page_title: Kongō-class battlecruiser
section_title: Armament
hierarchical_section_title: Kongō-class battlecruiser / Description / Armament
caption_attribution_description: 14 inch gun being installed (in the turret at left) on Japanese battlecruiser Haruna at the Kawasaki company at Kobe, Japan
context_page_description: The Kongō-class battlecruiser was a class of four battlecruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy immediately before World War I. Designed by British naval architect George Thurston, the lead ship of the class, Kongō, was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan, by Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness. Her sister ships, Haruna, Kirishima and Hiei, were all completed in Japan.
  During the late 1920s, all but Hiei were reconstructed and reclassified as battleships. After the signing of the London Naval Treaty in 1930, Hiei was reconfigured as a training ship to avoid being scrapped. Following Japan's withdrawal from the treaty, all four underwent a massive second reconstruction in the late 1930s. Following the completion of these modifications, which increased top speeds to over 30 knots, all four were reclassified as fast battleships.
  The Kongō-class battleships were the most active capital ships of the Japanese Navy during World War II, participating in most major engagements of the war. Hiei and Kirishima acted as escorts during the attack on Pearl Harbor, while Kongō and Haruna supported the invasion of Singapore.
context_section_description: The primary armament of the Kongō class consisted of eight 45-calibre 14-inch guns, mounted in four superfiring twin-gun turrets. The turrets had an elevation capability of −5/+20 degrees except in Kongō whose turrets had a maximum elevation capability of +25 degrees. The shells could be loaded at any angle and the guns had a firing cycle of 30–40 seconds. These guns and their turrets underwent multiple modernizations throughout the ships' careers. During the first reconstruction of the class during the 1920s, the elevation of the main guns was increased to a maximum of +33 degrees. The recoil mechanism of the guns was also changed from a hydraulic to pneumatic system, which allowed for a faster firing cycle of the main guns.
  By World War II, the guns used Type 91 armor-piercing, capped shells. Each of these shells weighed 673.5 kilograms (1,485 lb) and had a muzzle velocity of 775 meters per second (2,540 ft/s). They had a maximum range of 25,000 meters (27,000 yd) at +20 degrees of elevation and 35,450 meters (38,770 yd) at +43 degrees after modernisation. Also available was a 625-kilogram (1,378 lb) high-explosive shell that had a muzzle velocity of 805 meters per second (2,640 ft/s). A special Type 3 Sanshikidan incendiary shrapnel shell was developed in the 1930s for anti-aircraft use.
  As built, the Kongō class was fitted with a secondary armament of sixteen 50-caliber six-inch guns mounted in single casemates along the sides of the hull at the level of the upper deck. Eight guns were mounted per side, and each had an arc of fire of 130 degrees and a maximum elevation of +15 degrees. Each gun could fire a 45.36-kilogram (100 lb) high explosive projectile a maximum distance of 22,970 yards (21,000 m) at a rate of between four and six shots per minute. During their reconstruction in the 1930s, the maximum elevation of the guns was increased to +30 degrees, which increased their maximum range by approximately 900 metres (980 yd). During their second reconstruction, two of these guns were removed from each ship, bringing the total to fourteen six-inch guns.
  The ships also mounted four 40-caliber 76 mm anti-aircraft (AA) guns. The 76-millimetre (3 in) high-angle guns were in single mounts. Each of these guns had a maximum elevation of +75 degrees, and could fire a 6 kg (13 lb) projectile with a muzzle velocity of 680 m/s (2,200 ft/s) to a maximum height of 7,500 metres (24,600 ft). Both ships were equipped with eight submerged 533-millimetre (21.0 in) torpedo tubes, four on each broadside.
  The Kongō class's secondary armament changed significantly over time. During the modernizations of the 1930s, all of the 76 mm guns were replaced with eight 40-caliber 127 mm (5 in)/40 dual-purpose guns. These guns were fitted on both sides of the fore and aft superstructures in four twin-gun mounts. When firing at surface targets, the guns had a range of 14,700 metres (16,100 yd); they had a maximum ceiling of 9,440 metres (30,970 ft) at their maximum elevation of +90 degrees. Their maximum rate of fire was 14 rounds a minute, but their sustained rate of fire was around eight rounds per minute. During reconstruction, the two foremost 152 mm guns were also removed.
  The light AA armament of the Kongō class changed dramatically from 1933 to 1944. During the second reconstruction, the ships were fitted with four to eight twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) machine-guns, later replaced by 25-millimeter (0.98 in) gun mounts. Both weapons were license-built French Hotchkiss designs. The 25 mm guns were mounted on the Kongō class in single, double and triple mounts. This model was the standard Japanese light anti-aircraft gun during World War II, but it suffered from severe design shortcomings that rendered it a largely ineffective weapon. The twin and triple mounts "lacked sufficient speed in train or elevation; the gun sights were unable to handle fast targets; the gun exhibited excessive vibration; the magazine was too small, and, finally, the gun produced excessive muzzle blast". Haruna ultimately carried 118 guns in 30 triple, two twin and 24 single 
caption: A 14-inch gun being installed aboard Haruna, October 1914
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