frequently patrolled the Chinese coast in support of the blockade imposed by Japan. In August 1937 Hyūga ferried two battalions of Special Naval Landing Forces to Port Arthur. Three years later, she served as the flagship for the Emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Henry Pu-yi, during his state visit to Japan in June 1940. On 15 November the ships were transferred to the 2nd Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet. The sisters were refitted in late 1940 in preparation for war, which included the fitting of external degaussing coils and additional AA directors. World War II When Japan began the Pacific War on 8 December, the sisters sortied for the Bonin Islands with four other battleships and the light carrier as distant cover for the fleet attacking Pearl Harbor, and returned six days later. On 11 March 1942 Ise and Hyūga sortied from their anchorage at Hashirajima to join the unsuccessful search for the American carrier force that had attacked Marcus Island a week earlier. Similarly they pursued but did not catch the American carriers that had launched the Doolittle Raid on 18 April. During gunnery training on 5 May, there was a premature detonation in the left gun of Hyūgas Turret No. 5 that disabled both guns and killed 51 crewmen. Both aft magazines were flooded to douse the resulting fire and save the ship. She received temporary repairs during which the turret was removed and replaced by a circular armour plate on which three triple 25 mm gun mounts were positioned. On 11 May a valve in Ises No. 2 engine room stuck in the open position and flooded the engine room. While under repair at Kure, both ships received prototype Type 21 radars. Commanded by Vice-Admiral Shirō Takasu, the 2nd Battleship Division set sail with the Aleutian Support Group on 28 May, at the same time that most of the Imperial Fleet began an attack on Midway Island (Operation MI). They returned home on 14 June and the IJN began preliminary planning to replace the lost carriers with hybrid carriers converted from battleships. The sisters were selected for conversion and detached from the division on 14 July in preparation. They remained on "standby alert" until the actual conversions began. Ise was converted at Kure Naval Arsenal from 23 February to 5 September 1943 and Hyūga at Sasebo Naval Arsenal from 2 May to 30 November.