[3][N 1] When her reconstruction was completed on 31 March 1931, she was reclassified as a battleship. [13] To increase her speed and power, all 36 of her Yarrow boilers were removed, and then replaced with 16 newer boilers, and Brown-Curtis direct-drive turbines were installed. [40][45] While trying to evade an attack at 14:00, Hiei lost her emergency rudder and began to show a list to stern and starboard. [3][30] Kongō and Hiei were part of the Second Fleet Main Body during the Battle of Midway, but were diverted north on 9 June to assist in the invasion of the Aleutian Islands. This force was disbanded when Attu fell to the U.S. Army before the necessary preparations for a counterattack had been finished. They were designed to produce a total of 65,000 shaft horsepower (48,000 kW), using steam provided by 36 Yarrow or Kampon water-tube boilers, with working pressures ranging from 17.1 to 19.2 atm (1,733 to 1,945 kPa; 251 to 282 psi). In 1935, her superstructure was completely rebuilt, her speed was increased, and she was equipped with launch catapults for floatplanes. Three days later, the American submarine USS Sawfish spotted this naval task force, but she was unable to attack it. She capsized and sank at 03:25 with the loss of 212 of her crew. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Background History [edit | edit source] Kongō (金剛, "Indestructible Diamond") was the first of the Kongo-class battlecruiser. The other two were the British Revenge-class battleship HMS Royal Oak and the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Barham. [40] In 1933, she was refitted as an Imperial Service Ship and—following further reconstruction in 1934—became the Emperor's ship in late 1935. The Kongō and Hiei attained 27.54 knots (51.00 km/h; 31.69 mph) and 27.72 knots (51.34 km/h; 31.90 mph) with 78,275 shp (58,370 kW) and 76,127 shp (56,768 kW), respectively. [1] In 1911, the Japanese Diet passed the Emergency Naval Expansion Bill, authorizing the construction of one battleship (Fusō) and four armoured cruisers, to be designed by British naval architect George Thurston. [7], On 25 February 1933, following a report by the Lytton Commission, the League of Nations agreed that Japan's invasion of China had violated Chinese sovereignty. Last Part of the Story from Battleship "Kongo"Free from my Designed!.. [37][40] Hiei sailed in November 1941 as an escort of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's carrier force which attacked Pearl Harbor. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}26°09′N 121°23′E / 26.150°N 121.383°E / 26.150; 121.383, 1929–1935: Reconstruction into battleship, the invasion of Thailand and the Malayan Peninsula, List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines, "Japanese 14"/45 (35.6 cm) 41st Year Type", Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1924, Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in November 1944, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Japanese_battleship_Kongō&oldid=999180737, Second Sino-Japanese War naval ships of Japan, World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. [40][43] Following carrier escort duty during the Battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa-Cruz, Hiei departed as the flagship of Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe's Combat Division 11 to bombard Henderson Field on the night of 12–13 November 1942. [2], The design of the Kongō-class battlecruisers came about as a result of the IJN's modernization programs, as well as the perceived need to compete with the British Royal Navy. Kongō (金剛, “Indestructible Diamond”), named for the mountain, was the first battleship of her class, serving in both the first and second world wars. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Kongō (金剛, "indestructible", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. [37][40][42] She participated in carrier actions against Ceylon and Midway Island, and was subsequently drydocked in July. Swanston, Alexander & Swanston, Malcolm (2007). During the second reconstruction, the ships were fitted with four to eight twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine-guns, later replaced by 25-millimeter (0.98 in) gun mounts. [12] Kongō was also armed with many 1-inch (2.5 cm) antiaircraft machine guns. Haruna and Kongō engaged American surface vessels during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in late October 1944. The turbines were arranged in two compartments, separated by a centerline longitudinal bulkhead; both compartments were situated between turrets No. The main lower belt was strengthened to be a uniform thickness of 8 inches, while diagonal bulkheads of a depth ranging from 5 to 8 inches (127 to 203 mm) reinforced the main armoured belt. [4] In September, Kongō embarked with Hiei, Haruna, Kirishima, three carriers, and numerous smaller warships in response to the U.S. Marine Corps's amphibious landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. On 1 December 1931, two months after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Kongō was assigned to the First Battleship Division and also designated the flagship of the Combined Fleet. [1] Capable of greater than 30 knots (56 km/h), despite the significant increase in her hull displacement, Kongō was now reclassified as a fast battleship. [7], On 27 May 1942, Kongō sortied with Hiei and the heavy cruisers Atago, Chōkai, Myōkō, and Haguro as part of Admiral Nobutake Kondō's invasion force during the Battle of Midway. Kongō returned to the port of Yokosuka, Japan, on 12 September, and one month later, she was assigned to the First Battleship Division. IJN Kongo was a Japanese battleship featured in the game. The ships had a stowage capacity of 4,200 long tons (4,300 t) of coal and 1,000 long tons (1,000 t) of oil, giving them a range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph). The Kongō is a semi-reliable battleship that can cause critical damage to smaller enemy ships before going under, particularly other cruisers. A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. The high-pressure turbines drove the wing shafts while the low-pressure turbines drove the inner shafts. One of the first Japanese battleship to be sunk by U.S. forces during World War II has been discovered in the Solomon Islands by a research organization set … [36] Maneuvering into position at 02:45, Sealion fired six bow torpedoes at Kongō followed by three stern torpedoes at Nagato fifteen minutes later. After being sent to the reserve fleet in December 1923, she received a refit during 1924. [1] Her sister ships, Haruna, Kirishima and Hiei, were all completed in Japan. [46] In an extremely confusing melee, Hiei disabled two American heavy cruisers—killing two rear admirals in the process—but was hit by about 85 shells from the guns of cruisers and destroyers, rendering her virtually unmaneuverable. Because of their high speeds, these two battleships could bombard the airfield and then withdraw before being subjected to air attack from either land-based warplanes or American aircraft carriers. Following the loss of the latter on the evening of 13 November, Kirishima subsequently engaged American battleships on the night of 14/15 November. It is available at lvl 24. The Kongō-class battlecruisers were designed with the intention of maximizing speed and maneuverability, and as such were not as heavily armoured as later Japanese capital ships. [1][8] Their heavy armament of 14-inch naval guns and their armor protection (which took up about 23.3% of their approximately 30,000-ton displacements in 1913) were greatly superior to those of any other Japanese capital ship afloat at the time. During their reconstruction in the 1930s, the maximum elevation of the guns was increased to +30 degrees, which increased their maximum range by approximately 900 metres (980 yd). [9], The secondary battery of Kongō originally consisted of sixteen 6-inch (15 cm) 50 caliber guns in single casemates located amidships ("50 calibre" means that the lengths of the guns were 50 times their bore, or 300 inches),[8] eight 3-inch (7.6 cm) guns, and eight submerged 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo tubes. From October 1933 to November 1934, Kongō was the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, before being placed in reserve when the flag was transferred to Yamashiro. Aki (安芸) was one of two Satsuma-class semi-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the first decade of the 20th century. [7] On 11 May 1944, Kongō and Admiral Ozawa's Mobile Fleet departed from Lingga bound for Tawitawi, where they were joined by Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's "Force C". Japanese battleship Kongō Kongō (金剛, "indestructible", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. [4] On 17 May 1943, in response to the U.S. Army's invasion of Attu Island, Kongō sortied alongside Musashi, the Third Battleship Division, two fleet carriers, two cruisers, and nine destroyers. In October, Kongō and her new sister ship Hiei sortied off the Chinese coast in support of Japanese army units during the Siege of Tsingtao. [26] Subsequent developments of Japanese armour technology relied upon a hybrid design of the two variations until drastic changes were made during the design of the Yamato class in 1938. [38] She was removed from the Navy List on 20 January 1945. Arriving at Lingga on 14 March 1944, the division remained for training until 11 May 1944. [11] Her main guns carried ammunition for 90 shots, and they had an approximate barrel lifetime of 250 to 280 shots. One minute after the first salvo was launched, two of the torpedoes were seen to hit Kongō on the port side, while a third sank the destroyer Urakaze with all hands. She managed to inflict superficial damage on USS South Dakota, but she was in turn caught off guard while attacking South Dakota and was crippled by USS Washington. In April 1938, two float planes from Kongō bombed the Chinese town of Foochow during the Second Sino-Japanese War. On 3 August 1914, the German Empire declared war on France and then invaded via Belgium, sparking the beginning of World War I in the West. On 25 October, during the Battle off Samar, Kongō—as part of Admiral Kurita's Centre Force—engaged the US 7th Fleet's "Taffy 3", a battlegroup of escort carriers and destroyers. [15] Haruna bombarded American positions at Henderson Field at Guadalcanal, and provided escort to carriers during the Solomon Islands campaign. Japanese battleship Kongō Kongō (金剛, "indestructible", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. [7], With the conclusion of World War I, and the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty on 6 February 1922, the size of the I.J.N. [15] On the eve of the commencement of World War II, Haruna sailed as part of Vice-Admiral Nobutake Kondō's Southern Force. [12], In their first reconstruction during the late 1920s, the ships were reboilered with 10, 11 (Hiei) or 16 (Haruna) Kampon boilers, and their fuel stowage was rearranged to accommodate 2,661 long tons (2,704 t) of coal and 3,292 long tons (3,345 t) of oil. 16005 Authors: Waldemar Goralswki & Grzegorz Nowak ISBN: 978-83-61220-15-2 By Ray Mehlberger MSRP: $26.95 In 1933, aircraft catapults were fitted between the two rear turrets. [10] In keeping with the Japanese doctrine of deploying more powerful vessels before their opponents, Kongō and her sister ships were the first vessels in the world equipped with 14-inch (36 cm) guns. These guns were fitted on both sides of the fore and aft superstructures in four twin-gun mounts. The original design featured eight or ten 12-inch (304.8 mm) 50-calibre guns, sixteen 6-inch (152 mm) guns, and eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. [22] During reconstruction, the two foremost 152 mm guns were also removed.[23]. While, Imperial Service Ships were used by Japanese royalty for naval transport, "IJN KIRISHIMA: Tabular Record of Movement", Japanese naval ship classes of World War II, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kongō-class_battlecruiser&oldid=998264290, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph), Sunk by US aircraft, 28 July 1945; broken up from 1946. destroyers that were evacuating Army troops from Guadalcanal. Then Kongō returned to Sasebo Naval Base for upgrades to her searchlights. [13] Anti-torpedo bulges were added along the waterline, as permitted by the Washington Treaty. At 5:24, while the evacuation was under way, the forward 14-inch magazine exploded, and the broken ship sank quickly, with the loss of over 1,200 of her crew, including the commander of the Third Battleship Division and her captain. [27] The upper belt remained unchanged, but was closed by 9-inch bulkheads at the bow and stern of the ships. [46] With her engines largely disabled and listing heavily to starboard, Kirishima was abandoned in the early morning of 15 November 1942. After the signing of the London Naval Treaty in 1930, Hiei was reconfigured as a training ship to avoid being scrapped. was significantly limited, with a ratio of 5:5:3 required between the capital ships of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Japanese Empire, since the latter was responsible for only one ocean, rather than the two of the other countries, and fewer warships for France and Italy. [15] She was overhauled a second time from 1933 to 1935, which additionally strengthened her armour and reclassified her as a fast battleship. In the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war,[24] the bombardment heavily damaged both runways, destroyed almost all of the U.S. Marines' aviation fuel, destroyed or damaged 48 of the Marines' 90 warplanes, and killed 41 Marines. [1], Under the terms of the contract signed with Vickers in November 1910, one member of the Kongō class—the lead ship Kongō—was to be built in Britain and Vickers was to maximize the transfer of naval technology to Japan. Each of these guns had a maximum elevation of +75 degrees, and could fire a 6 kg (13 lb) projectile with a muzzle velocity of 680 m/s (2,200 ft/s) to a maximum height of 7,500 metres (24,600 ft). The design of the ships was from Vickers Design 472C (corresponding to the Japanese design designation B-46). [9], The Kongō-class ships had two sets of Parsons direct-drive steam turbines, except for Haruna's Brown-Curtis turbines, each of which drove two propeller shafts. After serving as a transport and support-ship during the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kirishima escorted the aircraft carrier strikeforce bound for the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Hiei and Kirishima acted as escorts during the attack on Pearl Harbor, while Kongō and Haruna supported the invasion of Singapore. Laid down in 1912 at the Mitsubishi Shipyards in Nagasaki, Kirishima was formally commissioned in 1915 on the same day as her sister ship, Haruna. Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia; Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan; Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through culture or ancestry . She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. 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