Japanese Battleship Kongo-- Part 4: The Sinking and Shipwreck

Within 15 minutes of detaching from the main force, the Kongo was listing 45 degrees and flooding uncontrollably.  At 5:18  the ship lost all power and the order was given to abandon ship.

At 5:24, while the evacuation was underway, the forward  14-inch magazine exploded, and the broken ship sank quickly with the loss of over 1,200 of her crew, including the commander of the  Third Battleship  Division and her captain.

The two escorting destroyers, the Hamakaze and Isokaze picked up the few survivors.  The Hamakaze rescued  7 officers and 139 men.  The Isokaze did the same for 6 officers and 85 men.  The total rescued out of the 1360 complement was just 347.

The wreck of the Kongo has not yet been found.  The wreck of the sistership IJN Hiei was found in 2019 by  Paul Allen.

The Kongo is believed to have sunk in  350 feet of water approximately 55 nautical miles northwest of Keelung. 

She was one of only three British-built battleships sunk by submarine attack during World War II.  The other two were the HMS Royal Oak and the HMS Barham.  (Remember, the Kongo was built in Britain.)

--GreGen

Survivor of HMS Royal Oak Sinking Dies

From the August 4, 2014, Herald Scotland.

Bert Pocock, 92, died.  He survived the sinking of the British HMS Royal Oak sinking.  His ship was hit by two torpedoes from the U-47 which had managed to penetrate the defenses of the British home port of Scapa Flow.

Most of its 1,200 men were asleep below deck and over 800 died.

Mr. Pocock was 17 at the time.  he always said the only reason he survived was because he was sleeping next to the ladder to the escape hatch.

--GreGen