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The was a class of four battlecruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) immediately before World War I. Designed by British naval architect George Thurston, the lead ship of the class was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan, by Vickers.〔 During the late 1920s, all but ''Hiei'' were reconstructed and reclassified as battleships. After the signing of the London Naval Treaty in 1930, ''Hiei'' was reconfigured as a training ship to avoid being scrapped. Following Japan's withdrawal from the London Naval Treaty, all four underwent a massive second reconstruction in the late 1930s. Following the completion of these modifications, which increased top speeds to over , all four were reclassified as fast battleships. The ''Kongō''-class battleships were the most active capital ships of the Japanese Navy during World War II, participating in most major engagements of the war. ''Hiei'' and ''Kirishima'' acted as escorts during the attack on Pearl Harbor, while ''Kongō'' and ''Haruna'' supported the invasion of Singapore. All four participated in the battles of Midway and Guadalcanal. ''Hiei'' and ''Kirishima'' were both lost during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November 1942, while ''Haruna'' and ''Kongō'' jointly bombarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The two remaining Kongō-class battleships spent most of 1943 shuttling between Japanese naval bases before participating in the major naval campaigns of 1944. ''Haruna'' and ''Kongō'' engaged American surface vessels during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. ''Kongō'' was torpedoed by USS ''Sealion'' in November 1944, while ''Haruna'' was sunk at her moorings by air attack in Kure Naval Base in late July 1945 and subsequently scrapped. ==Design== The design of the ''Kongō''-class battlecruisers came about as a result of the IJN's modernization programs, as well as the perceived need to compete with the British Royal Navy.〔 In March 1908, the Royal Navy launched at Newcastle upon Tyne. Armed with eight main guns, ''Invincible'' rendered all current—and designed—Japanese capital ships obsolete by comparison.〔 In 1911, the Japanese Diet passed the Emergency Naval Expansion Bill, authorizing the construction of one battleship () and four armoured cruisers, to be designed by British naval architect George Thurston.〔〔Gardiner and Gray (1980), p. 234〕 In his design of the class, Thurston relied on many techniques that would eventually be used by the British on the .〔 Under the terms of the contract signed with Vickers in November 1910, one member of the ''Kongō'' class—the lead ship ''Kongō''—was to be built in Britain and Vickers were to maximize technology transfer to Japan. The design of the ships was from Vickers Design 472C (corresponding to the Japanese design designation B-46). The original design featured eight or ten 12-inch (304.8 mm) 50-caliber guns, sixteen guns, and eight torpedo tubes. Cdr Katô Hirohasu pushed for the adoption of a new calibre gun that was currently under development. After trials of the new gun, which were witnessed by both the Japanese Navy and Royal Navy, the Japanese made the decision on 29 Nov 1911 to use the new gun despite the keel having already been laid down on the 17 January 1911, and the resulting need to quickly make a large number of alternations to the design, so as to not prolong the construction.〔Lengerer. Page 142.〕 The final design of the battlecruisers resulted in an improved version of the , displacing an estimated 27,940 tonnes (27,500 long tons).〔Jackson (2000), p. 48〕 It also called for eight 14-inch guns mounted in four twin gun turrets (two forward and two aft) with a top speed of .〔Jackson (2008), p. 27〕 To ensure transfer of the latest design knowledge to Japan more than 100 technical specialists were sent on 18 months secondments from Japan to Vickers during the construction phase of the Kongō. If superintendents, supervisors and trial witnesses are also included then approximately 200 Japanese spent time in Britain.〔Lengerer. Page 144.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kongō-class battlecruiser」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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