The were designed for the Imperial Japanese Navy by the British designer Sir George Thurston and the first ship, Kongō, was built in Britain by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness in 1913.

Background

Kongō was the last Japanese warship to be built outside Japan and provided the Japanese with a construction template. At this stage in naval design (before the Battle of Jutland), the battlecruiser concept was still attractive, and the three more of the class were built in Japan. Following Japanese practice for battlecruisers, the four ships were named after mountains.

Design

This was the first Japanese warship class to have guns, mounted in four twin turrets. The secondary battery was in casemates.

The design had been developed privately by Vickers, based on the design of . It was in advance of contemporary Admiralty designs, as all of its main guns were fore or aft, eliminating the restricted arc of the amidships turret. The design was considered successful enough for the last projected ship of the Lion class to be built to an improved design as HMS Tiger .

The equipment needed to provide main gunnery fire-control required high, stable superstructures and the Kongōs acquired the distinctive Japanese "Pagoda Mast" structures. The anti-aircraft armament was increased as well. Inter-war modernization reduced the number of boilers, and added protection in the form of armour and bulges, so the Japanese re-classified them as "fast battleships".

World War II

Despite the upgrades they were considered lightly armored and armed compared to their World War II contemporaries.

All four ships saw extensive action in World War II, due to their high speeds (compared to other Japanese battleships which were mostly held in reserve). They served as carrier escorts, and also saw ship-to-ship and bombardment duties around Guadalcanal.

All were sunk by the end of the war.

The ships

• (金剛): launched on 18 May 1912, sunk 21 November 1944 by a US submarine with heavy loss of life when a magazine detonated as she capsized.
• (比叡): launched on 21 November 1912, abandoned on November 1942 after being severely damaged by US cruisers and later fatally crippled by US aircraft at Guadalcanal.
• (霧島): launched on 1 December 1913, lost November 1942 at Guadalcanal, in one of the only two battleship duels in the entire Pacific Theatre. Fighting two modern US fast battleships, Kirishima inflicted damage on the , but was fatally crippled in return by , causing her to be scuttled.
• (榛名): launched on 14 December 1913, sunk on 28 July 1945 near Kure Naval Base, Hiroshima, by US aircraft.

See also