A pagoda mast was a type of superstructure erected on a tripod mast that was common on

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

capital ship The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet. Strategic im ...

s that were reconstructed during the 1930s in a bid to improve their fighting performance. These modifications were deemed to be necessary by the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

as a result of the "Battleships Holiday" that was imposed by the

Washington Naval Treaty The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...

, which strictly limited the construction of new battleships.

Development

Pagoda masts were built on existing

tripod mast The tripod mast is a type of mast used on warships from the Edwardian era onwards, replacing the pole mast. Tripod masts are distinctive using two large (usually cylindrical) support columns spread out at angles to brace another (usually vertica ...

s by adding searchlight and other platforms, lookouts and shelters upon each other, the result resembling a

pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

temple. The superstructures were constructed on the majority of the ships that were rebuilt by the Japanese during the 1930s, including the s and the , , and -class

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

s. The additional platforms were supported on the ships' original tripod foremasts (a design also extensively used by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

), which were suitably strengthened to bear the extra weight. As completed, the masts could reach or more above the waterline. Yamashiro and Kaga

Japanese battleships Yamashiro, Fuso and Haruna

Like the British

, which was considered to be a likely enemy of Japan in the event of an armed conflict, the Imperial Japanese Navy wanted to prepare their warships for engaging in combat at night. Prior to the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, powerful searchlights were placed on the pagoda masts for the purpose of illuminating enemy ships at night. However, during the early 1940s, the searchlights mounted on the pagoda became less important as new radar technology was developed that allowed a ship to aim and shoot at targets at night. In the navies of Europe and the Americas, tall pagoda-style masts were generally frowned upon. Naval architects and sailors from the Western hemisphere claimed that the Japanese battleships were too "top-heavy" and critics often mocked these vessels by nicknaming them "

Christmas Tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, or an artificial tree of similar appearance, associated with the celebration of Christmas. The custom was further developed in early modern ...

s". Uniquely, the battleship '' Hiei'' received a prototype of the pagoda-style tower-mast that would eventually be used on the upcoming s, then still in the design phase, rather than the pagoda masts used on her sister ships and other modernized World War I-era capital ships. During the same interwar period, the Royal Navy implemented the "

Queen Anne's Mansions Queen Anne's Mansions was a block of flats in Petty France, Westminster, London, at . In 1873, Henry Alers Hankey acquired a site between St James's Park and St James's Park Underground station. Acting as his own architect, and employing his ...

" style conning tower and bridge, either retrofitted World War I-era battleships (three of the , ) or for new battleships (the and classes). Between World War I and World War II, the US Navy gradually phased out the

lattice mast Lattice masts, or cage masts, or basket masts, are a type of observation mast common on United States Navy major warships in the early 20th century. They are a type of hyperboloid structure, whose weight-saving design was invented by the Russian ...

s on its Standard-type battleships in favor of

s, and after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

some of the salvaged battleships were reconstructed with masts similar to those on its post-treaty battleships.

Example

Chronological images of the Japanese battleship , showing the development of her pagoda mast over time. File:Ise02cropped.jpg, Japanese battleship ''Ise'' in 1917–1918, shortly after completion File:Ise03cropped.jpg, ''Ise'', unknown date, with tripod mast File:Ise05cropped.jpg, ''Ise'', after reconstruction File:Battleship-carrier Ise.jpg, Higher resolution image of ''Ise'', c. 1943

References

{{Reflist World War II naval ships of Japan Shipbuilding Nautical terminology Battleships