The Japanese Battleship Kongo-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The Kongo was named for Mt. Kongo and built originally as a battle cruiser in England but was transformed into a battleship.

It was commissioned in 1913 and during World War I, patrolled off the coast of China during World War I.

It underwent two major reconstructions beginning in 1929 and was stationed off the Chinese coast again during the Second  Sino-Japanese War.

It fought in many engagements in World War II, covering the  Japanese amphibious landings  in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies in 1942 before engaging American forces at the Battle of Midway and during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Throughout 1943 she primarily remained in the Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, Kure Naval Base (near Hiroshima), Sasebo Naval Base (near Nagasaki) and Lingga Roads.  She deployed several times in response to American aircraft carrier raids at island bases across the Pacific

The Kongo also participated in the  Battle of the Philippine Sea and  the Battle of Leyte Gulf  in 1944, engaging and sinking American ships in the latter.  It was torpedoes and sunk by the American submarine USS Sealion while in the Formosa Strait on November  21, 1944, becoming the only Japanese battleship sunk by a submarine during the war.

--GreGen