IJN Hiei

Scuttled

Type	Battlecruiser, rebuilt as Battleship
Class	Kongō
War	Second World War
Main guns	8 × 14″ guns in 4 twin turrets

Refits

1929–1932

Made a training ship under the London Naval Treaty: one turret, her belt armour and most of her boilers removed.

1936–1940

Rebuilt as a battleship

Rebuilt as a 30-knot fast battleship like her sisters, with a new tower bridge that tried out the design for Yamato.

Kongō-class battlecruiser. Disarmed as a training ship under the London Naval Treaty, then rebuilt as a fast battleship. Crippled at close range on 13 November 1942 and finished off by aircraft from Henderson Field and Enterprise, she was scuttled that evening: the first Japanese battleship lost in the war.

Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Hiei undergoes a full-power trial off Tsukugewan. Photo: Kure Naval Arsenal Shipbuilding unit, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

As Built

8 356 mm (14 in)/45 cal guns (4x2)
16 152 mm (6 in)/50 cal guns (16x1)
8 12-pounder (76 mm (3 in)) guns
4 6.5 mm (0.26 in) machine guns
8 submerged 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes (4x2)

After 1937–1940 Refit

14 152 mm (6 in) guns (14x1)
8 127 mm (5.0 in) DP guns (4x2)
20 1-inch (2.5 cm) Type 96 antiaircraft autocannons (10x2)

Armour

Belt: 203 mm (8 in) (amidships); 76 mm (3 in) (ends)
Deck: 69.85 mm (2.75 in)
Bulkheads: 127 to 228.6 mm (5 to 9 in) (fore); 152 to 203 mm (6 to 8 in) (aft)
Turrets: 228.6 mm (9 in)
Conning Tower: 254 mm (10 in)

Builder	Yokosuka Naval Arsenal
Laid down	4 November 1911
Launched	21 November 1912
Commissioned	4 August 1914
Displacement	36,600 long tons (37,187 t)
Length	222 m (728 ft 4 in)
Speed	27.5 knots (31.6 mph; 50.9 km/h)
Complement	1360