Japanese Battleship Mutsu - Salvage Operations

Salvage Operations

Divers were brought into the area to retrieve bodies and to assess the damage to the ship. Prior to diving on the wreck they were allowed to familiarize themselves onboard the Mutsu’s sister-ship, the Nagato.

Despite initial negative reports from the divers the leadership of the Japanese Navy gave serious consideration to raising the remains of the Mutsu and possibly rebuilding her. To this end a dive was made from dive-boat No 3746 and a Nishimura -type search and rescue and research submersible on 17 June. This 7-man vessel, with a nominal 1-hour oxygen supply, snagged on the wreck and the crew nearly suffocated after two hours submerged before they managed to free themselves. Because of this risk the remainder of the inspections of the wreck were carried out by divers. After two months of undersea investigation, the navy reached the conclusion that the ship could not be recovered.

On 1 September 1943 the Mutsu was formally removed from the Navy List. In July 1944 the oil-starved Japanese Navy conducted Operation “Take” (Bamboo) which recovered 580 tons of fuel from the wreck.

The US Navy inspected the wreck in 1947. In the early 1950s, the United States occupation administration formally returned the wreck to the Japanese government, which allowed further salvage operations to be undertaken. This led in 1953, to the 1.2-metre diameter chrysanthemum crest, which had adorned the ship’s bow, being raised and in 1963 one of the 5.5-inch (140 mm) casemate guns.

On 20 March 1970, the Fukada Salvage Company acquired the rights to the wreck and undertook salvage operations until 1978, when the operation ended with about 75% of the ship recovered. Operations commencing with the raising of the No. 4 turret in 1970, were witnessed by Captain Miyoshi's widow. No. 3 turret was raised intact in September 1971.

In 1995, it was declared by the Mutsu Memorial Museum that there would be no more salvage operations. The only significant portion of the ship that remains is a 35 metre long section running from the bridge structure to and including the No.1 turret area. The highest portion of the ship is 12 metres below the surface.

Pieces recovered over the years can be viewed at various museums, memorials and shrines in Japan:

• Many artefacts are displayed at the Mutsu Memorial Museum in Tôwa Chô. This is a successor to a local museum funded by the town of Suo-Oshima which opened in July 1970. To make room for a new road, this museum was moved in April 1994 to a new building.
• The fully restored No. 4 turret is on display at the former naval academy at Etajima.
• The left-side 16-inch (410mm) gun from No. 3 turret is displayed outside the Yamato Museum in Kure in Daiwa Park. This park also contains one of Mutsu’s 3.5 metre diameter propellers, a rudder and an anchor.
• One 16-inch (410mm) gun from No. 3 turret is on display at the Museum of Maritime Science, Shinagawa, in Tokyo.
• One of the 5.5-inch (140 mm) secondary guns is displayed at Yasukuni Museum in Tokyo. This gun had been raised in 1963.
• A rudder and a section of propeller shaft were on display at the Arashiyama Art Museum until it closed c. 1991. Their current whereabouts are now unknown.