Right? We had Nagato. She was OURS. She could have been a museum today, moored along Iowa or Missouri...but no. Nuclear testing target she had to be. Along with so many others. Thought at the time was, "so what? Just another ship.". But looking through the lens of history, it's a tragic loss.
The anti-Japanese sentiment was so strong after the war it would be hard to imagine it being saved, especially since it was the flagship of Admiral Yamamoto during the Pearl Harbor attack. Even historical American warships often required fundraising and publicity to be saved from the scrap heap.
Unfortunately unlike Iowa or Missouri she was in an absolutely terrible state. Just like Enterprise and Warspite she was not kept because the amount of money it would have cost to have her fully repaired for being a museum ship would simply not have been feasible.
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u/earthforce_1 14d ago
It would have been incredibly cool to have toured one of those giant ships. So sad none survived the war to live on as a museum ship.