In May 1942 while conducting gunnery practice along with "Nagato" and "Mutsu", the breech of "Hyūga"s left-hand gun in her No.5 turret exploded, killing 51 crewmen. The two aft magazines were rapidly flooded to save the ship and she returned to Kure for repairs. The turret was deemed not to be repairable and was removed. A circular plate of armour was welded over the barbette and three triple mounts for 2.5 cm AA guns were installed there. While under repair, the ship was fitted with one of the first experimental Type 22 surface-search radar sets in the IJN, but it was removed shortly afterwards.