Ship Modelers Database
Kongō Japanese battleship
Sunk
Kongō was the lead ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy's four-vessel Kongō class, originally built as a battlecruiser and later reclassified as a fast battleship. She was the first of her class and notable as the last Japanese capital ship ever built outside Japan, constructed by Vickers in Britain to let Japan study contemporary British warship technology before building her three sisters (Hiei, Haruna, Kirishima) domestically.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kitPlans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
+ Link a build logNo build logs linked yet.
Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- HyperWar: Japanese Navy Ships - Kongo (Battlecruiser & Battleship, 1913-1944)Website
Naval history archive page with a concise service and sinking summary plus links to period photographs of the ship.
- Pacific Wrecks: Kongō 金剛Website
Wreck/loss record giving precise sinking details, location, and cause (torpedoed by USS Sealion).
- Wikipedia: Japanese battleship KongōArticle
Comprehensive overview of design, reconstructions, specifications, and full WWI/WWII service history including her loss in 1944.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: KONGO - Japan (Library of Congress photograph)Photo
Public-domain Library of Congress photograph of the battleship Kongō, useful as a visual reference for modelers.
History
Service history
Commissioned in 1913, Kongō patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I and later operated off China again during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the Pacific War she supported the invasions of Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, screened carriers at Midway, took part in the Guadalcanal campaign, and fought in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where she helped sink the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts. She was torpedoed and sunk by the American submarine USS Sealion while transiting the Formosa (Taiwan) Strait on 21 November 1944.
Notable facts
Kongō holds the distinction of being the only battleship sunk by a submarine during the Pacific War. In 1923 she carried then-Crown Prince (later Emperor) Hirohito to Taiwan, a voyage documented in period photographs. Her long career spanning both World Wars and two complete reconstructions makes her an interesting subject for modelers wanting to depict either her original battlecruiser configuration or her heavily modified 1944 fast-battleship fit.