Japanese battleship Kongō

Coordinates: 26°09′N 121°23′E / 26.150°N 121.383°E / 26.150; 121.383
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For other ships with the same name, see Japanese ship Kongō.

Kongō on sea trials, off the coast of Tateyama, 14 November 1936
History
Empire of Japan
NameKongō
NamesakeMount Kongō
Ordered1911
BuilderVickers Shipbuilding Company, Barrow-in-Furness
Laid down17 January 1911
Launched18 May 1912
Commissioned16 August 1913
Stricken20 January 1945
FateSunk by USS Sealion in the Formosa Strait, 21 November 1944
General characteristics
Class and typeKongō-class battlecruiser
Displacement36,600 long tons (37,187 t)[1]
Length222 m (728 ft 4 in)[1]
Beam31 m (101 ft 8 in)[1]
Draught9.7 m (31 ft 10 in)[1]
PropulsionSteam turbines, 4 shafts
Speed30 knots (35 mph; 56 km/h)[1]
Range10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)[1]
Complement1360
Armament
Armor
Kongō on the ways at Barrow, showing two of the propellers and the port rudder, Scientific American, 1913

Kongō (金剛, named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formally commissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.

Kongō underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy rebuilt her as a

Battle of Singapore
.

Kongō fought in many major naval actions of the

Formosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by a submarine in the Second World War.[4][a]

Design and construction

See also: Kongō-class battlecruiser

Kongō was the first of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Kongō-class battlecruisers, which were almost as large, costly and well-armed as battleships, but which traded off armored protection for higher speeds. These were designed by the British naval engineer George Thurston[5] and were ordered in 1910 in the Japanese Emergency Naval Expansion Bill after the commissioning of HMS Invincible in 1908.[6] These four battlecruisers of the Kongō class were designed to match the naval capabilities of the battlecruisers of the other major naval powers at the time, and they have been called the battlecruiser versions of the British (formerly Turkish) battleship HMS Erin.[1][7] 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.[1][7]

The

fitting-out began in mid-1912.[7] All parts used in her construction were manufactured in the U.K.[1] Kongō was completed on 16 April 1913.[1]

Siemens-Vickers Scandal

Main article: Siemens scandal

In January 1914, a telegram leaked from Siemens' Tokyo office to Reuters along with further reporting by The New York Times and The Asahi Shimbun led to an investigation by Japanese authorities which revealed a pattern of bribery and kickbacks by German and English armaments corporations. Siemens had been paying senior Japanese officials a secret 15% kickback, until Vickers had outbid them by offering 25%. Vickers had paid 210,000 yen to Admiral Fuji of the Imperial Japanese Navy procurement in 1911 and 1912, and 40,000 yen to Vice Admiral Matsumoto Kazu, related to obtaining the contract for building Kongō. Kazu was court-martialed in May 1914, fined 400,000 yen and sentenced to 3 years in prison. As a result of the Siemens-Vickers Scandal revolving around the contracts of building Kongō, the government of Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonnohyōe resigned March 23, 1914. Senior executives of the Mitsui corporation, Japanese partners of Vickers, also resigned.[8][9]

Kongō on full power trials 8 May 1913

Armament

Originally, Kongō's main battery was designed to consist of ten 12-inch (305 mm) main guns. However, her builders,

armor-piercing shells 38,770 yards (19.14 nmi; 35.45 km) at a rate of about two shells per minute.[12] 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 (356 mm) guns.[13] Her main guns carried ammunition for 90 shots, and they had an approximate barrel lifetime of 250 to 280 shots.[11] In 1941, separate dyes were introduced for the armor-piercing shells of the four Kongō-class battleships to assist with targeting, with Kongō's armor-piercing shells using red dye.[11]

The

Type 96 antiaircraft rapid-fire cannons.[15]

Armor

Being a battlecruiser, Kongō's armor was fairly thin. She was equipped with a 6- to 8-inch (152–203 mm) main belt. Kongō deck armor consisted of armor plating ranging from 1-inch (25 mm), 1.5-inches (38 mm), to 2.75-inches (7 cm), depending on the area. She was equipped with nine-inch (229 mm) barbette armor protecting the ammunition to her main guns, as well as turret armor consisting of 10-inch (254 mm) turret faces, and 9-inch (229 mm) plating over the sides and rear.[16]

Service history

1913–1929: Battlecruiser

Japanese battlecruiser Kongo as first built

On 16 August 1913, Kongō was completed and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy (I.J.N.). Twelve days later, she departed from Portsmouth headed for Japan.

Sasebo Naval Base for upgrades to her searchlights. On 3 October 1915, Kongō and Hiei participated in the sinking of the old Imperator Nikolai I as a practice target. She was a Russian pre-dreadnought that had been captured in 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War that had next served as an I.J.N. warship.[18] With the defeat of the German East Asia Squadron by the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, there was little or no need for I.J.N. operations in the Pacific Ocean. Kongō spent the rest of World War I either based at Sasebo or on patrol off the coast of China.[6] In December 1918, following the end of the hostilities of World War I, Kongō was placed in "Second Reserve". In April 1919, she was fitted with a new seawater flooding system for her ammunition magazines.[6]

With the conclusion of World War I, and the signing of the

armored main decks.[20] By the time that the Washington Naval Treaty had been fully implemented in Japan, only three classes of World War I type capital ships remained active: the Ise-class battleships, the Kongō-class battlecruisers, and the Fusō-class battleships.[21]

In April 1923, Kongō gave transportation to Crown Prince Hirohito during his official visit to the Japanese possession of Taiwan. On 14 June 1924, she collided with Submarine No. 62 during maneuvers.[22] In November 1924, Kongō docked at Yokosuka, where modifications were made to her main armament, increasing the elevation of her main guns and improving her fire-control systems. In 1927, Kongō underwent major modifications to her superstructure, rebuilding it into the pagoda mast style to accommodate the growing number of fire-control systems for her main guns.[23] In May 1928, her steering equipment was upgraded, before she was placed in reserve in preparation for major modifications and reconstruction in 1929–31.[6]

1929–1935: Reconstruction into battleship

Kongō in 1931, following her first reconstruction

Prohibited by the Washington Treaty from constructing new capital ships until 1931, Japan resorted to upgrading their World War I era battleships and battlecruisers. Beginning in September 1929, Kongō underwent extensive modernization and modification in drydock at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.

Anti-torpedo bulges were added along the waterline, as permitted by the Washington Treaty.[7] She was refitted to accommodate three Type 90 Model 0 floatplanes, though no aircraft catapults were fitted.[15] 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.[15] Kongō's forward funnel was removed, and her second funnel was enlarged and lengthened. The modifications to her hull increased her armor weight from 6,502 to 10,313 long tons, directly violating the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.[7] In March 1931, Kongō—now capable of a speed of 29 knots (54 km/h)—was reclassified as a battleship.[15]

On 22 April 1930, Japan signed the London Naval Treaty, placing further restrictions on the signatories' naval forces. Several of her older battleships were scrapped, and no new capital ships were built as replacements.[24] After minor fitting-out work, Kongō's reconstruction begun in September 1929 and was declared complete on 31 March 1931. 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. Additional rangefinders and searchlights were fitted to her superstructure in January 1932, and Captain Nobutake Kondō assumed command of the vessel in December. In 1933, aircraft catapults were fitted between the two rear turrets.[6]

On 25 February 1933, following a report by the

Nazi German naval attaché to Japan, Captain Paul Wenneker, as part of a gunnery demonstration.[6]

Kongō off the coast of Amoy (present day Xiamen) in 1938

1935–1941: Fast battleship

On 1 June 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 (7.9 m) 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.[7] In addition, her bridge was completely reconstructed according to Japan's pagoda mast style of forward superstructure,[15] and catapults were added to support three Nakajima E8N or Kawanishi E7K reconnaissance and spotter floatplanes.[26]

Kongō's armor 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 (127 to 203 mm) were added to reinforce the main armored belt.[27] The turret armor was strengthened to 10 inches (254 mm), while 4 inches (102 mm) were added to portions of the deck armor.[27] Kongō's ammunition magazine protection was also strengthened to 4.0 inches (10 cm).[7] This reconstruction was finished on 8 January 1937.[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.[15] Despite this reclassification, however, Kongō could still very much be considered a battlecruiser in nature.[10]

In February 1937, Kongō was assigned to the

Raizo Tanaka assumed command of Kongō. From November 1940 to April 1941, additional armor was added to Kongō's armament barbettes and ammunition tubes, while ventilation and firefighting equipment was also improved. In August 1941, she was assigned to the Third Battleship Division under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa alongside her fully modified sister warships Hiei, Kirishima and the Haruna.[6]

1942: Pacific War service

Kongō and Haruna departed from the

Indochina for three days in mid-December to protect a reinforcement convoy traveling to Malaya, and again on 18 December to cover the Japanese Army's landing at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the Philippines. The Main Body departed Cam Ranh Bay in French Indochina on 23 December bound for Taiwan, arriving two days later.[6] In January 1942, Kongō and the heavy cruisers Takao and Atago provided distant cover for air attacks on Ambon Island.[6]

On 21 February, Kongō was joined by Haruna, four fast

Admiral James Somerville.[31] On 9 April, one of Haruna's reconnaissance seaplanes spotted the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes south of Trincomalee. On the same day, Japanese air attacks sank the carrier,[31] and Kongō was attacked but missed by nine British medium bombers. Having crippled the offensive capability of Britain's Eastern Fleet, the Third Battleship Division returned to Japan. Kongō reached Sasebo on 22 April. From 23 April to 2 May, Kongō was drydocked for reconfiguration of her antiaircraft armament.[6]

On 27 May 1942, Kongō sortied with Hiei and the

Truk Naval Base in the Central Pacific north of the equator.[33]

In the aftermath of the

airfield and then withdraw before being subjected to air attack from either land-based warplanes or American aircraft carriers.[34] On the night of 13–14 October, these two battleships shelled the area of Henderson Field from a distance of about 16,000 yards (15,000 m), firing 973 14-inch high-explosive shells. In the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war,[28] 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.[35] A large Japanese troop and supply convoy reached Guadalcanal on the next day.[34]

During the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942, Kongō was attacked by four Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, but she received no hits. In mid-November, this battleship and other warships provided distant cover for the unsuccessful mission by the I.J.N. to bombard Henderson Field again and to deliver more Army reinforcements to Guadalcanal. On 15 November 1942, following the Japanese defeat and the sinking of Hiei and Kirishima during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the Third Battleship Division returned to Truk, where it remained for the rest of 1942.[6]

1943: Movement between bases

a drawing of Kongō from the starboard side
Kongō in her 1944 configuration

Throughout 1943, Kongō engaged no enemy targets. In late January 1943, she participated in "

U.S. Army's invasion of Attu Island, Kongō sortied alongside the battleship Musashi, the Third Battleship Division, two fleet carriers, two cruisers, and nine destroyers. Three days later, the American submarine USS Sawfish spotted this naval task force, but she was unable to attack it. On 22 May 1943, the task force arrived in Yokosuka, where it was joined by an additional three fleet carriers and two light cruisers. This force was disbanded when Attu fell to the U.S. Army before the necessary preparations for a counterattack had been finished.[6]

On 17 October 1943, Kongō again left Truk as part of a larger task force consisting of five battleships, three fleet carriers, eight heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and numerous destroyers. These sortied in response to U.S. Navy air raids on Wake Island. No contact between the two forces was made, and the Japanese task force returned to Truk on 26 October 1943. She soon left Truk for home waters, and on 16 December 1943, Kongō arrived at Sasebo for refits and training in the Inland Sea.[7]

1944: Combat and loss

Kongō under attack during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, 20 June 1944

In January 1944, Kongō was dry-docked for a reconfiguration of her anti-aircraft suite. Four 6-inch guns and a pair of twin 25 mm mounts were removed and replaced with six twin 5-inch guns and four triple 25 mm mounts.

Tawitawi, where they were joined by Vice-Admiral Takeo Kurita's "Force C". On 13 June, Ozawa's Mobile Fleet departed from Tawitawi bound for the Mariana Islands.[37] During the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Kongō escorted Japanese fast carriers, and remained undamaged in counterattacks from US carrier aircraft on 20 June.[4] When she returned to Japan, 13 triple and 40 single 25-mm mounts were added to her anti-aircraft armament, for a total of over 100 mounts. In August, two more 6-inch guns were removed and another eighteen single mounts installed.[26]

Battle of Leyte Gulf

Main Article: Battle of Leyte Gulf

In October 1944, Kongō departed from Lingga in preparation for "Operation Sho-1", Japan's counterattack during the

Battle of the Sibuyan Sea. 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. She targeted various destroyers, but to no avail in the beginning parts of the battle, before scoring a hit with her main battery to the bridge of the destroyer USS Hoel.[6]

It's worth noting that for the longest time, it was believed that Kongō scored three hits with her 14-inch (356 mm) guns on the destroyer USS Johnston shortly after the valiant destroyer crippled the heavy cruiser Kumano, severe damage that cut Johnston's speed to 17 knots and took out all but two of her 5-inch guns, and according to the state of her wreck, split her in two and sank her a couple of hours later while under fire from a Japanese destroyer line.[39][40] On the contrary, Japanese records display that Kongō was blinded by a rain squall and unable to engage enemy ships at the time Johnston was hit, but fellow battleship Yamato claimed numerous hits with both her main and secondary battery on a US "cruiser" at the exact moment Johnston was hit by what is now commonly accepted as three 18.1-inch (46 cm) shells from Yamato, as well as three hits from Yamato's 6.1-inch (155 mm) secondary guns. Kongō in all reality failed to score a single hit on Johnston and played no role in her crippling and sinking.[41][42][43]

Kongō then targeted the escort carrier Gambier Bay, claiming a hit with her main battery. However, said hit was also claimed by the aforementioned battleship Yamato, which is widely agreed upon to have scored the hit due to having the shorter range and the correct firing angle, and indeed, Yamato would be awarded credit for the hit by Japanese admiralty.[44] She then scored numerous hits on Hoel and the destroyer Heermann, heavily contributing to the former's sinking. At 09:12, she sank the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts. After a fierce defensive action by the American ships, which sank three Japanese heavy cruisers, Admiral Kurita elected to withdraw, ending the battle.[45] While retreating, Kongō suffered damage from five near misses from attacking aircraft. The fleet arrived at Brunei on 28 October.[6]

Sinking

On 16 November, following a US air raid on Brunei, Kongō, along with

Formosa along with the destroyers Hamakaze and Isokaze as escort.[46] Within fifteen minutes of detaching from the main force, Kongō was listing 45 degrees and flooding uncontrollably. At 5:18 the ship lost all power and the order was given to abandon ship.[47] 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.[4]

Kongō is believed to have sunk in 350 feet (110 m) of water approximately 55 nautical miles (102 km; 63 mi) northwest of Keelung. She was one of only three British-built battleships sunk by submarine attack during World War II. The other two were the British Revenge-class battleship HMS Royal Oak and the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship HMS Barham.

See also

  • List by death toll of ships sunk by submarines

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Shinano was laid down as a Yamato-class battleship, but by the time of her sinking by USS Archerfish she had been completed as an aircraft carrier.

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Gardiner and Gray (1980), p. 234
  2. ^ a b DiGiulian, Tony (2010). "Japanese 6"/50". Navweaps.com. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
  3. ^ Stille (2008), p. 17
  4. ^ a b c Stille (2007), p. 20
  5. ^ a b c "Kongo-class Battleship". Combined Fleet. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Bob Hackett; Sander Kingsepp; Lars Ahlberg. "IJN Battleship KONGO: Tabular Record of Movement". Combined Fleet. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Jackson (2008), p. 27
  8. ISBN 978-0824818197
    .
  9. ^ "Siemens Affäre: Dunkle Machenschaften Made in Germany" [Siemens Affair: Dark Machinations Made in Germany]. Der Spiegel (in German). 14 September 2008. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  10. ^ a b IJN Kongo - Guide 174, retrieved 1 April 2023
  11. ^ a b c DiGiulian, Tony (2009). "Japanese 14"/45 (35.6 cm) 41st Year Type". Navweaps.com. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
  12. ^ "Japanese Naval Ordnance: 14"/45 caliber". Combined Fleet. Retrieved 11 February 2009.
  13. ^ Jackson (2000), p. 48
  14. ^ a b DiGiulian, Tony (2008). "Japanese 5"/40". Navweaps.com. Retrieved 26 February 2009.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g Stille (2008), p. 16.
  16. ^ dreadnaughtz (24 February 2021). "Kongō class Fast Battleships (1912)". naval encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  17. ^ Stille (2008), p. 14
  18. ^ McLaughlin (2003), pp. 44–45
  19. ^ Jackson (2000), p. 67.
  20. ^ a b Jackson (2000), p. 68.
  21. ^ Jackson (2000), p. 69
  22. ^ Airship Investigation: Report of Col. Henry Breckenridge, Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1933, p. 56.
  23. ^ Stille (2008), p. 15
  24. ^ a b c Jackson (2000), p. 72.
  25. ^ Willmott (2002), p. 35
  26. ^ a b c d e Stille (2008), p. 18
  27. ^ a b McCurtie (1989), p. 185.
  28. ^ a b c Stille (2008), p. 19
  29. ^ Willmott (2002), p. 56
  30. ^ Boyle (1998), p. 368
  31. ^ a b Boyle (1998), p. 370
  32. ^ Schom (2004), p. 296
  33. ^ Willmott (2002), p. 100
  34. ^ a b Schom (2004), p. 382
  35. ^ Swanston (2007), p. 220
  36. ^ Swanston (2007), p. 223
  37. ^ Willmott (2002), p. 141
  38. ^ Steinberg (1980), p. 49
  39. ^ Dogfights: U.S. Beats Back the Japanese Navy (S1, E8) | Full Episode, retrieved 16 April 2023
  40. ^ Newly Released Computer Model of USS Johnston Shipwreck Displays Evidence of Explosions, retrieved 16 April 2023
  41. ^ Lundgren (2014), pp. 70, 78
  42. ^ Hackett, Bob; Kingsepp, Sander. "IJN Battleship YAMATO: Tabular Record of Movement". Combined Fleet. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  43. ^ "Yamato and Musashi Internet Photo Archive". ultimatebattleshipyamatosite.tripod.com. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  44. ^ Lundgren (2014), p. 131
  45. ^ Boyle (1998), p. 508
  46. ^ a b Wheeler (1980), p. 183
  47. ^ Wheeler (1980), p. 184

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kongō.

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