IJN Kirishima

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Classified as a Kongo-class battlecruiser, the Kirishima completed construction at Nagasaki in April 1915, displacing 27,500 tons, and carrying eight 14-inch guns mounted in four two-gunl turrets. After serving in the Japanese fleet for more than ten years, she went to the Kure shipyards to get a modernization upgrade. She remained there from 1927 to 1930 until returning the fleet reclassified as a battleship. The battleship returned for further renovation in 1934 and came out in 1936 with her hull lengthened, a new propulsion system installed that could drive her through the water a maximum of 30.5 knots, thicker armor, increased antiaircraft protection, and a heavier displacement of 32,156 tons. She now resembled the modern battleships of that time although, like her sister ships (Hiei, Haruna, and Kongo), carried lighter armor and guns than the heavier battleships in the Japanese and other naval powers’ fleets.

The battleship was an active ship during the first year of the Pacific War. She was with Nagumo’s carriers during the Pearl Harbor attack and the early 1942 offensive in the East Indies.

The Kirishima also participated in the raids on British forces in the Indian Ocean during March and April 1942. During the campaign in the Solomons that began in August 1942, she was part of the Japanese forces during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in August and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in October. During the nighttime sea battle off Guadalcanal on November 13, she sustained slight damage. Two nights later, the Kirishima had the first battle between battleships in the Pacific War during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal against the USS Washington. Totally outgunned against the American battleship’s more powerful 16-inch guns and thicker armor, she ended up as a disabled wreck a few miles west of Savo Island. Her crew scuttled her, and she lies on the sea bottom. Salvage crews found and examined her wreckage in August 1992 with her blown-off forward end in 4,000 feet of water.