page_title: Japanese battleship Kirishima
section_title: 1914–1927: Battlecruiser
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese battleship Kirishima / Service / 1914–1927: Battlecruiser
caption_attribution_description: English: Imperial Japanese Navy battlecruiser Kirishima at Sasebo, Japan.
context_page_description: Kirishima was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. Designed by British naval engineer George Thurston, she was the third launched of the four Kongō-class battlecruisers. Laid down in 1912 at the Mitsubishi Shipyards in Nagasaki, Kirishima was formally commissioned in 1915 on the same day as her sister ship, Haruna. Kirishima patrolled on occasion off the Chinese coast during World War I, and helped with rescue efforts following the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.
  Starting in 1927, Kirishima's first reconstruction rebuilt her as a battleship, strengthening her armor and improving her speed. From 1934, a second reconstruction completely rebuilt her superstructure, upgraded her engine plant, and equipped her with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing carrier fleet, she was reclassified as a fast battleship. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kirishima acted primarily as a support vessel and troop transport, moving army troops to mainland China.
context_section_description: Kirishima was formally commissioned on 19 April 1915, and along with Haruna was assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the First Fleet. After seven months of trials, she was reassigned to the 3rd Battleship Division of the Second Fleet, with Captain Shima Takeshi in overall command of the ship. In April 1916, Kirishima and Haruna departed Sasebo Naval Base to patrol the East China Sea for ten days. She remained in Sasebo until April 1917, when she again deployed to the Chinese coast with her sister ships Haruna and Kongō. Her last patrol operation of World War I was off the Chinese and Korean coast in April 1918. In July 1918, Kirishima acted as the transport of Prince Arthur of Connaught for his extended cruise to Canada, before returning to Japan.
  Following the end of World War I, the Japanese Empire gained control of former German possessions in the central Pacific per the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Due to Japan's warm relations with the British Empire and the United States at the time, Kirishima and other Japanese warships became significantly less active than during the war. On 1 December 1920, she was reassigned to the Third Division of the Second Fleet. Other than a patrol alongside Kongō and Nagato off the Chinese coast in August 1921, Kirishima remained in Sasebo. On 10 September 1922, she collided with the destroyer Fuji during fleet maneuvers, with both ships sustaining minor damage. Following the Great Kantō earthquake of September 1923, the capital ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy assisted in rescue work until the end of the month. She was placed in reserve in December 1923.
  With the conclusion of World War I and the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, the size of the Imperial Japanese Navy was significantly lessened, with a ratio of 5:5:3 required between the capital ships of the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan.  The treaty also banned Japan from building any new capital ships until 1931, with no capital ship permitted to exceed 35,000 tons.  Provided that new additions did not exceed 3,000 tons, existing capital ships were allowed to be upgraded with improved torpedo bulges and deck armor.  By the time the Washington Treaty had been fully implemented in Japan, only three classes of World War I-era capital ships—the Fusō and Ise-class battleships, and the Kongō-class battlecruisers—remained active.
caption: Kirishima moored at Sasebo in December 1915
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