Kongo-Class Battlecruiser

The Kongo class comprised four battlecruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, Kongo, Hiei, Kirishima and Haruna, built between 1911 and 1915, with the lead ship built by Vickers in Britain, making Kongo the last Japanese capital ship ever constructed outside Japan. Armed with eight 14-inch guns and capable of roughly 27.5 knots as built, all four ships were extensively rebuilt and modernized between the world wars into fast battleships with much improved speed, armor and aircraft-handling facilities, and they served as fast escorts for Japan's carrier task forces through the early years of the Pacific War. All four were eventually lost during the Second World War: Hiei and Kirishima were sunk in the November 1942 naval battle off Guadalcanal, Kongo was torpedoed by an American submarine in November 1944, and Haruna was sunk in an air attack on Kure naval base in July 1945.