Kongō-class battlecruiser / battleship
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 |
