Yamashiro

"The younger Fusou-class battleship sister, Yamashiro. Umm, have you seen Fusou-onee-sama?" Yamashiro (山城 Mountain castle?) was the second of two Fusō-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1915 and commissioned in 1917, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Yamashiro was modernized between 1930 and 1935, with improvements to her armor and machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. Nevertheless, with only 14-inch guns, she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war.

By 1944, though, she was forced into front-line duty, serving as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Surigao Strait, the southernmost action of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During fierce night fighting in the early hours of 25 October against a superior American force, Yamashiro was sunk by torpedoes and naval gunfire. Nishimura went down with his ship, and only 10 crewmembers survived.

Appearance
The Fusou-class ship girls wears a miko-like outfit with detached sleeves, a hair ornament resembling the class' massive pagoda mast which is held with a small braid (only drawn clearly with the second remodels) as well as massive ordnance on their back. Both girls also have black hair and red eyes.

The few features that distinguishes her from her sister ship, Fusou, is her short hair and the hair ornament is on the right side of her head. Other select features are also featured to her right side.

For her second remodel, Yamashiro gains the changes added to Fusou's own remodel (floral pattern, headband, modified hair ornament and triple guns). The main difference is that the floral pattern is to the right side instead of the left side for Fusou.

Personality
She is very attached to her big sister Fusou and vice-versa and often complains about being always having to be repaired or about being unlucky.

Trivia

 * Named after Yamashiro Province, now the southern part of Kyoto Prefecture
 * Literally means mountain castle
 * Japan's first Super-Dreadnought class & the first class to be completely indigenous as opposed to the, at the time, Kongou-class battlecruisers.
 * Super dreadnoughts are an era within the battleships.
 * As time passed, her design showed numerous faults that outweighed her merits, even after improvements derived from Fusou, & led to endless modifications.
 * Due to poor maintenance, sailors considered assignment to the Fusou-class to be the worst sea postings possible.
 * The remodeling into an Aviation Battleship stems from a plan for the Fusou-class after the carrier losses during the Battle of Midway. However, it was performed on the Ise-class instead.
 * Sunk during night battle in the Battle of Surigao Strait, October 25th, 1944.
 * Wreck location confirmed by sound scans by John Bennett in 2001, but he disappeared in 2004 before he could dive to her wreckage. Later in 2006, Cedric Verdier dived to her wreckage and saw her, but without photographic instruments.
 * Curiously, Bennett's disappearance, Verdier's dive, and expeditions related to Yamashiro was also VERY problematic, perhaps alluding to Yamashiro's unlucky trait.
 * 'Remaining ships...' is part of Admiral Nishimura's command when Yamashiro dropped out of formation after damage from a torpedo attack by PT boats.