 The sisters participated in the Battle of Midway in June 1942 , although they did not see any combat . Mutsu saw more active service than her sister because she was not a flagship and participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August before returning to Japan in early 1943 . One of Mutsu 's aft magazines detonated in June , killing 1 @,@ 121 crew and visitors and destroying the ship . The IJN conducted a perfunctory investigation into the cause of her loss and concluded that it was the work of a disgruntled crewmember . They dispersed the survivors in an attempt to conceal the sinking to keep up morale in Japan . Much of the wreck was salvaged after the war and many artifacts and relics are on display in Japan . 
