Battleship details
Displacement 31,720 tons
Speed 30.5 knots Full compliment was 1437
Armour, 8 - inch belt and a 3 inch fore and aft protection. The turrets were 9 inch. and the control tower 10- inch. The deck armour was 2.75
inches.
Armament. main armament eight 14 - inch guns in four turrets. fourteen
- 6-inch guns in single turrets and eight 5 - inch anti aircraft guns in
pairs. This was increased on the Haruna and Kongo by June 1944 to
the 5 -inch guns were increased to twelve. twenty - 25mm AA Guns.
This to was increased on the Haruna and Kongo to 94 - 25mm AA Guns. All
four ships carried three aircraft.
This was the first battleship class to have 14 - inch guns in the Japanese
Navy
Haruna Built by Kawasaki and launched on the 14th
December 1913. and was sunk in shallow water on the 28th July 1945
after being attacked by US naval aircraft near Kure
Hiei Built by Yokosuka Naval Yard and launched on the
21st November 1912. This Battleship was lost on the 13th November
1942, during the night action off Guadalcanal. where she sustained over 50 hits
mostly from 8 - inch shells. she was finally sunk by four torpedo's from US
naval aircraft.
Kirishima Built by Mitsubishi at Nagasaki and launched on the 1st
of December 1913 she had a displacement of 31,980 tons slightly heavier than her
sisters. The Kirishima was also lost during the night action of
Guadalcanal. She had been hit by nine 16 inch shells and over fifty 5 -
inch shells, mainly from USS Washington, being totally disabled she was finally
scuttled by her crew.
Kongo Built at VA Dockyard at barrow. and launched on the 18th May
1912. and was lost on the 21st of November 1944. when she blew up after being
hit by a torpedo from the US Submarine Sealion
