Kongo

13.3

Kongō

Battleship | Japan | Tier V

Tech Tree Position

stock

 top

General

Research price12000 exp

Purchase price1,420,000

Hit Points49,500

Main Battery

356 mm/45 41st Year Type in a twin turret4 х 2 pcs.

Rate of Fire1.94 shots/min.

Reload Time31 sec.

Rotation Speed3 deg./sec.

180 Degree Turn Time60 sec.

Firing Range19.27 km.

Maximum Dispersion236 m.

HE Shell356 mm HE Type0

Maximum HE Shell Damage5,700

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell25 %

Initial HE Shell Velocity805 m./s.

HE Shell Weight625 kg.

AP Shell356 mm AP Type5

Maximum AP Shell Damage10,000

Initial AP Shell Velocity790 m./s.

AP Shell Weight635.5 kg.

Secondary Armament #1

127 mm/40 Type 89 on a Model A1 mount4 х 2 pcs.

Firing Range4.3 km.

Rate of Fire12 shots/min.

Reload Time5 sec.

HE Shell127 mm HE Type0

Maximum HE Shell Damage2,100

Initial HE Shell Velocity725 m./s.

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell8 %

Secondary Armament #2

152 mm/50 41st Year Type on a casemate mount14 х 1 pcs.

Firing Range4.3 km.

Rate of Fire6 shots/min.

Reload Time10 sec.

HE Shell152 mm HE Type4

Maximum HE Shell Damage2,500

Initial HE Shell Velocity825 m./s.

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell9 %

AA Defense

127 mm/40 Type 89 on a Model A1 mount4 х 2 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second40.4

. . . Firing Range5.01 km.

13 mm/76 Type 93 on a twin mount12 х 2 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second24

. . . Firing Range1.2 km.

Maneuverability

Maximum Speed24.9 knot

Turning Circle Radius770 m.

Rudder Shift Time17.2 sec.

Concealment

Surface Detectability Range15.71 km.

Air Detectability Range9.36 km.

Battle Levels

12345678910

13.3

Kongō

Battleship | Japan | Tier V

Tech Tree Position

stock

 top

General

Research price12000 exp

Purchase price1,420,000

Hit Points54,100

Main Battery

356 mm/45 41st Year Type in a twin turret4 х 2 pcs.

Rate of Fire2 shots/min.

Reload Time30 sec.

Rotation Speed3.3 deg./sec.

180 Degree Turn Time54.55 sec.

Firing Range21.2 km.

Maximum Dispersion236 m.

HE Shell356 mm HE Type0

Maximum HE Shell Damage5,700

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell25 %

Initial HE Shell Velocity805 m./s.

HE Shell Weight625 kg.

AP Shell356 mm AP Type91

Maximum AP Shell Damage10,200

Initial AP Shell Velocity775 m./s.

AP Shell Weight673.5 kg.

Secondary Armament #1

127 mm/40 Type 89 on a Model A1 mount4 х 2 pcs.

Firing Range4.3 km.

Rate of Fire12 shots/min.

Reload Time5 sec.

HE Shell127 mm HE Type0

Maximum HE Shell Damage2,100

Initial HE Shell Velocity725 m./s.

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell8 %

Secondary Armament #2

152 mm/50 41st Year Type on a casemate mount14 х 1 pcs.

Firing Range4.3 km.

Rate of Fire6 shots/min.

Reload Time10 sec.

HE Shell152 mm HE Type4

Maximum HE Shell Damage2,500

Initial HE Shell Velocity825 m./s.

Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell9 %

AA Defense

127 mm/40 Type 89 on a Model A1 mount4 х 2 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second40.4

. . . Firing Range5.01 km.

25 mm/60 Type 96 on a twin mount6 х 2 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second16.2

. . . Firing Range2.49 km.

13 mm/76 Type 93 on a quadruple mount2 х 4 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second5.8

. . . Firing Range1.2 km.

13 mm/76 Type 93 on a twin mount4 х 2 pcs.

. . . Average Damage per Second8

. . . Firing Range1.2 km.

Maneuverability

Maximum Speed30 knot

Turning Circle Radius770 m.

Rudder Shift Time14.9 sec.

Concealment

Surface Detectability Range15.71 km.

Air Detectability Range9.36 km.

Battle Levels

12345678910

V

1,420,000

Kongō — Japanese Tier V battleship.

When she was commissioned, Kongo was the most advanced battlecruiser in the world. She was the first among battlecruisers and battleships to be equipped with 356 mm main battery guns. Unlike previous Japanese dreadnoughts, Kongo received a thinner armor belt while her deck armor and torpedo protection were reinforced.

Modules

	Rate of Fire (shots/min)	180° Turn Time (sec)	Maximum Dispersion (m)	Maximum HE Shell Damage (HP)	Chance of Fire on Target Caused by HE Shell (%)	Maximum AP Shell Damage (HP)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
356 mm/45 41st Year Type in a twin turret	1.9	60	236	5,700	25	10,000		0	190,000

	Hit Points (HP)	Armor (mm)	Armor (mm)	Main Turrets (pcs.)	Secondary Gun Turrets (pcs.)	AA Mounts (pcs.)	Torpedo Tubes (pcs.)	Hangar Capacity (pcs.)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Kongō (A)	49,500	13	254	4	4/14	12/4				0	230,000
Kongō (B)	54,100	13	254	4	4/14	4/2/6/4				6,500	480,000

	IDS_SHIP_PARAM_SUO_INCREASE_DIST (%)	Maximum Firing Range (km)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Type5 mod. 1		0		0	76,000
Type5 mod. 2		0		3,600	240,000

	Maximum Speed (knot)		Research price (exp)	Purchase price ()
Propulsion: 75,000 hp	24.9		0	110,000
Propulsion: 136,000 hp	30		2,000	240,000

Compatible Upgrades

Slot 1
Slot 2
Slot 3

Player Opinion

Performance

Kongo is one of the more fun battleships to play with, particularly when in her own tier. At her tier and anything within her matchmaking table she outranges because of her maxed out range of 21.2 km and with a scout plane active, the Kongo can have a range comparable to a Yamato that did not launch its spotting plane with a total of 25.44 km. She's also the second battlecruiser in the Japanese battleship line with Amagi being the last of it because after being in the tier III Kawachi, Kongo makes you adapt to a newer style as she does not fully have the armor to get in all out salvofests with dreadnoughts such as her US and German Tier 5 counterpart New York and König, which has better armor but lower speed before going back to dreadnoughts again when you reach Fuso. As a battlecruiser, you pay for that maneuverability with lighter armor protection. Presenting your broadside to any battleship opponent, even tier 3's, is very dangerous and will quickly get you sunk. Kongo can also see up to Tier 7 battleship opponents that are unlikely to bounce a shot at even extreme angles and fire enough of them to sink her in one salvo. At her tier however, she takes her pride as the fastest battleship along with her decent maneuverability which can ease the burden of performing evasive maneuvers against salvos or torpedoes.

With the removal of the Kongo A hull, she is a painless grind and has fairly strong AA even when stock.

Pros:

• Great gun range: Reaching out to 21+ kilometers, she has the second highest range in the mid tiers after Fuso
• Impressive speed: Kongo can reach 30 knots, allowing her to keep up with cruisers and relocate if needed
• Decent agility: She is surprisingly maneuverable and can cover her turning circle quite quickly
• Good gun characteristics: her guns are accurate, powerful, and have decent penetration
• Feels like a modern battleship in a world of outdated WW1 era ships

Cons:

• Low AA suite potency: Her AA suite will not do much against higher tier aircraft
• High detection range: She is easily seen at 16km
• Battlecruiser armor: Her weak armor is easily penetrated by battleship shells, though it can be partially overcome with angling.
• Sluggish rudder shift time: It takes a long time for her to start turning compared to USN Battleships
• Being a mid tier battleship, her dispersion is still quite high at longer range
• There is little point of using spotting plane when having the longest based firing range of her tier

Research

As Kongo is a Battlecruiser and needs to be able to dictate the terms of the engagement as she does not have a lot of armor, upgraded propulsion is the way to go. After this, you should get the B(formerly C) hull not for AA, but for her upgraded shells(like the Germans get with each hull upgrade as well) and a little bit faster turret traverse, and then the range upgrade. Without a C hull anymore, Kongo is a rather short grind these days. As with the propulsion upgrade, the range upgrade helps dictate the terms of the engagement, something that is quite important on a thinly armored Battlecruiser. Getting the range upgrade increases your maximum dispersion, but only by 17 meters which for a battleship is unnoticeable.

For her Equipment, as usual the Main Armaments Modification 1, improving the resilience of her main batteries, and the Damage Control Systems Modification 1, giving a minor improvement to her fire resistance and torpedo protection, should be fitted. At Tier 5, Kongo can mount Slot 2 equipment, of which the Aiming Systems Modification 1 is generally the best choice, improving her accuracy at the long ranges she can fire at.

Her captain, if carried over from previous ships, should already have either Basics of Survivability or Basic Firing Training, Expert Marksman, and either Vigilance, High Alert, or Superintendent. For her fourth skill, Advanced fire control, which extends the range of her AA and secondary batteries should be selected. If keeping her or outfitting her almost identical Arpeggio of Blue Steel counterparts, you can ignore Advanced Fire Control, and select among the lower skills, or alternatively select Manual Control for AA Armaments (which requires manual targeting to activate, or your long ranged AA guns won't even fire), which can be combined with the Basic Fire Control Skill and the AA Guns Modification 2 Equipment upgrade to give her fearsome AA capabilities that can shred aircraft squadrons at her tier and lower from long range. If you have the time to grind her or are bringing a captain from higher up the line, getting Concealment Expert reduces her detection range to 13.5 km (14 km for her ARP counterpart), and can make her quite flexible at fighting at medium ranges.

Gallery

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Historical Info

Construction

Vickers Shipbuilding Company; Barrow, England

Laid down: 17 January 1911

Launched: 18 May 1912

Commissioned: 16 August 1913

Specifications

26,230tons displacement, standard

214.58m length

28.04m beam

8.38m draft

Machinery

36 boilers, 4 turbines

Performance

27.5knts at 64,000shp

8,000nm at 14knts

Armor

Main belt: 203mm mid, 76mm forward, 76mm aft

Decks: 41-50mm

Bulkheads: 203mm

Barbettes and Turrets: 254mm barbette, 228mm turrets

Conning tower: 254mm

Armament

Main

Eight (4x2) 356mm guns

Secondary

Sixteen (16x1) 152mm guns

Anti-aircraft

Eight (8x1) 76mm guns

Torpedoes

Eight (8x1) 533mm submerged torpedo tubes

History

Design

The Kongō-class battlecruiser (金剛型巡洋戦艦 Kongō-gata jun'yōsenkan) was a class of four battlecruisers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) immediately before World War I. Designed by British naval architect George Thurston, the lead ship of the class, constructed in the UK by Vickers, was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside 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 London Naval 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 (56 km/h; 35 mph), 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.

Service

Kongō (金剛, "Indestructible", named for Mount Kongō) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and World War II. She was the first battlecruiser of the Kongō class, among the most heavily armed ships in any navy when built, and the last capital ship to be built outside Japan. Her designer was the British naval engineer George Thurston, and she was laid down in 1911 at Barrow-in-Furness in Britain by Vickers Shipbuilding Company. Kongō was the last Japanese capital ship constructed outside Japan. She was formally commissioned in 1913, and patrolled off the Chinese coast during World War I.

Kongō underwent two major reconstructions. Beginning in 1929, the Imperial Japanese Navy rebuilt her as a battleship, strengthening her armor and improving her speed and power capabilities. In 1935, her superstructure was completely rebuilt, her speed was increased, and she was equipped with launch catapults for floatplanes. Now fast enough to accompany Japan's growing carrier fleet, Kongō was reclassified as a fast battleship. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Kongō operated off the coast of mainland China before being redeployed to the Third Battleship Division in 1941. In 1942, she sailed as part of the Southern Force in preparation for the Battle of Singapore.

Kongō fought in a large number of major naval actions of the Pacific War during World War II. She covered the Japanese Army's amphibious landings in British Malaya (part of present-day Malaysia) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942, before engaging American forces at the Battle of Midway and during the Guadalcanal Campaign. Throughout 1943, Kongō primarily remained at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, Kure Naval Base (near Hiroshima), Sasebo Naval Base (near Nagasaki), and Lingga Roads, and deployed several times in response to American aircraft carrier air raids on Japanese island bases scattered across the Pacific. The Kongō participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944 (October 22–23), engaging and sinking American vessels in the latter. Kongō was torpedoed and sunk by the submarine USS Sealion while transiting the Formosa Strait on 21 November 1944. She was the only Japanese battleship sunk by submarine in the Second World War, and the last battleship sunk by submarine in history.

Miscellaneous

The ship modeled in the game is actually based off Hiei, the second ship of the Kongō class with a history that differed significantly from the her other three sisters. Unlike her other sisters, she did not undergo the first modernization that strengthened their armor and underwater protection, and was disarmed in 1930 to comply with the terms of the First London Naval Treaty. When Japan withdrew from the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty, along with the second modernizations of her sisters, Hiei underwent extensive modernizations to bring her up to their specifications. Fitted onto her was a pagoda style mast that differed from the other Kongō sisters, serving as the prototype of the superstructure that was later fitted onto the Yamato class. This is the superstructure that is featured by the in-game model.

Historical Gallery

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  Haruna at Yokosuka, 11 September 1916.

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  A 14-inch gun being installed aboard Haruna, October 1914.

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  Kongō following her first reconstruction.

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  Hiei in 1933, as a training ship.

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  Kirishima off Amoy, China, in 1938.

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  Haruna in 1934, following her second reconstruction.

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  Yamashiro, Fuso]] and the fast battleship Haruna in the late 1930s.

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  A diagram of Hiei as she appeared in 1942, showing her superstructure which differs significantly from her sisters.

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  A diagram of Kongo as she appeared in 1944, showing her late-war enhanced AA protection and reduced casemate guns.

Ships of Japan

Battleships