.jpg) Kongō on sea trials, off the coast ofTateyama, 14 November 1936 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Empire of Japan | |
| Name | Kongō |
| Namesake | Mount Kongō |
| Ordered | 1911 |
| Builder | Vickers Shipbuilding Company,Barrow-in-Furness |
| Laid down | 17 January 1911 |
| Launched | 18 May 1912 |
| Commissioned | 16 August 1913 |
| Stricken | 20 January 1945 |
| Fate | Sunk in the Formosa Strait, 21 November 1944 (26°09′N121°23′E / 26.150°N 121.383°E /26.150; 121.383) |
| 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 | 1,360 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
Kongō (Japanese:金剛; named afterMount Kongō) was a warship of theImperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the firstbattlecruiser of theKongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built. Her designer was the British naval engineerGeorge Thurston, and she waslaid down in 1911 atBarrow-in-Furness in Britain byVickers Shipbuilding Company.Kongō was the last Japanesecapital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formallycommissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.
Kongō underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy rebuilt her as abattleship, strengthening her armor and improving her speed and power capabilities. In 1935, her superstructure was completely rebuilt, her speed was increased, and she was equipped withlaunch catapults forfloatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing carrier fleet,Kongō was reclassified as afast battleship. During theSecond Sino-Japanese War,Kongō operated off the coast of mainland China before being redeployed to the Third Battleship Division in 1941. In 1942, she sailed as part of the Southern Force in preparation for theBattle of Singapore.
Kongō fought in many major naval actions of thePacific War during World War II. She covered the Japanese Army'samphibious landings inBritish Malaya (part of present-dayMalaysia) and theDutch East Indies (nowIndonesia) in 1942, before engaging American forces at theBattle of Midway and during theGuadalcanal campaign. Throughout 1943,Kongō primarily remained atTruk Lagoon in theCaroline Islands,Kure Naval Base (nearHiroshima),Sasebo Naval Base (nearNagasaki), andLingga Roads, and deployed several times in response to Americanaircraft carrierair raids on Japanese island bases scattered across the Pacific.Kongō participated in theBattle of the Philippine Sea (19-20 June) and theBattle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 (22–23 October), sinking the destroyer escortUSS Samuel B. Roberts and helping to cripple the destroyerUSS Heermann in the latter engagement.Kongō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarineUSS Sealion while transiting theFormosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by a submarine in the Second World War.[4][a]
Kongō was the first of theImperial Japanese Navy'sKongō-classbattlecruisers, which were almost as large, costly and well-armed asbattleships, but which traded off armored protection for higher speeds. These were designed by the British navalengineerGeorge Thurston[5] and were ordered in 1910 in the Japanese Emergency Naval Expansion Bill after the commissioning ofHMS Invincible in 1908.[6] These four battlecruisers of theKongō class were designed to match the naval capabilities of the battlecruisers of the other major naval powers at the time, and they have been called the battlecruiser versions of the British (formerlyTurkish) battleshipHMS Erin.[1][7] Their heavy armament of 14-inch naval guns and their armor protection (which took up about 23.3% of their approximately 30,000-ton displacements in 1913) were greatly superior to those of any other Japanesecapital ship afloat at the time.[1][7]
Thekeel ofKongō was laid down atBarrow-in-Furness byVickers Shipbuilding and Engineering on 17 January 1911. Under Japan's contract with Vickers, the first vessel of the class was constructed in theUnited Kingdom, with the remainder built in Japan.[1]Kongō was launched on 18 May 1912, and then transferred to the dockyards ofPortsmouth, England, where herfitting-out began in mid-1912.[7] All parts used in her construction were manufactured in the U.K.[1]Kongō was completed on 16 April 1913.[1]
In January 1914, a telegram leaked from German industrial conglomerateSiemens' Tokyo office to Reuters along with further reporting byThe New York Times andThe Asahi Shimbun led to an investigation by Japanese authorities which revealed a pattern of bribery and kickbacks by German and English armaments corporations. Siemens had been paying senior Japanese officials a secret 15% kickback, until British companyVickers had outbid them by offering 25%. Vickers had paid 210,000 yen to Admiral Fuji of the Imperial Japanese Navy procurement in 1911 and 1912, and 40,000 yen to Vice AdmiralMatsumoto Kazu, related to obtaining the contract for buildingKongō. Kazu was court-martialed in May 1914, fined 400,000 yen and sentenced to 3 years in prison. As a result of the Siemens-Vickers Scandal revolving around the contracts for buildingKongō, the government of Prime MinisterYamamoto Gonnohyōe resigned March 23, 1914. Senior executives ofMitsui corporation, Japanese partners of Vickers, also resigned.[8][9]
Originally,Kongō's main battery was designed to consist of ten 12-inch (305 mm) main guns. However, her builders,Vickers, convinced the Japanese to go with a larger weapon afterKongō was laid down.[10] Because of this,Kongō's main armament as built consisted of eightVickers 14 inch (356 mm)/45 naval gun heavy-caliber mainnaval guns in four twinturrets (two forward and two aft), making her the most powerfully armed capital ship when she was commissioned.[5] The turrets were noted by the U.S.Office of Naval Intelligence to be "similar to the British 15-inch turrets",[11] with improvements made inflash-tightness. Each of her main guns could firehigh explosive orarmor-piercing shells 38,770 yards (19.14 nmi; 35.45 km) at a rate of about two shells per minute.[12] In keeping with the Japanese doctrine of deploying more powerful vessels before their opponents,Kongō and her sister ships were the first vessels in the world equipped with 14-inch (356 mm) guns.[13] Her main guns carried ammunition for 90 shots, and they had an approximate barrel lifetime of 250 to 280 shots.[11] In 1941, separate dyes were introduced for the armor-piercing shells of the fourKongō-class battleships to assist with targeting, withKongō's armor-piercing shells using red dye.[11]
Thesecondary battery ofKongō originally consisted of sixteen6-inch (152 mm) 50 calibre guns in singlecasemates located amidships ("50 calibre" means that the lengths of the guns were 50 times their bore, or 300 inches),[7] eight 3-inch (76 mm) guns, and eight submerged 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes.[5] Her six-inch naval guns could fire five to six rounds per minute, with a barrel lifetime of about 500 rounds.[2] The 6-inch/50-calibre gun was capable of firing both antiaircraft and antiship shells, though the positioning of these guns onKongō made antiaircraft firing mostly impractical.[7] During her second reconstruction, the older three-inch guns were removed and then replaced with eight5-inch (127 mm) 40-calibre dual purpose guns. These guns could fire from eight to 14 rounds per minute, with a barrel lifetime of between 800 and 1,500 rounds.[14] OfKongō's guns, the 5-inch guns had the widest variety ofshell types: antiaircraft, antiship, and illumination shells.[14]Kongō was also armed with many 1-inch (25 mm) antiaircraft machine guns. By October 1944,Kongō's secondary armament was reconfigured to eight 6-inch (152 mm) guns, eight 5-inch (127 mm) guns, and 122Type 96 antiaircraftrapid-fire cannons.[15]
Being a battlecruiser,Kongō's armor was fairly thin. She was equipped with a 6- to 8-inch (152–203 mm) main belt.Kongō deck armor consisted of armor plating ranging from 1-inch (25 mm), 1.5-inches (38 mm), to 2.75-inches (7 cm), depending on the area. She was equipped with nine-inch (229 mm) barbette armor protecting the ammunition to her main guns, as well as turret armor consisting of 10-inch (254 mm) turret faces, and 9-inch (229 mm) plating over the sides and rear.[16]
On 16 August 1913,Kongō was completed and commissioned into the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). Twelve days later, she departed from Portsmouth headed for Japan.[17] She was docked atSingapore from 20 to 27 October, before arriving atYokosuka Naval Arsenal on 5 November, where she was placed in First Reserve.[6] In January 1914, she docked atKure Naval Base for armament checks. On 3 August 1914, theGerman Empire declared war on France and then invaded via Belgium, sparking the beginning ofWorld War I in the West. Twelve days later, Japan issued a warning toKaiser Wilhelm II of theGerman Empire, ordering him to withdraw the German troops from their base atQingdao, China. When the German Empire did not respond, Japan declared war on Germany on 23 August, occupying the former German possessions in theCaroline Islands,Palau Islands,Marshall Islands, andMarianas Islands.[6]Kongō was quickly deployed towards theCentral Pacific to patrol the sea lines of communication of the German Empire.Kongō returned to the port ofYokosuka, Japan, on 12 September, and one month later, she was assigned to the First Battleship Division. In October,Kongō and her new sister shipHiei sortied off the Chinese coast in support of Japanese army units during theSiege of Tsingtao. ThenKongō returned toSasebo Naval Base for upgrades to her searchlights. On 3 October 1915,Kongō andHiei participated in the sinking of the oldImperator Nikolai I as a practice target. She was a Russian pre-dreadnought that had been captured in 1905 during theRusso-Japanese War that had next served as an IJNwarship.[18] With the defeat of the GermanEast Asia Squadron by theRoyal Navy at theBattle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914, there was little or no need for IJN operations in the Pacific Ocean.Kongō spent the rest of World War I either based at Sasebo or on patrol off the coast of China.[6] In December 1918, following the end of the hostilities of World War I,Kongō was placed in "Second Reserve". In April 1919, she was fitted with a new seawater flooding system for her ammunition magazines.[6]
With the conclusion of World War I, and the signing of theWashington Naval Treaty on 6 February 1922, the size of the IJN was significantly limited, with a ratio of 5:5:3 required between the capital ships of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Japanese Empire, since the latter was responsible for only one ocean, rather than the two of the other countries, and fewer warships for France andItaly.[19] This treaty also banned the signatories from building any new capital ships until 1931, with no capital ship permitted to exceed 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) indisplacement.[20] Provided that new additions did not exceed 3,000 tons of displacement, the existing capital ships were allowed to be upgraded with improvedanti-torpedo bulges andarmored main decks.[20] By the time that the Washington Naval Treaty had been fully implemented in Japan, only three classes of World War I type capital ships remained active: theIse-class battleships, theKongō-class battlecruisers, and theFusō-class battleships.[21]
In April 1923,Kongō gave transportation toCrown Prince Hirohito during his official visit to the Japanese possession ofTaiwan. On 14 June 1924, she collided withSubmarine No. 62 during maneuvers.[22] In November 1924,Kongō docked at Yokosuka, where modifications were made to her main armament, increasing the elevation of her main guns and improving her fire-control systems. In 1927,Kongō underwent major modifications to her superstructure, rebuilding it into thepagoda mast style to accommodate the growing number of fire-control systems for her main guns.[23] In May 1928, her steering equipment was upgraded, before she was placed in reserve in preparation for major modifications and reconstruction in 1929–31.[6]
Prohibited by the Washington Treaty from constructing new capital ships until 1931, Japan resorted to upgrading their World War I-era battleships and battlecruisers. Beginning in September 1929,Kongō underwent extensive modernization and modification in drydock at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal.[7] Over the next two years,Kongō's horizontal armor near her ammunition magazines was strengthened, and the machinery spaces within the hull given increased torpedo protection.[15]Anti-torpedo bulges were added along the waterline, as permitted by the Washington Treaty.[7] She was refitted to accommodate three Type 90 Model 0 floatplanes, though noaircraft catapults were fitted.[15] To increase her speed and power, all 36 of her Yarrow boilers were removed, and then replaced with 16 newer boilers, and Brown-Curtis direct-drive turbines were installed.[15]Kongō's forward funnel was removed, and her second funnel was enlarged and lengthened. The modifications to her hull increased her armor weight from 6,502 to 10,313long tons, directly violating the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.[7] In March 1931,Kongō—now capable of a speed of 29 knots (54 km/h)—was reclassified as a battleship.[15]
On 22 April 1930, Japan signed theLondon Naval Treaty, placing further restrictions on the signatories' naval forces. Several of her older battleships were scrapped, and no new capital ships were built as replacements.[24] After minor fitting-out work,Kongō's reconstruction begun in September 1929 and was declared complete on 31 March 1931. On 1 December 1931, two months after theJapanese invasion of Manchuria,Kongō was assigned to the First Battleship Division and also designated the flagship of the Combined Fleet. Additional rangefinders and searchlights were fitted to her superstructure in January 1932, and CaptainNobutake Kondō assumed command of the vessel in December. In 1933, aircraft catapults were fitted between the two rear turrets.[6]
On 25 February 1933, following a report by theLytton Commission, theLeague of Nations agreed that Japan's invasion of China had violated Chinese sovereignty.[24] Refusing to accept the judgement of this organization, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations on the same day.[24] Japan also immediately withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty, thus removing all restrictions on the numbers and sizes of her capital warships.[25] In November 1934,Kongō was placed in Second Reserve in preparation for further modifications. On 10 January 1935,Kongō was toured by theNazi German naval attaché to Japan, CaptainPaul Wenneker, as part of a gunnery demonstration.[6]
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On 1 June 1935,Kongō was dry-docked at Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in preparation for upgrades that would enable her to escort Japan's growing fleet ofaircraft carriers. Her stern was lengthened by 26 feet (7.9 m) to improve herfineness ratio and her 16 older boilers were removed and then replaced with 11 oil-fired Kampon Boilers and newer geared turbines.[7] In addition, her bridge was completely reconstructed according to Japan's pagoda mast style of forward superstructure,[15] andcatapults were added to support threeNakajima E8N orKawanishi E7K reconnaissance and spotter floatplanes.[26]
Kongō's armor was also extensively upgraded. Her main belt was strengthened to a uniform thickness of eight inches (up from varying thicknesses of six to eight inches), and also diagonal bulkheads of depths ranging from 5 to 8 inches (127 to 203 mm) were added to reinforce the main armored belt.[27] The turret armor was strengthened to 10 inches (254 mm), while 4 inches (102 mm) were added to portions of the deck armor.[27]Kongō's ammunition magazine protection was also strengthened to 4.0 inches (10 cm).[7] This reconstruction was finished on 8 January 1937.[1] Capable of greater than 30 knots (56 km/h), despite the significant increase in her hull displacement,Kongō was now reclassified as a fast battleship.[15] Despite this reclassification, however,Kongō could still very much be considered a battlecruiser in nature.Kongō still only carried an 8-inch (203 mm) belt, 9-inch (229 mm) barbettes, and 10-inch (254 mm) turret armor, none of which were enough to stop even her own 14-inch (356 mm) guns.[10]
In February 1937,Kongō was assigned to theSasebo Naval District, and in December she was placed under the command ofTakeo Kurita in the Third Battleship Division. In April 1938, two float planes fromKongō bombed the Chinese city ofFuzhou during theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[6] Throughout 1938 and 1939,Kongō steamed off the Chinese coast in support of Japanese Army operations during the war. In November 1939, CaptainRaizo Tanaka assumed command ofKongō. From November 1940 to April 1941, additional armor was added toKongō's armament barbettes andammunition tubes, while ventilation and firefighting equipment was also improved. In August 1941, she was assigned to the Third Battleship Division under the command of Vice AdmiralGunichi Mikawa alongside her fully modified sister warshipsHiei,Kirishima and theHaruna.[6]
Kongō andHaruna departed from theHashirajima fleet anchorage on 29 November 1941 to begin theWar in the Pacific as part of the Southern (Malay) Force's Main Body, under the overall command of Vice-AdmiralNobutake Kondō.[28] On 4 December 1941, the Main Body arrived off the coast of southernThailand and northern Malaya in preparation forthe invasion of Thailand and the Malayan Peninsula four days later.[29] When Britain's "Force Z"—consisting of the battleshipPrince of Wales and the battlecruiserRepulse—wasquickly defeated by Japan's land-based aircraft from southern Vietnam,Kongō's battlegroup withdrew from Malayan waters. This battlegroup subsequently sortied fromIndochina for three days in mid-December to protect a reinforcement convoy traveling to Malaya, and again on 18 December to cover the Japanese Army's landing atLingayen Gulf,Luzon, in the Philippines. The Main Body departedCam Ranh Bay inFrench Indochina on 23 December bound for Taiwan, arriving two days later.[6] In January 1942,Kongō and theheavy cruisersTakao andAtago provided distant cover for air attacks onAmbon Island.[6]
On 21 February,Kongō was joined byHaruna, four fastaircraft carriers, fiveheavy cruisers and numerous support ships in preparation for "Operation J", Japan's invasion of theDutch East Indies. On 25 February, the Third Battleship Division provided cover for air attacks on theisland of Java.[7]Kongō bombardedChristmas Island off the western coast of Australia on 7 March 1942, and then she returned toStaring-baai for 15 days of standby alert.[6] In April 1942,Kongō joined five fleet carriersin attacks onColombo andTrincomalee onCeylon.[30] Following the destruction of the British heavy cruisersHMS Dorsetshire andHMS Cornwall on 5 April 1942, thisnaval task force moved southwest to locate the remainder of theBritish Eastern Fleet, then under the command ofAdmiral James Somerville.[31] On 7 April, the Japanese oil tankers were a ways off from the main formation, resulting inKongō refueling multiple destroyers, photographingArare andShiranui being refueled. On 9 April, one ofHaruna's reconnaissance seaplanes spotted the aircraft carrierHMS Hermes south of Trincomalee. On the same day, Japanese air attacks sank the carrier,[31] andKongō was attacked but missed by nine British mediumbombers. Having crippled the offensive capability of Britain's Eastern Fleet, the Third Battleship Division returned to Japan.Kongō reached Sasebo on 22 April. From 23 April to 2 May,Kongō was drydocked for reconfiguration of her antiaircraft armament.[6]
On 27 May 1942,Kongō sortied withHiei and the heavy cruisersAtago,Chōkai,Myōkō, andHaguro as part of AdmiralNobutake Kondō's invasion force during theBattle of Midway.[6][28] Following the disastrous loss of four of the Combined Fleet's fast carriers on 4 June 1942, Kondō's force withdrew to Japan.[32] On 14 July she was assigned as the flagship of the restructured Third Battleship Division. In August,Kongō was drydocked at Kure to receive surface-detection radar and additional range finders.[26] In September,Kongō embarked withHiei,Haruna,Kirishima, three carriers, and numerous smaller warships in response to theU.S. Marine Corps'samphibious landing onGuadalcanal in theSolomon Islands. On 20 September, thistask force was ordered to return to theTruk Naval Base in the Central Pacific north of theequator.[33]
In the aftermath of theBattle of Cape Esperance, the Japanese Army opted to reinforce its troops on Guadalcanal. To protect their transport convoy from enemy air attack, AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto sentHaruna andKongō, escorted by onelight cruiser and ninedestroyers, to bombard the Americanair base atHenderson Field. Because of their high speeds, these two battleships could bombard theairfield and then withdraw before being subjected to air attack from either land-based warplanes or American aircraft carriers.[34] On the night of 13–14 October, these two battleships shelled the area of Henderson Field from a distance of about 16,000 yards (15,000 m), firing 973 14-inch high-explosive shells. In the most successful Japanese battleship action of the war,[28] the bombardment heavily damaged both runways, destroyed almost all of the U.S. Marines' aviation fuel, destroyed or damaged 48 of the Marines' 90 warplanes, and killed 41 Marines.[35] A large Japanese troop and supply convoy reached Guadalcanal on the next day.[34]
During theBattle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October 1942,Kongō was attacked by fourGrumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, but she received no hits. In mid-November, this battleship and other warships provided distant cover for the unsuccessful mission by the IJN to bombard Henderson Field again and to deliver more Army reinforcements to Guadalcanal. On 15 November 1942, following the Japanese defeat and the sinking ofHiei andKirishima during theNaval Battle of Guadalcanal, the Third Battleship Division returned to Truk, where it remained for the rest of 1942.[6]
Throughout 1943,Kongō engaged no enemy targets. In late January 1943, she participated in "Operation Ke" as part of a diversionary and distant covering force to support IJN destroyers that were evacuating Army troops from Guadalcanal.[36] From 15 February through 20 February 1943, the Third Battleship Division was transferred fromTruk to the Kure Naval Base. On 27 February,Kongō was drydocked to receive upgrades to her antiaircraft armament, with the additions of two triple 25 mm gun mounts and the removal of two of her 6-inch turrets, while additional concrete protection was added near her steering gear.[26] On 17 May 1943, in response to theU.S. Army's invasion ofAttu Island,Kongō sortied alongside the battleshipMusashi, the Third Battleship Division, two fleet carriers, twocruisers, and nine destroyers. Three days later, the American submarineUSS Sawfish spotted thisnaval task force, but she was unable to attack it. On 22 May 1943, the task force arrived atYokosuka, where it was joined by an additional three fleet carriers and twolight cruisers. This force was disbanded when Attu fell to the U.S. Army before the necessary preparations for a counterattack had been finished.[6]
On 17 October 1943,Kongō again left Truk as part of a larger task force consisting of five battleships, three fleet carriers, eight heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and numerous destroyers. These sortied in response to U.S. Navyair raids onWake Island. No contact between the two forces was made, and the Japanese task force returned to Truk on 26 October 1943. She soon left Truk for home waters, and on 16 December 1943,Kongō arrived at Sasebo for refits and training in theInland Sea.[7]
In January 1944,Kongō was dry-docked for a reconfiguration of her anti-aircraft suite. Four 6-inch guns and a pair of twin 25 mm mounts were removed and replaced with six twin 5-inch guns and four triple 25 mm mounts.[26] The Third Battleship Division departed from Kure on 8 March 1944. Arriving at Lingga on 14 March 1944, the division remained for training until 11 May 1944.[6] On 11 May 1944,Kongō and Admiral Ozawa's Mobile Fleet departed from Lingga bound forTawitawi, where they were joined by Vice-AdmiralTakeo Kurita's "Force C". On 13 June, Ozawa's Mobile Fleet departed from Tawitawi bound for theMariana Islands.[37] During theBattle of the Philippine Sea,Kongō escorted Japanese fast carriers, and remained undamaged in counterattacks from US carrier aircraft on 20 June.[4] When she returned to Japan, 13 triple and 40 single 25-mm mounts were added to her anti-aircraft armament, for a total of over 100 mounts. In August, two more 6-inch guns were removed and another eighteen single mounts installed.[26]
On 22 October 1944,Kongō departed from Lingga in preparation for "Operation Sho-1", Japan's counterattack during theBattle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history, as part of Admiral Kurita's center force intent on destroying Allied troop convoys destined for the Philippines. However, the day afterwards the force was located by the submarinesUSS Darter andUSS Dace, which sank the heavy cruisersAtago andMaya respectively, beforeDarter crippled the heavy cruiserTakao, forcing her out of the battle with the destroyersNaganami andAsashimo to escort her.[38] The next day, a massive air wave from American aircraft attacked, andKongō took light damage from bomb near misses, but nothing that could have handicapped her combat ability. This was due to the vast majority of the air attacks being focused onMusashi, which sank after nine hours to at least 17 bombs and 19 torpedo hits. Admiral Kurita ordered a false retreat – successfully fooling the Americans – then two hours later raced his ships back in the direction of the Leyte Gulf landings.[6]
The next day,Kongō was continuing on her way when Kurita noticed enemy ships in the distance. This was Taffy 3, a group of six USescort carriers, three destroyers, and fourdestroyer escorts supporting the Leyte landings, with Kurita mistaking them for full sized fleet carriers. At 6:59,Kongō received permission to fire and unloaded several full broadsides from her main guns at 35,000 yards (32,000 m), thus starting thebattle off Samar, but the extreme range meant that none hit.[39] At 7:13, she took a bomb near miss to her stern, then five minutes later spotted the destroyerUSS Johnston and fired three salvos. One of her 14-inch (356 mm) shells landed mere inches fromJohnston, spraying red dye on the bridge. However, this was followed at 7:22 by aircraft strafing which disabled her main battery rangefinder.[40][41]
At 7:25,Kongō entered a rain squall which completely blinded her guns, taking her out of the action. She then noticed a spread of five torpedoes a distance ahead of her, fired from the destroyerUSS Hoel. She did not need to evade these torpedoes as is commonly stated in American narratives and simply watched them pass ahead.[40] It was only at 8:02 thatKongō left the rain squall and prepared to fire her guns. At 8:23, at a distance of 26,300 yards (24,000 m),Kongō fired her first shots in over an hour, her target being the escort carrierUSS Gambier Bay. A pair of battleship caliber shell hits were scored, inflicting heavy damage, but these hits were also claimed byYamato, which scored the matching firing angle, bearing, and range. At 8:50,Kongō fired on the destroyerUSS Heermann at 28,000 yards (26,000 m) and finally successfully damaged an enemy vessel as a pair of under the keel explosions completely floodedHeermann's bow, helping to cripple her alongside gunfire from the heavy cruisersTone andChikuma.[42]
Finally, at 9:20,Kongō located the destroyer escortUSS Samuel B. Roberts, which was out of torpedoes and almost entirely out of ammo after heavy fighting, and was an easy target for the Japanese battleship. Mistaking her for a destroyer, she switched to high explosive rounds and fired off several salvos from her secondary battery, and scored a pair of 6-inch (152 mm) shell hits, one hitting below the waterline and destroyingSamuel B Roberts's forward fire room, cutting her speed to 17 knots, and the other exploding in her aft superstructure. Permission to fire the main guns was given, and a single broadside scored three or four 14-inch (356 mm) shell hits which destroyed the rest of her engines and all power. The abandon ship order was issued shortly afterwards, andSamuel B Roberts sank by the stern just after 10:00.[43][44]
Many Western narratives on the battle off Samar have unfortunately vastly overexaggeratedKongō's battle performance during the engagement, with some crediting her with either sinking or helping to sink every ship Taffy 3 lost. During the 7:30 timeframe,Kongō has been credited with three 14-inch (356 mm) shell hits to the destroyerJohnston at 13,300 yards (12,200 m), cutting her speed to 17 knots and destroying three of her five 5-inch (127 mm) guns, enabling the crippled destroyer to be finished off by the light cruiserYahagi leading the destroyersYukikaze,Isokaze,Urakaze, andNowaki. However,Kongō was blinded by rain squalls, had her main battery rangefinder disabled by aircraft, and was much farther than American reports. Evidence points to the battleshipYamato crippling and helping to sinkJohnston. Similarly,Kongō has been identified with badly damaging the destroyerHoel early into the battle, enabling her to be further crippled then finished off by other vessels. For the same reasons for why she could not help to sinkJohnston,Kongō was also not in a position to help to sinkHoel given she could not even see the destroyer at 9,000 yards (8,200 m). All evidence points towards the heavy cruiserHaguro scored the initial devastating damage which woundedHoel for the rest of her time afloat.[6][40]
Later into the battle,Kongō has been given credit for helping to sink the escort carrierGambier Bay, but she was at a distance far too great to realistically hit an enemy ship, and all battleship caliber hits on the jeep carrier match withYamato. Neither didKongō assist in finishing off the crippledHoel; it was the battleshipsYamato andNagato which sank the destroyer.[6]
However, mixed air and surface attacks sank three Japanese heavy cruisers, which mixed with the losses of previous battles, the increasing intensity of the air attacks, and Kurita discovering the true identity of his enemy via a radio message at the very end of the battle, a retreat was ordered. During the action,Kongō dumped 211 14-inch (356 mm) shells and 272 6-inch (152 mm) shells. The next day, air attacks pestered the Japanese ships, andKongō took a pair of bomb hits to the starboard side of her bow and five near misses, inflicting minor damage. After multiple days of fighting,Kongō and the rest of Kurita's center force finally returned to Brunei on the 28th.[6][43][45][46]
On 16 November, following a US air raid on Brunei,Kongō, along withYamato,Nagato and the rest of the First Fleet, departed from Brunei bound for Kure in preparation for a major reorganization of the fleet and battle repairs. On 20 November, they entered theFormosa Strait. Shortly after midnight on 21 November, the submarineUSS Sealion made radar contact with the fleet at 44,000 yards (40,000 m).[47] Maneuvering into position at 02:45,Sealion fired six bow torpedoes atKongō followed by three stern torpedoes atNagato fifteen minutes later. One minute after the first salvo was launched, two of the torpedoes were seen to hitKongō on the port side, while a third sank the destroyerUrakaze with all hands.[6] The torpedoes flooded two ofKongō's boiler rooms, but she was still able to make 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph). By 05:00, she had slowed to 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) and was given permission to break off from the fleet and head to the port ofKeelung inFormosa along with the destroyersHamakaze andIsokaze as escort.[47] Within fifteen minutes of detaching from the main force,Kongō was listing 45 degrees and flooding uncontrollably. At 5:18 the ship lost all power and the order was given to abandon ship.[48] At 5:24, while the evacuation was under way, the forward 14-inch magazine exploded, and the broken ship sank quickly, with the loss of over 1,200 of her crew, including the commander of the Third Battleship Division and her captain.[4]
Kongō is believed to have sunk in 350 feet (110 m) of water approximately 55 nautical miles (102 km; 63 mi) northwest of Keelung. She was one of only three British-built battleships sunk by submarine attack during World War II. The other two were the BritishRevenge-class battleshipHMS Royal Oak and theQueen Elizabeth-class battleshipHMS Barham.Kongō is the only Japanese battleship from World War II whose wreck has not been located or surveyed.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1924 | |
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| Other incidents |
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