Nagato has a relatively low stern, short forecastle and a lot of casemates. Generally speaking, only about the first foot of the ship is worth shooting at.

Nagato is a popular ship, and both manufacturers have kits available for her. That said, she's still a difficult build due to her complex superstructure, and the complexity of her systems, including a rotate. If you are a skilled battler and can pull that off, you'll be rewarded with one of the very best ships in the hobby, that can take on all comers.

Nagato is one of the holy trio of best ships in the hobby, period. She has it all, speed, maneuverability, firepower, etc. There were times when I was sailing mine back in the late 90's/early 00s, that I felt almost guilty. Almost. I'll have to get my new one on the water for next year.

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