Japanese battleship Kirishima
Service
- as Kirishima19 April 1915 — 15 November 19421,171 days of the war
- Name
- Kirishima
- Namesake
- Mount Kirishima
- Builder
- Mitsubishi, Nagasaki
- Ordered
- November 1910
- Laid down
- 17 March 1912
- Launched
- 1 December 1913
- Commissioned
- 19 April 1915
- Fate
- Sunk by USS Washington (BB-56) following the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 15 November 1942
By surface_action (1942) - Status
- Wreck
Specifications — As built
- Displacement, standard
- 26,317 long tons (26,739 t)
- Length
- 214.6 m (704.1 ft)
- Beam
- 28 m (91.9 ft)
- Draught
- 8.2 m (26.9 ft)
- Speed
- 27.8 knots (51.5 km/h, 32 mph)
- Range
- 8,000 nmi (14,816 km)
- Complement
- 1,221
- Main gun
- 356 mm (14 in)
Kirishima was a battleship of the Kongō-class battlecruiser in service with the Imperial Japanese Navy. The ship was named after Mount Kirishima. Mitsubishi, Nagasaki laid her keel on 17 March 1912. Launched on 1 December 1913, she entered service on 19 April 1915.
Her class ran to four ships. The class followed the Ibuki-class armored cruiser and was succeeded by the Amagi-class battlecruiser.
She displaced 26,317 long tons. She measured 214.6 m (704 ft) long with a beam of 28 m (92 ft). Her designed speed was 27.8 knots, and she carried a complement of 1,221.
Her main battery was eight 356 mm (14 in) guns in four twin mountings. Her machinery developed 64,000 shp through four shafts.
She was in commission for 1,171 days of the Second World War.
She was sunk on 15 November 1942 by surface_action. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
This vessel is recorded in 2 configurations. Wartime refits changed armament and complement substantially, so each is kept separately rather than averaged into one set of figures. The figures above are as built.
As built
- Propulsion
- 4 shafts; 2 steam turbine sets
- Power
- 36 Yarrow boilers
- 64000 shp
- Armament
- 4 × twin 14 in guns
- 16 × single 6 in guns
- 4 × single 76.2 mm (3 in) AA guns
- 8 × 21 in torpedo tubes
- Armour
- Waterline belt: 3 - 8 in
- Deck: 19–25 mm
- Barbettes: 3 - 10 in
- Gun turrets: 9 - 10 in
1942
- Displacement, standard
- 31,977 long tons (32,490 t)
- Length
- 222.65 m (730.5 ft) OA
- Beam
- 31.02 m (101.8 ft)
- Draught
- 10.29 m (33.8 ft)
- Speed
- 29.8 knots (55.2 km/h, 34.3 mph)
- Range
- 7,000 nmi (12,964 km)
- Complement
- 1,318
- Main gun
- 356 mm (14 in)
- Propulsion
- 4 × geared steam turbines
- Power
- 8 × water-tube boilers
- 136000 shp
- Armament
- 4 × twin 356 mm guns
- 14 × single 152 mm guns
- 4 × twin 127 mm DP guns
- 10 × twin Type 96 25 mm AA guns
- Armour
- Deck: 120 - 80 mm
- Barbettes: 343 mm
- Aircraft
- 3 × floatplanes
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from Japanese battleship Kirishima on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Shizuo Fukui — Kure Maritime Museum, (edited by Kazushige Todaka), Japanese Naval Warship Photo Album: Battleships and Battle Cruisers , p. 124 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons