Difference between revisions of "Kongō (1912)"

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==Bibliography==
 
==Bibliography==
 
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*  Alan Payne, MRINA.  ''Battlecruiser Kongo'' in [[Warship (Journal)|Warship]], Issue 19.
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* Hans Lengerer. ''The Battlecruisers of the Kongô Class'' in Warship 2012.
 
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Revision as of 17:59, 19 June 2012

Kongō
Career Details
Ordered: 1911
Built By: Vickers, Barrow
Laid Down: 17 January, 1911
Launched: 18 May, 1912
Commissioned: 16 August, 1913
Sunk: 21 November, 1944
Struck: 20 January, 1945
General Characteristics
Displacement: 27,500 tons
Length: 653 feet
Beam: 92 feet
Draught: 27 feet 6 inches
Propulsion: 4-shaft Parsons turbines
64,000 ihp
36 Yarrow boilers
Speed: 27 knots
Range: 10,000 nautical miles at 14 Knots
Complement: 1,360
Armament: Eight × 14-inch 45 calibre guns
Sixteen × 6-inch 50 calibre guns
Sixteen × 14-pdr guns

Kongō (金剛, "Vajra" or "Indestructible") was the Imperial Japanese Navy's first dreadnought battlecruiser, and the name-ship of her class. Kongō was the last major Japanese warship to be built in Great Britain. She was upgraded to a battleship rating in the 1930s following reconstruction and served in several major naval operations during the Second World War before being sunk by enemy action in 1944.

Design and Build

In 1908, the commissioning of the battlecruiser HMS Invincible armed with eight 12-inch guns, into the Royal Navy rendered all of the Imperial Japanese Navy's warships obsolete, including those under design. In response, the Japanese Diet passed the 1911 Naval Emergency Expansion bill, funding the design and construction of one battleship and four armoured cruisers. The battleship was to be the Fusō and the first of the cruisers was the Kongō.

Kongō was the last major Japanese warship to be built abroad, being built by Vickers in England. Kongō was the creation of Vickers' chief designer, Sir George Thurston. Freed from the Admiralty's tight design specifications, he came up with what was immediately recognised to be a fine and superbly-balanced warship, mounting eight 14-in main guns. The key feature of the Kongō-class was that it had its main gun turrets all either aft or fore, eliminating the amidship turret which had a poor firing arc.

Kongō was laid down on 17 January, 1911, launched on 18 May, 1912 and completed and sent to Japan on 16 August, 1913. Named after Mount Kongō, Kongō was the first battleship in the world to carry 14 in main armament.

In Command

  • Chief Equipping Officer - Captain Naoe Nakano - 1 December 1912 - 16 August 1913
  • Captain Naoe Nakano - 16 August 1913 - 1 December 1913
  • Captain Shibakichi Yamanaka - 1 December 1913 - 1 December 1914
  • Captain Shuzo Matsuoka - 1 December 1914 - 13 December 1915
  • Captain Chugo Arakawa - 13 December 1915 - 1 December 1916
  • Captain Hansaku Yoshioka - 1 December 1916 - 1 December 1917
  • Captain Kanamaru Kiyotsugu - 1 December 1917 - 9 April 1918
  • Captain Kojuro Nozaki - 9 April 1918 - 20 November 1919
  • Captain Tadatsugu Taijiri - 20 November 1919 - 12 November 1920

Footnotes

Bibliography

  • Alan Payne, MRINA. Battlecruiser Kongo in Warship, Issue 19.
  • Hans Lengerer. The Battlecruisers of the Kongô Class in Warship 2012.

Template:Kongō Class (1912)

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