 Nagato was briefly fitted with an 18 @-@ meter ( 59 ft 1 in ) aircraft flying @-@ off platform on No. 2 turret in August 1925 . Yokosuka Ro @-@ go Ko @-@ gata and Heinkel HD 25 floatplanes were tested from it before it was removed early the following year . An additional boom was added to the mainmasts of both ships in 1926 to handle the Yokosuka E1Y then assigned to them . A Hansa @-@ Brandenburg W.33 floatplane was tested aboard Nagato that same year . A catapult was fitted between the mainmast and No. 3 turret in mid @-@ 1933 , a collapsible crane was installed in a portside sponson , and the ships were equipped to operate two or three floatplanes , although no hangar was provided . The sisters began to operate Nakajima E4N2 biplanes until they were replaced by Nakajima E8N2 biplanes in 1938 . A more powerful catapult was installed in November 1938 to handle heavier aircraft like the one Kawanishi E7K that was added in 1939 – 40 . Mitsubishi F1M biplanes replaced the E8Ns on 11 February 1943 . 
