What a completed Ibuki could still do

What would the wartime service of a completed Ibuki-class heavy cruiser look like?

She would be a useful escort but not a war-changing ship, and would probably be lost to air or submarine attack in the late war.

Ibuki's five twin eight-inch turrets would give her conventional heavy-cruiser firepower. Four twin 5-inch dual-purpose mounts would help in an escort role, while the four twin 25 mm mountings are judged poor. A completed ship might escort a carrier or battleship, possibly accompanying Yamato on her final sortie. Overwhelming air attack or an American submarine is considered a likely end. The assessment is conditional: one additional heavy cruiser would still leave Japan short of the numbers and escort forces it needed.