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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 90513:  Japanese battlecruiser Kongo underway, circa 1925-28

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

Kongo (Battlecruiser and Battleship, 1913-1944)

Kongo, first of a class of four 26,230 ton battlecruisers, was built at Barrow-in-Furness, England. The last major Japanese warship to be constructed abroad, she was completed in August 1913. She was active during World War I and afterwards as one of the fastest units of Japan's battle fleet. In 1929-31, Kongo was modernized at Yokosuka Dockyard, and was thereafter rated as a battleship. She was again modernized at Yokosuka in 1936-37, receiving new machinery and a lengthened hull to increase her speed to over thirty knots. This high speed, plus their heavy guns, made Kongo and her sisters uniquely valuable warships, and they were heavily used in World War II combat operations.

At the outbreak of hostilities between Japan and the Western Allies in December 1941, Kongo supported the landings on the Malayan Peninsula. As Japan's great southern offensive progressed, she covered the invasion of Java, fired her 14-inch guns in a bombardment of Christmas Island, and was part of the raid against British shipping in the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. In the Battle of Midway in early June 1942, Kongo was part of Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo's Covering Group.

During the fiercely contested campaign over Guadalcanal that began in August 1942 Kongo helped deliver an intense and effective bombardment of Henderson Field on 14 October 1942, took part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands later in that month and was part of the Japanese aircraft carrier force during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in mid-November. She was not in combat during 1943 and the first part of 1944, but participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in mid-June 1944 as part of the Japanese vanguard carrier division.

After the 20 October 1944 invasion of Leyte, Kongo sortied with the rest of the Japanese fleet to make a counter-attack. This resulted in the great Battle of Leyte Gulf, an action that essentially destroyed Japan's Navy as a major fighting force. As part of the Center Force, Kongo survived a submarine attack on 23 October, carrier air attacks in the Sibuyan Sea the next day, the Battle off Samar against U.S. escort carriers and destroyers on 25 October and an Air Force high-level bombing attack as she withdrew from the battle area on the 26th. However, her luck ran out a month later. On 21 November 1944, soon after passing through the Formosa Strait en route to Japan, she was torpedoed by the U.S. submarine Sealion. The resulting fires apparently were uncontrollable, as Kongo blew up and quickly sank a few hours after she was hit. She was the only battleship sunk by submarine attack during the Pacific War.

This page features views of the Japanese battlecruiser Kongo taken in 1929 or earlier, and provides links to pictures of later date.

For other pictures of Kongo, taken after her 1929-31 and 1936-37 modernizations, see:

  • Kongo -- Views taken in 1929-1944.


    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 views of Kongo as she appeared during her first decade of service. One image from our collection (Photo # NH 86510), long cataloged as Kongo during the "teens", has been conclusively identified as representing one of her sister ships.


    The following photographs show Kongo as she appeared in the middle and later 1920s, after she was fitted with elaborate platforms on her foremast and a large smoke deflector on her forward smokestack:

    Photo #: NH 90513

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    Photograph printed on a postal card. It was taken between 1925 and 1928.
    The Japanese language caption in upper left center gives information on the ship's construction, displacement, dimensions and armament.
    Text in upper right identifies Kongo and Haruna as having this appearance. However, only Kongo had the searchlight platform between the first and second smokestacks, as seen here.
    See Photo # NH 89176 for an identical view, with very similar Japanese language caption.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 480 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 89176

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    Photograph taken between about 1925 and 1928.
    Part of the Japanese language caption in upper left is cut off, but the remainder reads: "Battlecruiser ... Vickers Co., U.K. ... completed August 1913 ..." and gives information on the ship's displacement, dimensions and armament.
    See Photo # NH 90513 for an identical view, with very similar Japanese language caption.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 340 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85901

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    Photographed circa 1927-28.
    The original print came from Office of Naval Intelligence files.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 350 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85900

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    In port, prior to her 1929-31 reconstruction.
    The original photograph, which came from Office of Naval Intelligence files, is dated 1929.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85898

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    View of the ship's starboard midsection, showing her masts, smokestacks, gunfire controls and other details. Note searchlight tower between the first and second smokestacks, and the large smoke deflector on the forward stack.
    The original photograph, which came from Office of Naval Intelligence files, is dated 1929.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85899

    Kongo
    (Japanese battlecruiser, 1913)

    View of the ship's starboard midsection.
    The original photograph, which came from Office of Naval Intelligence files, is dated 1929.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 56KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     

    For other pictures of Kongo, taken after her 1929-31 and 1936-37 modernizations, see:

  • Kongo -- Views taken in 1929-1944.


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


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    30 December 2001