fitted. Yamashiros armament was also upgraded and her torpedo tubes were removed. Captain Chuichi Nagumo assumed command of the ship on 15 November 1934, her modernization was completed on 30 March 1935, and she became flagship of the Combined Fleet. Captain Masakichi Okuma relieved Nagumo on 15 November and he, in turn, was replaced by Captain Masami Kobayashi on 1 December 1936. Yamashiro began a lengthy refit on 27 June 1937 and Captain Kasuke Abe assumed command on 20 October. Her refit was completed on 31 March 1938 and Captain Kakuji Kakuta relieved Abe on 15 November. In early 1941, the ship experimentally launched radio-controlled Kawanishi E7K2 floatplanes. Captain Chozaemon Obata assumed command on 24 May 1941 and Yamashiro was assigned to the 1st Fleet's 2nd Division, consisting of the two Fusō-class and the two s. World War II Yamashiro and her sister ship Fusō spent most of the war around Japan, mostly at the anchorage at Hashirajima in Hiroshima Bay. When the war started for Japan on 8 December, the division, reinforced by the battleships and and the light carrier , sortied from Hashirajima to the Bonin Islands as distant support for the 1st Air Fleet attacking Pearl Harbor, and returned six days later. On 18 April 1942, Yamashiro chased the Doolittle Raider force that had just launched an air raid on Tokyo, but returned four days later without having made contact. On 28 May, she set sail, commanded by Captain Gunji Kogure, with the rest of the 2nd Battleship Division and the Aleutian Support Group at the same time most of the Imperial Fleet began an attack on Midway Island (Operation MI). Commanded by Vice-Admiral Shirō Takasu, the division was composed of Japan's four oldest battleships, including Yamashiro, accompanied by two light cruisers, 12 destroyers, and two oilers. Official records do not show the squadron as part of the larger Midway operation, known as Operation AL; they were to accompany the fleet under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, but were only to provide support to the Aleutian task force if needed. They were not needed, and Yamashiro returned to home waters where she was employed mostly for training duties, in the Inland Sea till 1 February 1943 and at Yokosuka until September, when she became a training ship for midshipmen. In an effort to replace the aircraft carriers lost at the Battle of Midway, the Navy made plans to convert