IJN Hiei was a battlecruiser (later a battleship) in the Imperial Japanese Navy and the second ship in the Kongo class. The ship was named after Mount Hiei, located on the border of Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures. She was laid down on November 4, 1911, at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal; launched on November 21, 1912; and commissioned on August 4, 1914.

Hiei did not participate in military operations during World War I, though it patrolled the coastal waters of China. After the Washington Naval Treaty was concluded in 1922, Japan had to reduce its fleet. However, the admiralty did not want to scrap Hiei, so it decided to convert her into a training ship. Conversion work began in 1929, but it was suspended in April 1930 due to the London Naval Treaty. However, the conversion was complete by the end of the summer. All weapons, armor, and part of the power plant were removed from the ship. The ship served as a training vessel until 1935. Then, in 1935, she served as an imperial yacht. In 1937, procedures began to return the Hiei to service and convert it into a fast battleship, similar to her sister ships. The modernization lasted until January 31, 1940.

During the Pacific War, Hiei participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor as an escort for an aircraft carrier formation. She subsequently took part in the battles for the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, the Siege of Ceylon, the Battle of Midway, the Battle for the Eastern Solomons, and the Battle near the Santa Cruz Islands. During the Battle of Guadalcanal, Hiei led a formation that was supposed to escort a large convoy. Before meeting up with the convoy on November 12, 1942, however, this formation encountered an American formation. Hiei used its searchlights to target and detect enemy ships, which made her the number one target. She received at least 85 hits from American ships, lost propulsion, and her rudder jammed in one position. The next morning, November 13, American bombers continued to attack Hiei while she was still circling with a list to starboard. In the afternoon, the crew was ordered to abandon ship, and she sank by evening. 188 crew members were killed.

IJN Hiei was introduced in Update 2.49 "Tusk Force" in her 1926 variant. The ship is presented in her pre-modernization state, so she has weak armor, low survivability, and virtually no anti-aircraft defense. However, her main caliber is powerful, and she is quite mobile for a ship of this class.