Kongō-Class Battleships: In the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II

by Lars Ahlberg, Hans Lengerer

The battleships of the Kongō class were the oldest, smallest, and fastest battleships in the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. Initially classified as battle cruisers, the lead ship in the class, Kongō , was built in England just prior to WWI. The remaining three ships in the class— Haruna , Kirishima , and Hiei —were all built and completed in Japan by 1915. All four ships were highly reconfigured in the 1920s, and they were reclassified as battleships in the 1930s. The four Kongō-class ships were the most active among the 12 WWII-era Japanese battleships and saw heavy combat throughout the war in such major campaigns as Pearl Harbor, Midway, Guadalcanal, and Leyte. All four ships were sunk by Allied forces by war’s end. This book features rare Japanese primary source material, including numerous photos, line schemes, and detailed charts.

128 pages, Hardcover

Published June 8, 2021

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kongo-Class Battleships in the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II is another entry in Schiffer’s “Legends of Warfare” series, by two of the authorities on Japanese warships of the period. Most of the writing in the book talks about the design process and the design itself, but there is also a short section on the operational history of the ships at the end. Like other entries in the series, the book contains numerous photographs and some diagrams and tables, as well as the text.

The writing is solid, and does a good job of conveying the information required with no typos or (as far as I could tell) errors. It is clear that the authors are very knowledgeable on the topic, and have done everything they can to squeeze as much information into the book as possible (the captions to the photographs are well worth reading, as well as the main text). The tables are clear and generally well-defined, and the level of detail for a relatively short book with many images impressive. The operational section, while short, contained more information on the key encounters these ships took place in, for the ships in question, than some books focused on operational performance, such as Dull’s Battle History of the Japanese Navy.

The photos are also well-chosen, and provide many views of the ships at different times in their lives, including a few detail shots and some of Kongo under construction. Sadly, as is the case for most Japanese warships, there are only limited photographs of the later and particularly wartime careers, but the book makes the best of the available content, and included more than a few photos I hadn’t seen before, and a few that have not been previously published. As would be expected given the limited availability of images, the quality can vary substantially.

All up, it’s an excellent piece of work, and easily recommended for anyone interested in the IJN’s “Dreadnought Era”/Second World War. I look forward to their next book, on the Fubuki-class destroyers.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

So long as you remember that you're mostly buying this work for the pictures, you'll be quite satisfied. It doesn't hurt that the authors are recognized experts and, thus, the narrative and analytic portions seem quite sound. This is looking like a series worth collecting.