Kongo (Family)

Description

The Kongō-class were four battlecruisers designed by the British naval engineer George Thurston for the Imperial Japanese Navy right before world war one, with the lead ship Kongō being the last capital ship to be constructed outside Japan. All her sister ships were completed in Japan. They were initially built and classified as battlecruisers.

During the late 1920s, all but Hiei were reconstructed and reclassified as battleships. After Japan signed the London Naval Treaty in 1930, Hiei was reconfigured as a training ship to avoid being scrapped in compliance with the treaty.

Following Japan's withdrawal from the treaty, all ships underwent another massive remodel in the late 1930s. After the modernization it increased the top speeds for the battleships to over 30 knots and all four were reclassified as fast battleships.

Vehicles

Rank V

• Haruna ₍₁₉₄₅₎ (榛名)

Rank VI

• Kongō ₍₁₉₄₄₎ (金剛)

Vehicles are listed in order of refit year, not build year

History

Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Kongo (金剛)	Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness	17 January 1911	18 May 1912	26 August 1913	Torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion, 21 November 1944
Hiei (比叡)	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal	4 November 1911	21 November 1912	4 August 1914	Sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 13 November 1942
Kirishima (霧島)	Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, Nagasaki	17 March 1912	1 December 1913	19 April 1915	Sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 15 November 1942
Haruna (榛名)	Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, Kobe	16 March 1912	14 December 1913		Sunk by US aircraft, 28 July 1945; broken up from 1946

Japan battleships
Kawachi-class	IJN Settsu
Fusō-class	IJN Fuso · IJN Yamashiro
Ise-class	IJN Ise · IJN Hyuga
Kongō-class	IJN Kongo · IJN Haruna
Nagato-class	IJN Mutsu