Japanese Battleship Kongo and Her Class (Built As Battlecruisers)

From Wikipedia.

This is the battleship that the Sealion sank.

The Kongo was the lead ship of a class of four battlecruisers and was built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in Britain before World War I.   It was the last major Japanese warship to be built somewhere else than in Japan.  The other three sister ships were built in Japan.

Battlecruisers were somewhat like a battleship, but had less armor, generally somewhat smaller guns and higher speed.  The HMS Hood which was sunk by the German battleship Bismarck was a battle cruiser.

The other three sister shups of the class were the Haruna, Kirisima and the Hiei

During the late 1920s, all but the Hiei were reconstructed and reclassified as battleships.

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS (of the Haruna)

LENGTH:  704 feet

BEAM:  92 feet

SPEED:  27.5 knots

COMPLEMENT:  1,193

ARMAMENT:

Eight 14-inch guns in 4 turrets

Sixteen 6-inch guns

--GreGen