 Hiei undergoing sea trials off Tsukugewan after a refit, 5 December 1939 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Japan | |
| Name | Hiei |
| Namesake | Mount Hiei |
| Ordered | 1911 |
| Builder | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal |
| Laid down | 4 November 1911 |
| Launched | 21 November 1912 |
| Commissioned | 4 August 1914 |
| Fate | Sunk following theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Kongō-classbattlecruiser |
| Displacement | 36,600 long tons (37,187 t)[1] |
| Length | 222 m (728 ft 4 in)[1] |
| Beam | 31 m (101 ft 8 in)[1] |
| Draught | 9.7 m (31 ft 10 in)[1] |
| Propulsion | Steam turbines, 4 shafts |
| Speed | 30knots (35 mph; 56 km/h)[1] |
| Range | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 14 kn (26 km/h)[1] |
| Complement | 1360 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
Hiei (Japanese:比叡; named afterMount Hiei) was a warship of theImperial Japanese Navy duringWorld War I andWorld War II. Designed by British naval architectGeorge Thurston, she was the second launched of fourKongō-classbattlecruisers, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built.Laid down in 1911 at theYokosuka Naval Arsenal,Hiei was formallycommissioned in 1914. She patrolled off the Chinese coast on several occasions during World War I, and helped with rescue efforts following the1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
Starting in 1929,Hiei was converted to a gunnery training ship to avoid being scrapped under the terms of theWashington Naval Treaty. She served asEmperor Hirohito's transport in the mid-1930s. After the treaty fell apart in 1937, she underwent a full-scale reconstruction that completely rebuilt hersuperstructure, upgraded her powerplant, and equipped her withlaunch catapults forfloatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing fleet ofaircraft carriers, she was reclassified as afast battleship. On the eve of the US entry into World War II, she sailed as part of Vice-AdmiralChuichi Nagumo'sCombined Fleet, escorting the six carriers thatattacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
As part of theThird Battleship Division,Hiei participated in many of the Imperial Japanese Navy's early actions in 1942, providing support for theinvasion of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) as well as theIndian Ocean raid of April 1942. During theBattle of Midway, she sailed in the Invasion Force under AdmiralNobutake Kondō, before being redeployed to theSolomon Islands during theBattle of Guadalcanal. She escorted Japanese carrier forces during the battles of theEastern Solomons andSanta Cruz Islands, before sailing as part of a bombardment force under Admiral Kondō during theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal. In the early hours of 13 November 1942,Hiei engaged Americancruisers anddestroyers alongside hersister shipKirishima. After helping to sink the light cruiserUSS Atlanta and the destroyerUSS Monssen, damage numerous other warships, and help to kill two admirals,Hiei was crippled by shell hits from the heavy cruiserUSS San Francisco that jammed her rudder. Subjected to a daylight air attack fromHenderson Field and the aircraft carrierUSS Enterprise, she was scuttled on the evening of 13 November 1942.
Hiei was the second of theImperial Japanese Navy'sKongō-class battlecruisers, a line ofcapital ships designed by the British naval architectGeorge Thurston.[2] The class was ordered in 1910 in the Japanese Emergency Naval Expansion Bill after the commissioning ofHMS Invincible in 1908.[3] The four battlecruisers of theKongō class were designed to match the naval capabilities of the other major powers at the time; they have been called the battlecruiser versions of the British (formerlyTurkish) battleshipHMS Erin.[1][4] With their heavy armament and armor protection (the latter of which made up 23.3% of their approximately 30,000 ton displacement),[1]Hiei and her sister ships were vastly superior to any other Japanesecapital ship afloat at the time.[4]
Thekeel ofHiei was laid down atYokosuka Naval Arsenal on 4 November 1911, with most of the parts used in her construction manufactured in Britain.[1][5] She was launched on 21 November 1912, andfitting-out began in December 1913.[4] On 15 December 1913, Captain Shichitaro Takagi was assigned as her chief equipping officer.[5] She was completed on 4 August 1914.[1]
Hiei's main battery consisted of eight 14-inch (36 cm) heavy-caliber main guns in four twinturrets, two forward and two aft.[2] The turrets were noted by the US Office of Naval Intelligence to be "similar to the British 15-inch turrets",[6] with improvements made in flash-tightness in the gun chambers. Each of her main guns could fire high-explosive orarmor-piercing shells 38,770 yards (19.14 nmi; 35.45 km) at a rate of two shells per minute.[7] In keeping with the Japanese doctrine of deploying more powerful vessels than their opponents,Hiei and her sister ships were the first vessels in the world equipped with 14-inch (36 cm) guns.[8] The main guns carried ammunition for ninety shots and had an approximate barrel-life of 250–280 shots.[6]
Her secondary battery was originally sixteen 6-inch (15 cm) 50-caliber medium guns in singlecasemates (all located amidships),[4] eight 3-inch (7.6 cm) guns and eight submerged 21-inch (53 cm) torpedo tubes.[2] The sixteen 6-inch/50 caliber guns were capable of firing between 5 and 6 rounds per minute, with a barrel life of 500 rounds.[9] The 6-inch/50 caliber gun was capable of firing both antiaircraft and antiship shells, though the positioning of the guns onHiei made antiaircraft firing impractical.[4] The eight 5-inch/40 caliber guns added later could fire between 8 and 14 rounds per minute, with a barrel life of 800–1,500 rounds.[10] These guns had the widest variety of shot type ofHiei's guns, being designed to fire antiaircraft, antiship, and illumination shells.[10]Hiei was also armed with a large number of1-inch (2.5 cm) Type 96 antiaircraft autocannons.[1]
On 4 August 1914,Hiei was formally commissioned and assigned to theSasebo Naval District, before being attached to the Third Battleship Division of theFirst Fleet two weeks later. On 23 August 1914, Japan declared war on theGerman Empire, occupying the former German colonies in Palau and in theCaroline,Marshall andMariana Islands. In October 1914,Hiei departed Sasebo alongsideKongō to supportImperial Japanese Army units in theSiege of Tsingtao, but she was recalled on 17 October.[5] On 3 October 1915,Hiei andKongō participated in the sinking of the target shipImperator Nikolai I, a Russian pre-dreadnought captured in 1905 during theRusso-Japanese War that had subsequently served in the Japanese Navy under the nameIki as a coastal defense ship.[11] In April 1916, she patrolled the Chinese coast with her newly launched sistersKirishima andHaruna. From 1917 to the end of World War I,Hiei remained primarily at Sasebo, patrolling the Chinese and Korean coasts with her sister ships on several occasions.[5]
Following the end of World War I, the Japanese Empire gained control of former German possessions in the central Pacific per the terms of theTreaty of Versailles.[12] Due to Japan's warm relations with the British Empire and the United States at the time,Hiei and other Japanese warships became significantly less active after the war. Other than a patrol alongsideHaruna andKirishima off the Chinese coast in March 1919,Hiei remained in the Japanese home ports.[5] On 13 October 1920, she was placed in reserve. Following theGreat Kantō earthquake of September 1923, the capital ships of the Japanese Navy assisted in rescue work until the end of the month.Hiei arrived atKure Naval Base on 1 December 1923 for a refit which increased the elevation of her main guns from 20 to 33 degrees and rebuilt her foremast.[5]
With the conclusion of World War I, the world powers attempted to stem any militarization that might re-escalate into war. Under the terms ofWashington Naval Treaty of 1922, the Imperial Japanese Navy was significantly reduced, with a ratio of 5:5:3 required between the capital ships of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan.[13] The treaty also banned Japan from building any new capital ships until 1931, with no capital ship permitted to exceed 35,000 tons.[14] Provided that further additions did not exceed 3,000 tons, existing capital ships were allowed to be upgraded with improved torpedo bulges and deck armor.[14] By the time the Washington Treaty had been fully implemented in Japan, only three classes of World War I-era capital ships—theFusō class andIse-class battleships, and theKongō-class battlecruisers—remained active.[15]
In July 1927, CrownPrince Takamatsu—EmperorHirohito's younger brother—was assigned toHiei. From October to November 1927, the ship underwent a minor refit at Sasebo to accommodate twoYokosuka E1Yfloatplanes, though no launch catapults were added.[5] On 29 March 1928,Hiei departed Sasebo alongsideKongō and the battleshipsNagato andFusō to patrol off theChusan Archipelago, before arriving in the company ofKongō inPort Arthur in April 1928. In October 1929, she returned to Kure in preparation for her demilitarization and reconstruction.[5]
To avoid having to scrapHiei under the terms of the Washington Treaty, the Imperial Japanese Navy decided to convert her into a demilitarized training ship.[16] On 15 October 1929, she went into drydock atKure Naval Arsenal. Her No. 4 gun turret was removed, and she was stripped of all eight of her submerged torpedo tubes,[5] as well as her 6-inch guns and armor belt. All but nine of her boilers were taken out, reducing her speed to 18 knots (33 km/h),[16] and one of her three funnels was removed.[5] She was reclassified as a reserve ship at the end of November 1929. On 24 April 1930, reconstruction was halted due to the signing of theLondon Naval Treaty, which further restricted battleship construction and possession amongst the great naval powers, and preservation work was begun at Sasebo. Reconstruction would not resume until July 1931.[5]
In September 1931, Japanese army units invaded the Chinese province ofManchuria, transforming it into the puppet state ofManchukuo.[17] In December 1932,Hiei was reassigned to the Imperial Japanese Navy's training squadron. On 25 February, theLeague of Nations ruled that Japan had violated Chinese sovereignty and international law in her invasion of Manchuria.[17] Refusing to accept the League's judgment, the Empire of Japan withdrew from the League the same day. This also signaled its exit from the Washington and London Naval Treaties, which removed all restrictions on the Imperial Japanese Navy's construction of capital ships. From the end of May 1933 to 13 August,Hiei received upgrades that allowed her to perform regular duties for the Emperor, and she served as the Emperor's observation ship for the Imperial Naval Review three days later. From January to March 1934, her No. 4 turret and ammunition magazine were refitted. In November 1935,Hiei served as the Emperor's ship for his official visit to theKagoshima andMiyazaki Prefectures.[5]
No longer bound by the restrictions of the Washington and London Treaties, the Imperial Japanese Navy proceeded to reconstructHiei along the same lines as her sisters. She received eight new oil-fired Kampon boilers and geared turbines, while her stern was lengthened by 26 feet (7.9 m) to increase speed.[5] Her aft 14-inch turret was refitted and fire control systems installed for all four main turrets.[18] The elevation of her main and secondary guns was increased, and she was equipped with twoNakajima E8N "Dave" andKawanishi E7K "Alf" reconnaissance floatplanes. To this end, catapults and launch-rails were also fitted aft of turret #3.[18] Fourteen of her 6-inch guns were refitted, and an antiaircraft suite of eight 5-inch dual-purpose guns and ten twin mounts ofType 96 25 mm (0.98 in) autocannons were mounted.[18] Her superstructure was rebuilt as a prototype of the tower-mast that would eventually be used on theYamato class, then still in the design phase.[19]
Hiei's armor was also extensively upgraded. Her main belt was reapplied and strengthened to a uniform thickness of 8 inches (as opposed to varying thicknesses of 6–8 inches before the upgrades), while diagonal bulkheads of a depth ranging from 5 to 8 inches (127 to 203 mm) reinforced the main armored belt.[20] The turret armor was strengthened to 10 inches (254 mm), while 4 inches (102 mm) were added to portions of the deck armor.[20] The armor around her ammunition magazines was also strengthened over the course of the refit. Though still less heavily armored than other Japanese battleships,Hiei was significantly faster. The reconstruction was declared complete on 31 January 1940. Capable of speeds of up to 30.5 knots (56.5 km/h; 35.1 mph),Hiei was reclassified as a fast battleship.[21] She participated in the Imperial Fleet Review in October 1940, where she was inspected by Emperor Hirohito, members of the royal family, Navy MinisterKoshirō Oikawa, and AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto. In November, she was assigned to the Third Battleship Division of the First Fleet.[5]
On 26 November 1941,Hiei departedHitokappu Bay,Kurile Islands, in the company ofKirishima and six Japanese fast carriers of theFirst Air Fleet Striking Force (Akagi,Kaga,Sōryū,Hiryū,Shōkaku, andZuikaku) under the command of Vice-AdmiralChuichi Nagumo. On 7 December 1941, aircraft from these six carriersattacked the United States Pacific Fleet at their home base ofPearl Harbor, sinking four US Navy battleships and numerous other vessels. Following the attack and the declaration of war by the United States,Hiei returned to Japan.[5]
On 17 January 1942,Hiei departedTruk Lagoon Naval Base with the Third Battleship Division to support carrier operations againstRabaul andKavieng. In February, she deployed alongside a force of carriers and destroyers in response toAmerican raids on Japanese bases in theGilbert andMarshall Islands.[5] On 1 March, following carrier operations againstDarwin and Java (in the Dutch East Indies),Hiei,Kirishima andChikuma—which were acting as escorts for the carrier task force—engaged the destroyerUSS Edsall, withHiei firing 210 14-inch and seventy 6-inch shells. When the ships failed to score any hits, dive-bombers from three of Admiral Nagumo's carriers immobilized the destroyer, which was then finished off by gunfire from the three ships.[5]
In April 1942,Hiei and the Third Battleship Division joined five fleet carriers and two cruisers ina massive raid against British naval forces in the Indian Ocean.[19] On 5 April—Easter Sunday—the Japanese fleet attacked the harbor atColombo,Ceylon while seaplanes from the cruiserTone spotted two fleeing British cruisers, both of which were later sunk by aerial attack.[22] On 8 April, Japanese carrier aircraft attacked theRoyal Navy base atTrincomalee, only to find that all of AdmiralJames Somerville's remaining warships in theBritish Eastern Fleet had withdrawn the previous night. Returning from the attack, a floatplane fromHiei's sister shipHaruna spotted the aircraft carrierHMS Hermes, which was quickly sunk by massive aerial attack.[23] The fleet then returned to Japan, arriving at the home bases on 23 April.[5]
On 27 May 1942,Hiei sortied withKongō and the heavy cruisersAtago,Chōkai,Myōkō, andHaguro as part of AdmiralNobutake Kondō's Invasion Force during theBattle of Midway.[5][19] Following the disastrous loss of four of the Combined Fleet's fast carriers on 4 June, Kondō's force withdrew to Japan.[24] In July,Hiei was drydocked for refits to her aircraft complement and the addition of single and twin 25 mm gun mounts.[5] In August, she escorted the Japanese carrierShōkaku during theBattle of the Eastern Solomons.[25] In October,Hiei sortied as part of Rear Admiral Abe's Vanguard Force, and maintained distant cover asKongō andHaruna nearly destroyedHenderson Field onGuadalcanal on the night of 13 October.[26] From 26 to 30 October,Hiei and her sisters participated in theBattle of the Santa Cruz Islands.[19]
Main Article:Naval battle of Guadalcanal
On 10 November 1942,Hiei departed Truk alongsideKirishima and eleven destroyers, all under the command of Vice AdmiralHiroaki Abe, to shell American positions near Henderson Field in advance of a major convoy of Japanese troops. The force was spotted by US Navy reconnaissance aircraft several days in advance. The US deployed a force of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers and eight destroyers under the command of Rear AdmiralDaniel J. Callaghan to meet the Japanese force inIronbottom Sound.[27] At 01:24 on 13 November, the Japanese force was detected 28,000 yards (26 km) out by the light cruiserUSS Helena. Because Abe had not anticipated resistance, his battleships' main guns were loaded withanti-aircraft shells for bombarding Henderson Field. The initial salvos from the IJN battleships were thus not capable of dealing severe damage to the enemy's vital armor protected hull, engines and gun turrets.[5]
At 01:50,Hiei activated her searchlights and illuminated the light cruiserUSS Atlanta, which along with several other American ships sank the destroyerAkatsuki. However,Hiei helped to avenge the destroyer when she fired a full broadside at the cruiser, hittingAtlanta with either seven or all eight 14-inch (356 mm) shells fired, destroying her aft guns and setting her ablaze. Two more main battery salvos were fired, as were multiple secondary salvos, which hitAtlanta with some 35 shell hits, followed closely by a torpedo hit from the destroyerIkazuchi; the crippled and disabledAtlanta was left adrift and sank two hours later with the loss of 170 men, including rear admiralNorman Scott.[28][29][30]
However, the lead cluster of American destroyers –USS Cushing,Laffey,O'Bannon, andSterett – closed to point blank range;Cushing fired a spread of torpedoes atHiei which missed, only to be ambushed and sunk by the light cruiserNagara and the destroyersHarusame,Yukikaze, andTeruzuki.O'Bannon, however, was the first destroyer to successfully attack the Japanese flagship, smashingHiei with multiple 5-inch (127 mm) shell hits that set her on fire and a pair of dud torpedo hits, before a rain squall blinded the destroyers and temporally savedHiei from further damage.[31][32][33][34][35]
However, a set of lights emerged from the fog, much to the crew's surprise. This was theLaffey, which had accidentally set herself on a collision course withHiei and was speeding right towards her. Under an emergency speed boost and excellent maneuvering,Laffey just barely avoided crashing intoHiei, coming as close as 20 feet (6 meters) from the battleship, and was so close the ship's guns could not press low enough to hit her, and in turn the destroyer rakedHiei with shellfire, scoring hits to her superstructure which injured Admiral Abe and killed Abe's staff officer, Masakane Suzuki, before dashing off.O'Bannon andSterett then re-engagedHiei and further peppered her in 5-inch (127 mm) gunfire and another pair of dud torpedoes;Hiei taking no critical damage but suffering multiple fires setting off in the ship's unarmored portions.[29][31][36][35]
Unable to press their main guns low enough to hit the attacking destroyers,Hiei andKirishima instead focused their fire on the American cruisers, first dueling the American flagship, the heavy cruiserUSS San Francisco. Together, they crippledSan Francisco with twelve 14-inch (356 mm) shell hits, alongside some 35 shell hits from their secondary batteries and escorting destroyers, killingAdmiral Callaghan.[19][37] However,San Francisco managed to gougeHiei with seventeen armor piercing 8-inch (203 mm) shells, two of which hitHiei's steering gear room, flooding it with water, shorting out her power steering generators, and disabled her rudder, leaving her an unmaneuverable wreck. Without these hits,Hiei would have survived the battle. Instead,Hiei engaged in a gunnery duel with the heavy cruiserUSS Portland, hitting her with a pair of 14-inch (356 mm) shells that impacted on her main belt; the majority of the damage inflicted toPortland came in the form of a torpedo hit from the Japanese destroyer Inazuma.Hiei was in turn damaged by thirteen more 8-inch (203 mm) shells fromPortland.[35][38][39]
As the distance betweenHiei and the American destroyers increased, her crew realized the destroyers were in range of the main guns and opened fire.Hiei took revenge on the peskyLaffey and hit her with a pair of 14-inch (356 mm) shells, one exploding in her bridge, and the other in her amidships superstructure. However, the use of type 3 AA shells meant neither shell caused significant damage, andLaffey was sunk primarily via a torpedo hit from the destroyerYukikaze.[36][40]Hiei instead earned more success when she noticed the Japanese destroyersAsagumo,Murasame, andSamidare blasting the destroyerUSS Monssen, which they immediately scored hits which destroyed her forward turrets and set her on fire.Hiei flankedMonssen and hit her with three 14-inch (356 mm) shells, sinking the destroyer alongside gunfire from her own escorting destroyers.[39][41][42][43]
In total,Hiei had been struck by at least 85 American shells, including 30 8-inch (203 mm) shells fromSan Francisco andPortland and up to nine torpedo hits, most of which probably failed to detonate. Most critically were the shellsSan Francisco landed to her steering gear, crippling the ship.[44] With one of his battleships crippled, Abe ordered the remainder of the Japanese fleet to withdraw at 02:00.[5]Kirishima attempted to towHiei to safety, but water floodedHiei's steering compartments, jamming her rudder to starboard and forcing her to steer in circles. Throughout the morning of 13 November,Hiei was subjected to attack fromAmerican ArmyB-17 Flying Fortress bombers. She continued circling to starboard at 5 knots (5.8 mph).[38] At 11:30, three torpedoes launched fromGrumman TBF Avenger torpedo-bombers struckHiei,[5] and after landing and rearming at Henderson Field, the torpedo planes from theUSS Enterprise hit the battleship with three more torpedoes.[45] The combined attacks by both the B-17s and strike aircraft from Henderson Field inflicted a total of 5–8 torpedo hits and 7–8 500 lb and 1000 lb bomb hits and a number of torpedoes on the stricken battleship in addition to the damage from the night surface battle.[46] Her crew was ordered to abandon ship, and her escorting destroyers scuttled her with torpedoes.[47]Hiei sank sometime in the evening on 13 November with the loss of 188 of her crew; the first battleship lost by Japan during World War II. She was removed from theNavy List on 20 December 1942.[5]
On 6 February 2019,Paul Allen's exploration shipRV Petrel announced the discovery ofHiei. According toPetrel, the main body ofHiei now lies upside down in 3,000 feet (900 m) of water northwest ofSavo Island in the Solomon Islands. As with her sister ship,Kirishima, the bow of the ship is gone forward of the bridge due to a magazine explosion.[48]
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Media related toHiei (ship, 1914) at Wikimedia Commons
