Kongo-Class Japanese Battleships-- Part 2

The Kongo-class battleships of the Japanese Navy were among the most active capital ships during the war.  The Hiei and the Kirishima acted as escorts during the attack on Pearl Harbor while the Kongo and Haruna supported the invasion of Singapore.  

All four participated in the  battles of Midway and Guadalcanal.  The Hiei and the Kirishima were both lost at the Naval battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942.  The Haruna and Kongo both shelled  the American Henderson Field airbase on Guadalcanal.

The two remaining Kongo-class battleships spent most of 1943 moving between Japanese naval bases before participating  in the major naval campaigns of 1944.  They both engaged American naval forces during the Battle of Leyte Gulf  in late October 1944.

The Kongo was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion in November 1944, while the Haruna was sunk at her moorings by an air attack on  Kure Naval Base in late July 1945, but later raised and scrapped.

These were the Japanese ships cartoons used to show with their huge foremast areas.  Well, after looking at pictures of the rest of the ten Japanese battleships I'd have to say all had those huge foremast areas.

--GreGen