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Japanese Battleship Mutsu

Japanese Battleship "Mutsu" as she appears in World of Warships.

Mutsu was a Battleship belonging to the Nagato-class of Dreadnought Battleships. Mutsu was constructed at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal beginning in 1918, and was launched in 1920 after running behind schedule and ahead of budget. Schoolchildren near the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal helped run charity drives to donate to the construction of Mutsu. Mutsu's lifespan was full of turmoil as the Washington Naval Conference and subsequent Washington Naval Treaty which aimed to put an end to the Naval arms race between the US, the Commonwealth, and the Empire of Japan specifically named Mutsu to be scrapped. Japanese delegates demanded they be allowed to continue ahead with the construction of Mutsu, with the caveat that an older, more antiquated Dreadnought, Settsu, be scrapped instead.

In 1943, Mutsu was tragically sank at port due to an explosion in the magazine of her third turret. Mutsu would sink almost immediately following the detonation of her third turret magazine, killing 1,121 men - including visitors. This would be only 49 men less than the sinking of the Arizona during Pearl Harbor. The IJN's admiralty launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion, and found one of two possible outcomes - with historians citing a third plausible outcome. The first was improper storage of Type 3 incendiary shrapnel anti-aircraft shells, which had caused a fire at Sagami arsenal years earlier. The second theory was sabotage by either enemy agents or a disgruntled crewman. The third theory, proposed by historians, was an electrical fire due to how old the wiring was on the ship.