1939 Navy Proficiency Test Award Plate/昭和十四年海軍検定褒賞皿

Plates were manufactured by https://asiamedals.info/threads/history-labels-i-marks-of-hattori-watch-shop-tokyo.19361 in three different sizes (1st, 2nd and 3rd class of award).
1st class award plate has diameter approx. 22.5 mm.
2nd class award plate has diameter approx. 20.5 mm.

Diameter 22.5 mm.

賞 - Award

Kusunoki Masashige https://asiamedals.info/threads/kus...-table-medal-and-watch-fob.24513/#post-351691

昭和十四年 - 1939

海軍検定褒賞 - Navy Proficiency Test Award

 

Sailor from the battleship Fuso with award plate and award certificated issued on October 31, 1939.

Fusō /扶桑/ was the lead ship of the two Fusō-class dreadnought battleships built for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Launched in 1914 and commissioned in 1915, she initially patrolled off the coast of China, playing no part in World War I. In 1923, she assisted survivors of the Great Kantō earthquake.

Fusō was modernized in 1930–1935 and again in 1937–1941, with improvements to her armor and propulsion machinery and a rebuilt superstructure in the pagoda mast style. With only 14-inch (356 mm) guns, she was outclassed by other Japanese battleships at the beginning of World War II, and played auxiliary roles for most of the war.

Fusō was part of Vice-Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. She was sunk in the early hours of 25 October 1944 by torpedoes and naval gunfire during the Battle of Surigao Strait. Some reports claimed Fusō broke in half, and that both halves remained afloat and burning for an hour; according to survivors' accounts, however, the ship sank after 40 minutes of flooding and caught fire when her fuel bunkers spilled open. Of the few dozen crewmen who escaped, only 10 survived to return to Japan.​

 

Slight color variations are known.

 

Diameter approx. 20.5 mm.
Height approx. 2.5 cm.

 

Cased specimen.

Label of Hattori workshop.