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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 73077:  Japanese battleship Hiei in Tokyo Bay, Japan, July 1942

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- JAPANESE NAVY SHIPS --

Hiei (Battlecruiser, Training Ship and Battleship, 1914-1942)

Hiei, the second of four 26,230 ton Kongo class battlecruisers, was built at the Yokosuka Dockyard and completed in August 1914. Like her sisters, she gradually updated during the "Teens" and "Twenties". However, the London naval limitations treaty of 1930 caused her to be "demilitarized". Stripped of her side armor, many of her guns and some of her boilers, she was converted to a training ship, much like her contemporaries, the American Wyoming and British Iron Duke. While serving in this role, she was used as the Emperor Hirohito's flagship during the Naval Review off Yokohama in late August 1933.

In 1936, after Japan had withdrawn from the naval limitations treaties, Hiei entered Kure Dockyard for an extensive modernization. This completely restored her combatant status and armament, gave her a longer hull and much more powerful machinery for a speed of over thirty knots. She was also used as the prototype for several features later used in the huge battleships Yamato and Musashi.

Now classified as a battleship, Hiei returned to active service in early 1940 and was again the Emperor's flagship at the Yokohama Naval review in October 1940. Her high speed made her very useful as a companion to aircraft carriers, and she was part of the striking force that attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. In April 1942, Hiei took part in the powerful raid that bloodied the British Navy and merchant marine in the Indian Ocean area. She was a unit of the Covering Group during the Battle of Midway in early June and immediately thereafter was sent to the North Pacific to support Japanese operations in the Aleutian Islands.

When the fight over Guadalcanal began in August 1942, Hiei was sent south to operate with other units of the Combined Fleet. She was present during both of the campaign's carrier actions, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in late August and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in late October. On 12 November 1942, Hiei was ordered toward Guadalcanal as flagship of a bombardment force that included her sister fast battleship Kirishima, a light cruiser and more than a dozen destroyers. Soon after midnight on Friday, 13 November, the Japanese were met by an American task force of five cruisers and eight destroyers. The resulting first night action of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal was chaotic and bloody. Hiei was badly shot up by U.S. cruiser and destroyer guns, and may have suffered shock damage from torpedoes exploding nearby. While retiring from the battle, her steering failed, leaving her unmaneuverable only a short distance from Guadalcanal's American-held airfield. Through the following day, Hiei's crew struggled to regain steering control, while under constant attack by U.S. aircraft. However, she finally suffered a torpedo hit in the stern that destroyed all hope of escape. Soon after nightfall, her surviving crewmen were taken off and Hiei was left to sink some miles northward of Savo Island. She was the first of ten Japanese battleships lost to enemy action in World War II.

This page features all our images of the Japanese training ship and battleship Hiei.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

We have no images of Hiei as a battlecruiser, in her 1914-1930 configurations. The photographs immediately below show Hiei as she appeared in about 1933-1936, following conversion to a training ship:

Photo #: NH 89175

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

In port, August 1933, with bedding airing on her lifelines.
Her broadside battery of six-inch guns had been removed by this time.
Note the recesses in her hull side where side armor had been located prior to her conversion to a training ship.

The original photograph came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 320 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89174

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

Underway during the 1930s.

The original photograph came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 365 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89172

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

Underway during the 1930s.

The original photograph came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 315 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89173

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

Underway during the 1930s.
She is flying a rear admiral's flag from her mainmast peak.

The original photograph came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 47KB; 740 x 380 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 51879

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

Underway during the 1930s.

The original photograph came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 81118

Hiei
(Japanese training ship, ex-battlecruiser, 1914)

Photographed circa 1932-34, probably in Japanese home waters. Writing on the original print misidentifies her as Kongo.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 80KB; 680 x 675 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 81117

Japanese Warships in Harbor


Photographed circa 1932-34, probably in Japanese home waters. The carrier Kaga (misidentified as Akagi) is at left. Training ship Hiei (misidentified as Kongo) is in the center, with the training cruiser Kasuga in the distance beyond her stern. A Takao class heavy cruiser is at right.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 570 pixels

 


The following photographs show Hiei after her modernization of 1936-40.
Note:
Both of these views were originally cataloged in our collections as other ships, though they have now been definitely identified as Hiei. Photo # NH 73077 was originally listed as showing Kongo. NH 73075 was listed as Haruna.

Photo #: NH 73077

Hiei
(Japanese Battleship, 1914)

Steaming in Tokyo Bay, Japan, 11 July 1942.

Donation of Kazutoshi Hando, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 355 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 73075

Hiei
(Japanese Battleship, 1914)

Underway in Tokyo Bay, Japan, 11 July 1942.

Donation of Kazutoshi Hando, 1970.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 255 pixels

 

If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 12 January 2002