Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Lead Ship, Fast Battleship Kongō pictured post refit at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on January 13th 1937...On June 1st 1935, Kongō was dry-docked at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in preparation for upgrades that would enable her to escort Japan's growing fleet of Aircraft Carriers. Her stern was lengthened by 26 feet to improve her fineness ratio and her 16 older boilers were removed and then replaced with 11 oil-fired Kampon Boilers and newer geared turbines. In addition, her bridge was completely reconstructed according to Japan's pagoda mast style of forward superstructure, and catapults were added to support three Nakajima E8N or Kawanishi E7K reconnaissance and spotter floatplanes.
Kongō's armour was also extensively upgraded. Her main belt was strengthened to a uniform thickness of eight inches (up from varying thicknesses of six to eight inches), and also diagonal bulkheads of depths ranging from 5 to 8 inches were added to reinforce the main armored belt. Her turret armour was strengthened to 10 inches, while 4 inches were added to portions of the deck armour. Kongō's ammunition magazine protection was also strengthened to 4.0 inches. This reconstruction was finished on January 8th 1937. Capable of greater than 30 knots, despite the significant increase in her hull displacement, Kongō was now reclassified as a Fast Battleship..On November 16th 1944 following a US air raid on Brunei, Kongō along with Yamato, Nagato and the rest of the First Fleet, departed from Brunei bound for Kure in preparation for a major reorganization of the fleet and battle repairs. On November 20th, they entered the Formosa Strait. Shortly after midnight on November 21st, Balao Class Submarine USS Sealion made radar contact with the fleet at 44,000 yards. Maneuvering into position at 02:45, Sealion fired six bow torpedoes at Kongō followed by three stern torpedoes at Nagato fifteen minutes later. 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. The torpedoes flooded two of Kongō's boiler rooms, but she was still able to make 16 knots. By 05:00, she had slowed to 11 knots and was given permission to break off from the fleet and head to the port of Keelung in Formosa along with the Destroyers Hamakaze and Isokaze as escort. Within fifteen minutes of detaching from the main force, Kongō was listing 45 degrees and flooding uncontrollably. At 5:18 she lost all power and the order was given to abandon ship. 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. She was one of only three British-built Battleships sunk by Submarine attack during World War II. The other two were British Revenge-Class Battleship HMS Royal Oak and Queen Elizabeth-Class Battleship HMS Barham.
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designeraccd
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Four views of the hulk of HIEI from a few years ago. She was the most modernized, but was the first of the class to be sunk. All views taken by RV PETREL, 2019.

Wreck of First Japanese Battleship Sunk By U.S. Navy in WWII Found (from USNI)

A team of researchers from the organization started by billionaire philanthropist Paul Allen found the wreck of the first Japanese battleship sunk by the U.S. Navy during World War II.

The Imperial Japanese Navy ship Hiei was found lying upside down on the sea floor about 2,952 feet below the surface, more than 76 years after sinking in waters northwest of Savo Island in the Solomon Islands chain, according to an Instagram release from the team aboard research vessel (R/V) Petrel.


During the battle of Guadalcanal on Nov. 13 and 14, 1942, Hiei was part of a Japanese task force that engaged in close-range battles with U.S. Navy ships led by Rear Adm. Daniel J. Callaghan aboard heavy cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38), according to the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command.

At one point during the battle, which was waged during the middle of the night, Hiei almost collided with U.S. destroyer USS Laffey (DD-459). The two ships fired on each other as they passed within 20 feet of each other, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

Laffey would sink during the battle. Hiei is believed to have been severely damaged by salvos fired from San Francisco, which also received critical damage, including a hit to the bridge that killed Callaghan, his staff, and ship commanding officer Capt. Cassin Young, according to Naval History and Heritage Command.

By daybreak, Hiei was reported 30 miles northeast of Savo with “forward turrets smoking and aft turrets dangling,” according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. A light cruiser and four destroyers reportedly accompanied Hiei as it steamed away.

Multiple sorties of Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo-bombers, Douglass SBD Dauntless dive bombers and Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters flew from USS Enterprise (CV-6). Even a B-17, flying from the island of Espiritu Santo, dropped a 500-pound bomb on Hiei, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Hiei was reportedly last seen by U.S. Navy forces at 6 p.m., about five miles northwest of Savo, on fire and offloading crew to three Japanese destroyers nearby. The battleship sank at some point during the night, with 188 crew members killed in action, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.


A very savage night time naval battle; the USN operating a hastily thrown together force with results that were really better than could have been expected. However. many good sailors died because of this scratch force that had not trained together........... :cry: DFO
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Lead Ship, Battlecruiser Kongō pictured during her modernisation refit at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on January 20th 1931.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Kongō Class fast Battleship Haruna pictured on sea trials off Cape Katsuriki on January 1st 1933
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Lead Ship, Dreadnought Battleship Kongō pictured on sea trials off Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on February 1st 1933.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Keel laying ceremony for Kongō-class Battlecruiser Kirishima at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Yards at Nagasaki on March 17th 1912.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Kongō Class Battlecruiser Hiei pictured off Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on March 23rd 1914.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Lead Ship, Battlecruiser Kongō pictured in the Irish Sea on sea trials on April 20th 1913.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Kongō Class Battlecruiser Hiei pictured on sea trials on April 26th 1914..Laid down in 1911 at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, Hiei was formally commissioned in 1914. She patrolled off the Chinese coast on several occasions during World War I, and helped with rescue efforts following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Starting in 1929, Hiei was converted to a Gunnery Training Ship to avoid being scrapped under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. She served as Emperor Hirohito's transport in the mid-1930s. Starting in 1937, she underwent a full-scale reconstruction that completely rebuilt her superstructure, upgraded her powerplant, and equipped her with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing fleet of Aircraft Carriers, she was reclassified as a Fast Battleship. On the eve of the US entry into World War II, she sailed as part of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo's Combined Fleet, escorting the six Carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941.
As part of the Third Battleship Division, Hiei participated in many of the Imperial Japanese Navy's early actions in 1942, providing support for the invasion of the Dutch East Indies as well as the Indian Ocean raid of April 1942. During the Battle of Midway, she sailed in the Invasion Force under Admiral Nobutake Kondō, before being redeployed to the Solomon Islands during the Battle of Guadalcanal. She escorted Japanese Carrier forces during the battles of the Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands, before sailing as part of a bombardment force under Admiral Kondō during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. On the evening of November 13th 1942, Hiei engaged American Cruisers and Destroyers alongside her sister ship Kirishima. After inflicting heavy damage on American Cruisers and Destroyers, Hiei was crippled by American vessels. Subjected to an air attack from the USS Enterprise, she was scuttled on the evening of November 13th 1942.
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Brian James
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Re: Battlecruisers: Kongo Class

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Kongō Class Battleship Kirishima pictured with Fleet Carrier Akagi at Sakumo Bay on April 27th 1939.
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