Just One Japanese Battleship Survived to Japan's Surrender: The Nagato-- Part 1

Japan's surface fleet was decimated during World War II.  Of her battleships, only one was still afloat at the conclusion of the war.

It was the IJN Nagato.  This was one of the ships the submarine USS Sealion fired torpedoes at that day it sank the battleship Kongo and the destroyer Urakaze.  The famed battleship Yamato was also in the convoy that day.

From the August 14, 2015, Diplomat "Imperial Japan's last floating battleship" by Robert Farley.

It entered service in November 1920, displaced 33,000 tons, carried eight 16-inch guns and could make 26.6 knots, a combination that made her one of the most powerful warships in the world at the time.

The Nagato and her sister ship, the Mutsu were  the first two ships of Japan's "eight and eight" program designed to provide the country with eight modern battleships and battlecruisers (the Kongo and her sisters which I have been writing about were four of the battlecruisers).

This fleet would insure Japan's dominance in her region, but the Washington Naval Treaty put a serious hold on battleship construction.

After a pair of interwar  reconstructions, the Nagato served as the  flagship of the combined fleet until the battleship Yamato was commissioned.  Admiral Yammomoto (Yamamoto) gave the final word for the attack on Pearl Harbor from the bridge of this ship.

--GreGen

Japanese Battleships During WW II-- Part 1

From Wikipedia:  "List of Japanese Navy ships and war vessels in World War II.

After writing about the Kongo and her three sister ships which were converted from battlecruisers to battleships, I got to wondering about how many battleships Japan actually had.  It seemed to me that there were a whole lot of them.

I started searching and good old Wikipedia had a complete list of Japanese warships during the war.

I was surprised to see that Japan only had ten battleships other than the Kongo-class.

*************************

FUSO-CLASS:  There was a plan to convert these ships into  Aviation Battleships in 1943.  The plan was cancelled  and the two Ise-Class battleships were converted instead.  

FUSO

YAMASHIRO

*************************

ISE-CLASS  Converted into Aviation Battleships in 1943.  (I'll write more on these interesting ships later this month.)

ISE

HYUGA

--GreGen

The Japanese Battleship Kongo-- Part 2: The Battle of Samar

The Kongo's main battery consisted of   eight 14inch guns in four twin turrets.  Secondary armament had sixteen 6-inch guns

From her completion  in England and commissioning into the Japanese Imperial Navy on 16 August 1913 until 1929, the Kongo was classified as a battlecruiser.  From 1929 to 1935, she was reconstructed as a battleship.  Then, from 1935 to 1941 she was again reconfigured into a fast battleship, one that cold keep up with Japan's increasing fleet of aircraft carriers.

I have already written about battles the Kongo participated in in my last post and will skip ahead to events leading up to her loss.

In October 1944, the Kongo departed Lingga in preparation for "Operation  Sho-1", Japan's counterattack during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.  On 24 October, the Kongo escaped damage by attacks from several American aircraft in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea.  On 25 October, during the Battle of Samar, the Kongo -- as part of Admiral Kurita's Centre Force -- engaged the U.S. 7th Fleet's "Taffy 3", a battle group of escort carriers and destroyers.

She succeeded in scoring several hits on the escort carrier Gambier Bay (CVE-73) as well as the destroyers Hoel (DD-533) and Heerman (DD-532).  At 09:12 she sank the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413).

After a fierce defensive action by the outgunned and manned American ships, which sank three Japanese heavy cruisers, Admiral Kurita withdrew, ending the battle.

While withdrawing, the Kongo suffered damage after five near misses from attacking aircraft.  The fleet arrived in Brunei on 28 October.

--GreGen

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

Kongo-Class Japanese Battleships-- Part 3

Every battlecruiser built was always there to maximize speed and armament at the loss of armor.  The same with the Kongo-class of Japanese battlecruisers.  During the interwar period of time, all four ships in the class were  modernized and had their  armor heavily upgraded.

In addition, the anti-aircraft weaponry was also seriously upgraded.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE FOUR KONGO-CLASS SHIPS

Name, Builder, Laid Down, Launched, Completed, Fate.

KONGO:  Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness England / 17 Jan 1911 / 18 May 1912 / 16 Aug 1913 / Torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion, 21 November 1944.

***************************

HIEI:  Yokasuka Naval Arsenal, Yokosuka Japan /  4 Nov 1911 / 21 Nov 1912 / 4 Aug 1914 / Sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 13 November 1942.

***************************

KIRISHIMA:  Mitsubishi Shipyard Co. Nagasaki, Japan / 17 March 1912 /  1 Dec 1913 /  19 April 1915 / Sunk during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 15 December 1942.

***************************

HARUNA:  Kawasaki Dockyard Co., Kobe, Japan  /  16 March 1912  /  14 Dec 1913  /  19 April 1915  /  Sunk by U.S. aircraft, 28 July  1945; broken up  from 1946.

Interesting that two were sunk with two days of each other.  And three were sunk in the month of November.  One was built in Nagasaki.

--GreGen

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.

********************************

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