Japan's Kongo-class Battleships Were a British Design - In 1911, few in the UK could have ever expected that the Japanese would become a naval powerhouse – and certainly no one in the British Admiralty could have expected that the Royal Navy would have to face Japan in a future war.

That fact explains how the Kongo-class battleships were actually the most active capital ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. Though not as powerful or certainly as well known as the Yamato-class, the four ships of the Kongo-class participated in most of the major engagements of the war.

The lead warship Kongo ("Indestructible Diamond" and named for Mount Kong) was designed by British naval engineer Sir George Thurston prior to the First World War. It is now understood that Tokyo ordered the warship to study British techniques.

Kongo was constructed at Barrow-in-Furness in the UK by the Vickers Shipbuilding Company – becoming the last Japanese capital ship to be constructed outside of Japan. Originally designated as a battlecruiser, she was based on Thurston's design for the Turkish battleship Re adiye, which was requisitioned by the British Navy at the start of the First World War and renamed HMS Erin.

The design changes also impressed the British Navy enough that she influenced the design of the forthcoming Tiger-class battlecruisers.

More importantly, while the UK and Japan were allied at the time of the warship's construction, the Kong and her sister ships would go to see service against American, British, and Dutch forces during the Second World War.

Kongo-Class: Japan Copied The Design

After being delivered to the Japanese, Kongo served as a floating blueprint for three additional warships of the class. The second ship, Hiei was constructed in Japan at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal, reportedly with some British-made parts; whilst the subsequent Kirishima and Haruna were built in Japan with all Japanese-made parts. The former was built at the Mitsubishi Shipyard in Nagasaki and the latter at the Kawasaki Dockyard in Kobe.

The four warships were amongst the most heavily armed warships in any navy when they were completed.

Each was equipped with eight 14-inch (356mm) main guns spread across four large turrets – two forward and two aft – as well as sixteen 6-inch (152mm) guns, eight 3-inch (76mm) guns, and eight 21-inch (530mm) torpedo tubes. The ships' armor included an eight-inch belt, 2.75 inches on the deck, and 9 inches on the turret face, while each displaced 36,601 tons. They were powered by four Brown-Curtis turbines with four shafts, and could reach speeds of 26 knots.

As part of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the warships spent the First World War patrolling the waters of the Pacific. At one point during that conflict, the Royal Navy even asked to "borrow" the Kongo, but the request was denied. At that point neither side could have known however that they'd be wartime enemies less than three decades later.

Then Japan Improved the Class

During the inter-war years, all four of the Kongo-class battlecruisers were significantly upgraded; with the enhancements including improved propulsion and protection of additional armor, the removal of the torpedo tubs and replacement of the boilers as well as the addition of anti-aircraft weapons.

Following the upgrades, the battlecruisers were even re-rated as battleships.

Yet, whilst officially classified as battleships, compared to the other capital warships of the late 1930s and 1940s, the Kongo-class was considered lightly armed and lightly armored.

The Imperial Japanese Navy made good use of the warships during the Second World War. In the early stages of the Pacific War, Kong and Haruna provided support for the invasions of Malaya and the Philippines, and later were part of the Japanese invasion fleet at Java. Hiei and Kirishima provided cover for the carrier force, while all four ships took part in the Japanese raid into the Indian Ocean from March to April 1942. That marked the only time during World War II that all four ships of the class served together.

Yet, within months, two of the warships were lost – and none survived the war.

Just months after that eventful raid, Hiei and Kirishima were sunk off Guadalcanal in November 1942, while the British-built Kong was torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. submarine USS Sealion on November 21, 1944. Haruna was the last of the class to survive and she was hit and sunk by U.S. carrier-based aircraft off Kure on June 27, 1945. Her remnants were raised from the sea floor in 1946 and she was broken up over the course of two months.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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