hangar. It had a capacity of nine aircraft, the remainder being stowed on deck and one on each catapult for a total of 22–24. The ship's air group was intended to consist of a dozen each Yokosuka D4Y Suisei dive bombers (Allied reporting name "Judy"), modified for catapult launching, and Aichi E16A reconnaissance aircraft (Allied reporting name "Paul"). The former had to land either on a conventional carrier or on land bases, whereas the E16A could be hoisted back aboard using a crane, after landing on the water near the ship. During the conversion, all the 14 cm guns were removed and the ship's anti-aircraft suite was heavily reinforced. The eight 12.7 cm Type 89 guns were supplemented with four additional twin mounts and the existing 2.5 cm Type 96 AA twin-gun mounts were replaced by 19 triple-gun mounts for a total of 57 weapons. These changes increased the ship's overall length to and the removal of the heavy gun turrets and their barbettes reduced her displacement to at deep load, despite the addition of more fuel oil storage. The extra fuel increased Ises range to . The weight reductions decreased her draught to . The crew now numbered 1,463 officers and enlisted men. The rebuild was officially completed on 8 October 1943 and Ise made a sortie to Truk later that month, conveying a detachment of the 52nd Division and supplies. Hase was promoted to rear admiral on 1 November and the ship began formally working up 10 days later. Captain Nakase Noboru relieved Hase on 25 December. On 25 February 1944, Battleship Division 2 was assigned to the direct control of the Combined Fleet. Ise and her sister ship were transferred to the Third Fleet and assigned to the newly reformed Fourth Carrier Division on 1 May, commanded by Rear Admiral Chiaki Matsuda. That same day the 634th Naval Air Group was formed and assigned to the Fourth Carrier Division. On 24 May, a pair of Type 22 surface-search radars were installed aboard the ship. From 31 May to 7 June, Ises light anti-aircraft armament was reinforced with 47 additional Type 96 AA guns in 12 triple and 11 single mounts, which brought her total to 104 guns. Two Type 2 IFF units were also installed. On 23 June, the sisters conducted their first catapult training, each with four D4Ys and six E16As aboard; subsequent sessions were conducted